Vapor Lock

[RO]

Never seen one of these before and it has 6 bids already up to $78.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayIS...;category=34198

[Guest]

Interesting! I never saw one either but if the old adage about "build a better mousetrap....etc." is true then this devise was not all that great at doing what the advertising on the box says it should. It would certainly draw a lot of interest at an old car meet though. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[RO]

The there was this "miracle gas device" that some may not have seen before. This one was installed on a 1951 Hudson Hornet.

[RO]

another view

[RO]

The "miracle gas miser" has since been removed by the new owner across town.

[Packard8]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">another view </div></div>

Quite a gizmo?how the heck is it supposed to work? Gamma Ray collector? Sub-Atomic majuberator? An antenna tuned to Venusian Power Pulses that feeds them into the intake manifold?

Funny as it may sound, there are still P. T. Barnum wannabes selling fuel line magnets that ?align the fuel molecules and increase power and mileage by 40%?, and ebay is chock full of ?Electronic Turbochargers???? little 12V fans that fit in the air intake and probably create more restriction than anything else.

<img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[RO]

We found the instructions in the glove box of the car and all I could see was something about allowing additional airflow into the exhaust or some such thing.

[Steve Brown]

My Clipper has suffered from vapor lock for its whole life. The original owner told me when the car was new they took a trip to the National Parks and the car was DOA at Grand Canyon, Yellow Stone, etc. in the summer. Fortunately he lived in British Columbia where it only got hot ever so often. When I got it home - from Canada to Texas - it proceeded to lock up on me EVERY time the weather was in the 90s. And this was despite multiple carb rebuilds and fuel line tinkering over the years by the original owner and I. Finally, the whole mess was solved (I hope) with a $30 electric fuel pump. No problems since then but every hot day I'm on pin and needles waiting for the engine to falter.

[6219_Rules]

Steve, I think you can relax now. My '47 Cadillac does exactly the same thing when it gets warm and I'm running it down the highway at 65, but the electric fuel pump, which I have installed to run only manually from a switch under the dash, works perfectly to solve the issue. I have tried spacers under the carb, and wrapping the fuel lines but nothing short of flushing the line and bowl with cool fuel does anything to help. I ran this car in Houston for several years before coming to Colorado and can vouch for it. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As for this little gadget, I would LOVE to try one! I hope to find one again. The fins on the tank act like the heat sinks on a Pentium chip, they radiate the heat out cooling the gas. It would be best if the unit were aluminium. I bet it helps but the main problem is the heat cooking the line and the carb itself. Still it would be neat to try one out.

[Ed Miller]

It reminds me of the last bottle of snake oil I bought. I live in southwest Florida. Every day for four months the temperature always hits at least 90 degrees and my cars have never suffered from vapor lock. I don't have an electric fuel pump or anything else that's not original to deter vapor lock. My cars are kept in impeccable condition and I do drive them. I believe most vapor lock is a catch all diagnosis. Rebuild the engine, cooling system and fuel system and you probably will never have vapor lock.

[6219_Rules]

Glad you have such good fortune with it, Ed! I have the same good fortune with some of the operating pieces on my '77 Eldorado that everyone I have talked to says never works well.

However, as far as vapor lock goes (the boiling of fuel in the carb bowl or the evaporation of fuel into a bubble of gas that stops the flow of fuel), my father, now 76 years old, remembers very well how all of their cars from the late 30s through the 40s vapor locked. He said it was simply something you dealt with in the course of a day. And like the snake oil you talk about, Ed, there were plenty of wierd and strange devices to handle the situation....most of them did not work. I have no idea if any of them did, honestly.

[Steve Brown]

And in my case I confirmed absolutely that my Clipper was doing it when new. And the owner was a Studebaker Packard dealer and it gave him fits, too. Whatever. I tried Marvel Mystery Oil which is supposed to make the gas less volatile but in the end it was the new fuel pump that did the trick. With modern cars and the fuel under so much pressure, this kind of thing just can't happen. Although if I could find the fuel line on my new Jeep I'd love to put a row of clothes pins on it just to hear the mechanics ask what the heck is that?!?!

[55PackardGuy]

Today's alcohol "enriched" fuels also seem to do a good job of increasing the likelihood of vapor lock. In Minnesota, "oxygenated" (alcohol added) fuels are now the norm all year 'round instead of just in winter months. You can still get "pure" no-lead at special pumps, though, for small engine use and performance/collector cars. This alcohol-free gas may be the simplest "first line defense" against vapor lock when running anything with a carb and mechanical fuel pump setup. Depending on the economics of the day, it can even be a few cents cheaper per gallon than "regular" oxygenated gas. Probably has to do with the price of ethanol at the time.

Cheers! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />