All for car recovery

A number of mechanics in Philly recommended a carburetor man in Sicklerville, New Jersey, about 30 minutes south of Philadelphia towards Atlantic City. Racing Carburetors isn’t a huge operation with multiple bays of people running around with NASCAR parts. No, it’s a guy named Pat working from an incredibly-tidy garage behind his house.

 

“Huh,” Pat said, as he looked at the side of my center carb, “I can’t imagine that’s cracked, but there’s a way to test it.” With the Cadillac running, he shot some carb cleaner in the center carb. It stumbled. Then he shot some carb cleaner on the “crack.” Nothing. He did it again. Still nothing.  “That’s not a crack. That’s a scratch. It’s not your problem.” “Fuel delivery,” Pat said. So I explained how the Brougham originally had an in-tank fuel pump (ahead of its time), and how I’d had that fuel pump rebuilt when I refurbished the gas tank. Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked right back in Birmingham, so we added a small, in-line electric fuel pump. I turned on the key. We couldn’t hear the pump. So Pat removed the old fuel pump and tested it: nothing. Not even a dribble. “But how could I have driven 70 mph down here to see you with no fuel pump?” I asked. Pat speculated that the vacuum from the engine pulled the gas from the tank and that when I was at idle, it wasn’t strong enough to do so, causing the car to stall. Seemed like a plausible theory to me. “And besides,” Pat said, “this fuel pump is junk. I wouldn’t run my lawnmower off of this pump. We’ll get you a really stout pump.” Off to the parts store and $140 later we had a Carter p4070. Another hour and Pat had that sucker installed and pumping away quietly in the rear. A couple of test drives around the block and I was nearly ready to go. No more dying at idle. No more stumbling. Lots of additional power. Finally! I was about to pull out of the driveway and . . . suddenly, the Brougham shot gas everywhere...

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