Date:         Wed, 14 Jun 95 10:37:12 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Kautz <dkautz@hpsidms1.sid.hp.com>
Subject:      Pools of fuel

 I am troubled by the number of posts we have heard from people who have taken
 a gasoline bath while working on their fuel system. I figure it's just a
 matter of time until one of us is NOT so lucky and becomes a flameball.

 I also think that all of the accounts so far, with the exception of those 
 little metal tubes popping out, have been preventable. I bought, and have 
 used successfully, a pair of fuel line clamps at the local FLAPS that cost
 less than five bucks. They have a rounded surfaces so as to not trash the
 fuel lines and tighten with a wing nut. When I emptied the tank recently to
 remove it I used one of these clamps as a valve since I was moving the gas
 to another car 1.5 gallons at a time. These clamps are quite small, and I 
 keep them in the tool box in the car. Even without clamps, a pair of vicegrips
 or a C-clamp or a small crescent wrench with the jaws tightened up on the 
 hose - my point is that SOMETHING should be used to prevent a big outpouring
 of gasoline. The stuff is dangerous from a flammability / explosion point of
 view, it's bad to breathe the vapors and it's bad for your skin. 


 Fuel pumps on type IV motors: pretty inconvenient location, and even when 
 the brazilian ones pump fuel correctly, they leak oil from the pivot pin
 which is a different design than the german ones. Ever notice that the fuel 
 pump flange is not quite parallel to the engine axis? This becomes apparent
 when installing the brazilian pump, which looks a little crooked when bolted
 up <the brazilian pump is perpendicular to the flange, the german pump has 
 the same angular deviation from orthagonal as the case does>. 

 Several folks have mentioned replacing the mechanincal fuel pump with one
 of the inexpensive electrics. Are there any problems with flooding or leaking
 when the engine is switched off? The mechanical pump has a built in shut-off
 valve <that second, smaller diaphragm at the front of the pump>. I think this
 is necessary for the same reason that gravity fed motorcyle systems have 
 a petcock to stop the fuel supply when the engine is off. The carburetor 
 float bowls on the '72-'74 buses are lower than the fuel tank and the fuel
 pressure due to gravity would continue act on the carbs even when the car was 
 not in use.

 This positioning of the carbs relative to the fuel tank has also made me 
 wonder if, in the event of fuel pump failure, the inlet and outlet lines
 couldn't just be hooked together and the bus be driven <limping, perhaps>
 with a gravity fed fuel supply to a source of spare parts and repairs. Has
 anybody tried this?


 Get those fuel line clamps! Stay healthy and unscarred!



 Dave