dwruble23

Hello,

My name is Daniel, I am new to the whole project car rebuild. My knowledge of cars is limited and would love to make good connections through these forums to help me rebuild my newly bought 1973 gold duster. The car is a 318, runs and drives. I did have it stop on me one time and I think it had something to do with the fuel pump switch.

Am I supposed to turn the fuel pump switch off when I am not driving the car? And then back on when I am about to drive it? The previous owner who installed the switch said he always kept it on.

Coronet 500

Welcome. You came to the right place. Hard to answer your question without further information. If it is wired through ignition switch with relay yeah maybe. Is it the only pump, is it in series with mechanical, is it in parallel and only used when racing or is it..... ok, sorry I’ll stop now. Have a good look at the cars fuel system, take photos and give us a look.

dwruble23

I will take a few pictures tonight. I just bought it and really have no idea what any of that means. But I want to learn, so I will get some pictures up tonight and hopefully we can find some answers.

Coronet 500

Beauty eh!

Iowan

Welcome to the forum, let's see a few pictures of your Duster.

Archer

Daniel -

Feel free to ask questions, but it does sound like you might be new to this type of stuff, and might not know exactly what's in the car. Don't know where you are, but there are car clubs and meets all over the country. Doing a local google search for them might be in your best interest.

'73 Dusters did not come with an electric fuel pump, so that alone might mean it isn't exactly stock.
If the previous owner said he always kept it on, it means it is wired to the ignition circuit and only gets power when the ignition switch is in the run position, but we're guessing.


Archer

dwruble23

You are correct with that, the car needs to be turned over in order to hear if the pump is on or off he said. Which I did and I could hear it turning off and on when I switched the level over. I am posting some pictures now.

dwruble23

Iowan

What others have said about the wiring is correct, looks like you have a great place to start. The air cleaner is probably worth $100.00 + to the right guy doing a restoration. It looks like theres some wiring to clean up under the dash. The car looks like a nice find....👍

dwruble23

The guy I purchased from added a carburetor to the engine. Would that be why a fuel pump was necessary? I’m still confused if I should leave the switch on all the time or shut if off when the car is off. Anyone know?

Iowan

Go ahead and shut it off it won't hurt a thing to be off. Is the stock mechanical pump still on the motor and hooked up?

dwruble23

I don’t believe so the stock one is still there

Iowan

You might verify on and off with the car running by checking the fuel pump and seeing if and when it's running.

dwruble23

I think I figured that out, I’m just going to leave it always on so I don’t run into troubles with it