Centurion Fuel Filter

[Malcolm Towrie]

John,
Yes, I bought the filter element Grant found for me on eBay in the post above.

I was also missing the canister for the element so I had to make one, but it sounds like you have the complete filter assembly.

Yes, the priming levers on the two mechanical fuel pumps work quite well. If you can't feel any resistance on the lever, crank the engine over a bit to get the pump arm off the lobe of the cam and try again. Usually one of them is off the lobe and will pump. You can hear the fuel sloshing into the carbs when they are pumping.

They're are a diaphragm pump so they should easily lift fuel from the tanks but only if the check valves in them are in reasonable condition. I had to remove the pumps and clean them so I dismantled the check valves and cleaned them as well.

I noticed after a test run where the engine got up to full temp, and was then not run for a while, it would take a lot of priming to get the carbs filled up again ( to avoid prolonged cranking). I wonder if the hot location of the carbs down in the valley evaporates the fuel quickly after shutdown.

I fitted a fuel pressure gauge in the common supply to the two carbs so I could see when the carbs were full and the lines were pressurized while priming. Good troubleshooting tool for fuel supply and fuel pump problems as well.

I'm using the long range fuel tank hanging off the back of the tank as the main tank, which is rather a long way away and may require much pumping of the hard-to-access priming levers, so I'm considering installing a priming tee connection through the bulkhead where I can hook up a Mityvac hand pump for filling the lines at least up to the filters after prolonged storage.

Regards,
Malcolm