1959 Cadillac Fuel pump

[gkhashem]

Well I just got the rear brake lines replaced with stainless lines. The one that goes from front to back and the two that go to the rear wheels. The front lines were clean, but I might do them later.

The long was was getting bad and was going to go at some point. With that said I think I am going to get the fuel line replaced with new hoses. So I figured while I was at it I would put the restored original fuel pump back on. I have painted many water pumps and such but how do I do the fuel pump?

When I took it off the car it had a trace of Cadillac blue at the bottom, but of course now it is all cleaned up. So do I remove the cover and paint it separately? Do the screws get painted?

Any insight to the correct way to do it.

Here is a photo of the restored fuel pump.

[Big Fins]

I'm under the impression that the pump remained the bare cast metals. I pulled what I believed to be the original off of my '59 with the tag and all on it and it was plain, bare, what looked to be aluminum. It was stamped GM Delco on it.

[Clewisiii]

The 390 fuel pump on 61 was painted with the engine.  But the cast material did not hold the paint well on top.   I thought my fuel pump was bard metal to. Until I cleaned built up grease from around the lower base and found the blue.

I painted my fuel pump.

[Jon S]

 George you are opening up a can of worms.  I have gone on record several times stating that the original fuel pump on my dad’s purchased brand new 1958 was cast not painted whatsoever.   I know the display engine at the New York Coliseum had a painted blue fuel pump, but that was for display purposes.  In addition to not being painted blue the correct fuel pump for a 1958 is a slant top although that discussion is another can of worms. 

[fishnjim]

As I recall there's no authenticity manual for '59?   Least last time I looked.   A good question for a concours judge.   What's the norm?
Depends when the pump was installed, before or after the engine was painted.   It's pretty clear in other models manuals.
Do the regular paint prep(no primer) and mask off all the ports, etc. and shoot with caddy blue engine paint - to match what U used.   I got mine from eastwood, but hear other's like Hirsch's.   
So it's a preference issue at this stage.   I would not just leave it with overspray, that's amateur.   All or nothing, take your pick.   The chance it would have been replaced at some point and unpainted increases with age, so putting lipstick on a pig to make it look like it's the original is a bit phony.   My opinion.

[Clewisiii]

Someone needs to check the bottom of the Fuel pump on the Gagnon death Car.

[59-in-pieces]

Carl,

Reportedly, Feb 8, 1959 was the murder, and the Seville had 2,232 miles - thought at the time to be the lowest mileage car of the 59 Series.

I corresponded with the "new" owner but all the rights to the car and documentation were sold to him and little much is known to be available afterwards.
Hoped he would step forward with some actual "time Capsule" photos to help in this area and others when needed.

Here is the best - poor at best - that I have - so let your imagination run wild.
Yes I know - little help.

Have fun,
Steve B.

[rwchatham CLC 21892]

From what I have heard the Gagnon car has had some painting done to it under the hood so not sure I would go by everything ion that car . The engine looks more detailed with the pump on bare form .

[Clewisiii]

I had seen a picture of the engine once that verified the yellow sticker on the generator is correct.   All the restoration places sell a round red sticker. But there is a guy in Australia who made a batch of the correct yellow.  I bought two from him. 

I have three original generators from a 61 that had rectangular residue from the yellow sticker. But no actual sticker left.

[gkhashem]

I bought my car with 39,925 miles when the pump failed about 1000-1500 miles later  it had a trace of blue on the bottom of it.

Now it could be some over spray or was it blue. Also the heater hoses which I still have and were molded had blue over spray on them. I changed the hoses when my water pump went after about 2,500 miles after I bought the car.  Did not want to keep the 58 year old hoses on the car. From the paperwork that was with the car she went about 600 miles from 9/1999 to 9/2014.

So was the fuel pump metal and got some over spray on it like the hoses?

I guess we still do not know.

[Jon S]

I bought my car with 39,925 miles when the pump failed about 1000-1500 miles later  it had a trace of blue on the bottom of it.

Now it could be some over spray or was it blue. Also the heater hoses which I still have and were molded had blue over spray on them. I changed the hoses when my water pump went after about 2,500 miles after I bought the car.  Did not want to keep the 58 year old hoses on the car. From the paperwork that was with the car she went about 600 miles from 9/1999 to 9/2014.

So was the fuel pump metal and got some over spray on it like the hoses?

I guess we still do not know.

I would bet somebody with a rattle can touched up some paint on the engine and overspray hit the fuel pump and hoses.  I believe I am one of a few or may be the only one who has a 1950’s Cadillac bought brand new by their father and who worked on it since age 13.  I can tell you unequivocally that the fuel pumps back then were cast and not painted.

[76eldo]

The engines were painted with the heater hoses on it and fuel pump on it.
Blue paint on both are correct.
No one that I know has painted the clamps and heater hoses blue, the fuel pump is 50/50.

If you ever watch Graveyard Carz you will see that they paint their engines like the factory did and they also have heater hoses on the engine and even paint the exhaust manifolds and let the paint burn off like the factory.

I bailed on my 60 Seville project but was planning on painting the hoses and fuel pump blue, although if you paint the hoses it will look like sloppy workmanship.

Brian

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I've seen enough untouched and 100% original engines from 59-64 to say there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the fuel pump (along with various hoses, lines and other items) were installed before the blue paint application was done at the factory. Just because a few cars got unpainted pumps for whatever reason - possibly even before the car left the factory in some cases doesn't change this basic fact.

A certain percentage of pumps were undoubtedly defective when originally installed in which case a replacement fuel pump would have been installed from the parts bin and it's unlikely they would have gone through all the trouble of making sure it was was painted blue before making the swap. In a sense it's no different than cars that needed respray work while still at the factory. While these situations may have occurred at the factory, they are not the norm.

[Clewisiii]

I don't want to beat a horse but I had believed there was no paint on the fuel pump.   Mine looked completely clean just cast metal.  But I realized that the issue was the old paint did not stick to the cast metal.  There was still paint on the bottom and under old oil build up.  It you think about it it makes sense.  They would not tape anything off on the line if they did not have to.  So since there oil access in the location the fuel pump mounts to they would not want to spray paint in there.   

[Clewisiii]

Actually my engine there was still paint on the sheet metal steel but no paint at all on any Cast metal parts.  Block or brackets.