I bought a 3/8 sending unit. Wrong Unit?

[wheelz 63 dart gt]

I have a 5/16 unit i pulled and bought a 3/8 fuel sending unit for my 63 dart. I have a slant 225 though. Can i still use my original fuel line? Should i send my new unit back and get a 5/16 with out a return line? My old unit does not have a return line. If i can still use the new unit i will. I want to. Please give me some info. I saw the link on here for 40.00 with shippingand couldnt turn that deal down.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah, you can squeeze 5/16 line on the 3/8 barb. It'll be tight, but you can do it. Put some vasoline on the barb and it'll go.

 

[wheelz 63 dart gt]

Thanks Stroker. I have another issue. I bought a carter carb of of a 1963 plymouth Valient 2 door hard top. I have a 63 dart gt. By looking at the throttle linkage it looks like it may have come off a 170. I took some pics. The numbers are close but there is no # with a S at the end. Which #,s are the carb #s. There are alot of different #s. On the air horn there is 6-1697.on the accelerator pump arm it has 53A-45C THERE ARE 4 ROWS OF PATENT#S UNDER THE CRANKCASE VENT TUBE. ON THE THROTTLE BODY IT HAS 0-1611 this one has an 8 on the other side of air horn and even the roman numerals XII. WHICH ONES TELL ME WHICH SIZE IT IS AND TO BUY A REBOUILD KIT FOR. I AM LOADING PICS NOW. LET ME KNOW IF U WANT TO LOOK AT THEM

 

[slantsixdan]

There is no difference between throttle linkage on a carb for a 170 vs. 225. The '60-'66 slant-6 A-bodies (except '65-'66 with factory A/C) use a box-shaped throttle lever with a rubber bushing snapped into it; the car's rotating throttle rod snaps into this bushing. The '62-up slant-6 B-bodies, the '65-'66 slant-6 A-bodies with factory air, and all '67-up cars use a cable-type throttle hookup without the rotating rod. None of the numbers you've posted identifies the carburetor; those are all casting numbers. To ID the carb, you'd need the number off the aluminum tag originally secured to one of the front (short) bowl screws. These are usually missing on carbs that have been "remanufactured". Fortunately, virtually all the Carter BBS carbs use the same kit so you can refer to Carter number 3676s. The "s" is not always listed in aftermarket kit listings; disregard it -- there's no significance to it (that is, there's no difference between "3676" and "3676s". Tough to find good quality carb kits any more. Good ones with a better, updated inlet needle and seat design come from www.daytonaparts.com , but -- like all the other mass-market kits on the market nowtimes -- it won't come with a proper float gauge, which is a major problem; the stupid little piece of paper ruler they include is useless. I'm working on having some proper float gauges made available, but they're not here yet.

Pushing 5/16" hose onto a 3/8" nipple is a poor idea. The hose is not meant to stretch that much and you are talking about making a connection to carry an explosively flammable liquid. Do the job right return the incorrect sender and get the correct one.

Carburetor operation and repair manuals and links to training movies and carb repair/modification threads are posted here for free download. Tune-up parts and technique suggestions in this thread.

 

[wheelz 63 dart gt]

Thank you so much slant six dan. I have worked hard on my 63 and i am going to do the job right, and send my 3/8 back for a 5/16. I am going to look up those links you gave me now.

 

[T67POWER]

I just installed the 3/8 sending unit on my 67 cuda with 5/16 line.
Just use a new piece of 5/16 fuel hose and it go's on very easy.

If you plan on going to a v8 down the road and want to install a 3/8 fuel line ,you will be all set to go.

 

[slantsixdan]

If you plan on installing a V8 down the road…

…you still won't need a 3/8" sender. The V8 cars came with 5/16" senders just like the six-cylinder cars.

 

[BillGrissom]

The 3/8" sender with a return line might be nice if you ever upgrade to TBI or MPI fuel injection, with an electric fuel pump. If the 5/16" rubber tube slides on the 3/8" nipple fairly easily, shouldn't be a reliability problem. You can just block off the return nipple until you need it.

On the flip side, if you plan to always stay with a carb, I would switch to a 5/16" sender. For the best of both worlds, get a 5/16" sender with return line, to allow a later FI upgrade. I recall seeing those.

Many recommend a 3/8" supply tube for fuel injection, but many production engines use 5/16" (early 90 Ford V-8's, Mopar Magnums). It seems that only Chevy V-8's and some Europeans use 3/8" (or larger). True most 5/16" ones have at least an in-tank boost pump, but I have been running an electric pump w/ TBI on my 383 and never notice a suction problem even with the pump far away in the engine bay. Fuel pours out of the open 5/16" tube so don't see how it could starve the pump.

 

[Bad Sport]

I put a 3/8 to 5/16 on mine no issues. I bought the 3/8 so I can upgrade to a 3/8 supply line in the near future.