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Now that I've changed the fuel pump in my '55 DeSoto, I'd like to get a couple cores rebuilt with fresh rubber and carry as emergency spares. Who are people using these days for this work? Arthur Gould's descendants still performing this work?? Any suggestions appreciated.
Mark
I've used Terrill Machine in DeLeon, TX
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
I used these guys and the turn around was FAST! You can have them rebuild it, OR you can buy the bits from them and do it yourself. Just for your info... I had them rebuild my pump. Without looking... I think this was... about 2 years ago.
Jim
Thanks Jim! I've already contacted Terrill machine and have their details and I was about to box up and send them my pumps but then I saw your response. I've sent an e-mail to Then And Now asking for details and will compare cost, turnaround time, etc. Again, thanks.
Good luck with that! OH.... and I forgot to mention that the fuel pump was for my 1956 DeSoto.
Jim
I've recently had two fuel pumps fail on my 1954 DeSoto Firedome Hemi V8. In May the original pump that was on the car when I bought it in August of 2011, failed because the pin holding the 'rocker' arm in place either broke or came out.
I borrowed a freind's pump and got back on the road. The pump that failed was sent to John Plaskan in Florida for rebuilding. It was installed on the car and lasted exactly 30 days, until once again, either the pin broke or came out, August 30, 2015
I ordered another rebuilt pump (no core required) $140.00 from Arthur Gould in New York State. It looks like a really nice pump with all Ethanol resistent material. However, it has not been installed on my DeSoto yet.
Concerned about fuel pump parts in the oil pan two friends and I dropped the oil pan and found two fuel pump parts and a fuel pump spring in the oil pan. The oil pan was cleaned of all sludge, installed a new oil pan gasket and changed over to 40w high detergent motor oil, instead of non-detergent.
The Arthur Gould pump will be installed on my DeSoto in the next couple weeks, along with a six volt electric fuel pump with a dedicated switch. The electric pump will be mounted close to the fuel tank because they push better than they pull.
Bill Wurzell
Ellicott City, MD
Bill, if you have been using non-detergent oil in the car DO NOT put in high detergent oil. It is almost guaranteed it will throw a rod. I have done this twice in my younger days with the same results. Someone posted a method for changing to high detergent that involved flushing the system but I don't remember now how it was done.
Never heard of that before.... and nope, I am not searching the internet about Oils and such. TMI OVERLOAD 
Jim
The issue is that the detergent oil is going to start cleaning out all the internal sludge, potentially causing a blockage and then an oil shortage somewhere....
If you go this route, very frequent, HOT oil changes should take place for a while.
You can probably google the topic and get some relevant information.
Like this one...
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
Both times I had this happen I probably didn't drive the car 50 miles after changing the oil when I heard a little ticking sound before a rod came through the block. The first time was my very first car, a '52 Pontiac, and I was going to take good care of it so I changed the oil using a good detergent oil. It was common back then to use non-detergent oil. After I destroyed the engine several people told me you can't change to detergent oil if someone had been using non-detergent in the car. The second time was in the seventies when I bought an engine to put in my pick-up and didn't think about someone using non-detergent in it because it wasn't so common then. Drove it about 30 miles when that rod came through the block.
