90 dakota sport with 87 engine swap!!

[90reddak]

First of all who like to say hello to you all! Glad to be here! Hope i can get some help from all you Dakota owners!

So i purchased a 1990 dakota last year (amazing shape). It was certainly well taken care off! I get it home and do a little maintenance to get it on the road! while i was replacing the spark plugs and wires, i noticed there were a few wires not plugged in in places.........now I'm that familiar with carbed engines, but when i looked below the air filter.......I read Holley....which i know they made stock carbs for dodge. List Number 8007! 390cfm 4bbl to be exact!! It also had a mopar 4bbl intake. So a 90 Dakota with a carbed engine! Whatever I thought....it ran pretty well and wasn't burning any oil! I get it inspected and insured! The first day on the road...I drive my women to work about 8km. Driving there, things seemed find until I was almost home. The truck started to slowly stall like I was running out of gas (of course i was on a big hill) I managed to keep it going till I pulled to a side road. then it stalled completely. I pulled it over a few times nothing! I had a full tank of gas so I knew it wasn't empty. Popped the hood and i could smell gas right by the carb! left it alone for about 35 mins....pulled it over and drove home! I spent the whole weekend with a buddy going over the truck completely! So it turned out that the truck had it's original fuel tank with in tank pump but power to the pump was cut and taped. I followed the fuel lines and seen a Carter fuel pump on the rail......then under the hood it had a tiny fuel filter right before going into the carb. The Carter was hooked up to the ignition...so if i turned it a head a little i could hear the pump.....but now it was steady pumping fuel to the carb. When i would start it and leave it going for about 15 mins...it would start to flood again......i looked at the carb and a pile of fuel was flooding the bowl! The engine seemed to be running rich and i could see a pile of smoke coming from the exhaust! I didn"t want to mess with anything else being that i was intimidated in working with fuel issues! I brought it to a good friend (mechanic). He took off the pump on the rail and installed a mechanical fuel pump. Sweet i thought, but now things were worse. He would start it up...exhaust bailing out smoke a lot more (burning super rich) it ran pretty nice, but the bowl would flood with in about 4-5 mins! So this is where i am right now! I just ordered a new holley 390cfm 4 bbl, and i picked up a $50 adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I'm hoping this solves the issue!! Has anyone ever came across problems like this?? If someone could guide me in a positive direction...I would really appreciate it!

[theFREAKnasty82]

Welcome to the sight! Your problem sounds like the original in tank fuel pump is still working thus the flooded fuel bowl. easiest way to fix that is have your mechanic either drop the tank a little or take the bed off and unplug the fuel pump. In 1990, fuel pressure from the pump was 13 PSI, which is still more than 3x the recommend pressure for a carb. See how that works.

[90reddak]

Hey,
Thanks for the quick response! I know that the power wire was cut and taped, but the 3 plugs that were plugged into the tank were still connected! Can I disconnect them completely from the in tank pump? If for some reason it's still getting power...can I just install my adjustable fuel pressure reg and adjust it to the recommended pressure (5-9psi)? Thanks again for the feedback!

[theFREAKnasty82]

Originally Posted by 90reddak

Hey,
Thanks for the quick response! I know that the power wire was cut and taped, but the 3 plugs that were plugged into the tank were still connected! Can I disconnect them completely from the in tank pump? If for some reason it's still getting power...can I just install my adjustable fuel pressure reg and adjust it to the recommended pressure (5-9psi)? Thanks again for the feedback!

Just to be on the safe side, I would still disconnect it, the only problem is, your fuel gauge might not work, so double check a wiring diagram to see which wire is for the gauge. If for some reason you still have over 13 PSI of fuel still flowing, it wouldn't hurt to install an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Let me know what happens