I have a 1988 Dodge Dakota, it came with a v6 but my friend's uncle who i bought it from had put what he said was a "boat engine" in the Dakota. It seems barely used and it appears to be a 318 to me, I have no real clue what year it is.

My issue though is my fuel pump stopped working about 5 months ago as I was driving. I knew before hand the engine was getting starved intermittently.

I put on about 3 brand new mechanical fuel pumps, no difference. I started using an electric one I got from an '89 Dak but it just never meshed up. Either it pumped too hard or the regulator didn't regulate down enough or the carb would overflow even at the lowest setting.

I got it running today, a bit of overflow, I had to keep my foot on the gas the majority of the time, and if its not cranked up successfully in the first one or two turns it kills any battery I put in it. Sometimes I get five. I have to turn the light switch I have fired to the pump on for a few seconds to feel the carb.

What I want to know is:
1. how does one check a cam shaft to see if its so worn it can't operator a mechanical fuel pump?

2. Is it even common for cams to get so used they just get worn down and cant reach the arm anymore on the pump?

3. How much do I have to remove to switch these cams out? I am getting in too much trouble breaking my cars down where I live and need to kinda rap hings up quick. Is it as simple as unbolting the engine mounts, jacking the engine up, taking the oil pan off and pulling it out?

4. I have found several new camshafts in my price range but they have different numbers. One says "318 360 .441"/.441" Lift 6901" while the other says "SB LA 318 360 .420"/.442" Lift 6900 (Fits: Dodge)"
and I wonder what that means, what the specifications on my camshaft are and if I can just interchange these camshafts and it work? Or is timing altered? I am just tired of dealing with the constant autowork and the excess gas use, and the fiddling with light switches and wiring and hoping the battery doesn't die.

 

You should be able to use an aftermarket low-pressure electric fuel pump. All you need is about 3psi to keep your carb happy. Changing the cam seems like an awful lot of work to fix a fairly simple problem.

 

I am just tired of dealing with it. I have broken it down about 2 dozen times already, I just want it to work off its mechanical parts, not any after market parts or adjustable parts. I have enough issues with the new fuel gauge. I don't have the money for it anymore, I'd rather spend the 67 bux on this new cam and just shut it down period, no new wiring, light switches, rigging, etc.

 

I wondering if during the conversion if they deleted the stock in-tank pump and relaced it with a solid line to the bottom of the tank. If they left the stock pump and filter in, that might be causing such a restriction that the mechanical pump can not effectively over compensate for that much restriction on the line.

 

when i first got it it just had the traditional silver double barreled mechanical pump. in the fuel tank that just fed into the line that swirls around the whole time then ends up at the bottom. So it was a strait open path and through the swirl line.

The pump I put on looks like this:

Your right the line went all the way down and I have combined two variations but the pump feeds through a line at the top of the whole unit thats basically just another line. Its not restricted. I just want to make it stock and use the old one.

 

also i barely feel any suction on the mechanical pump, be it the old one or the 3 replacements.

 

You would not need to replace the cam, just the eccentric that engages the fuel pump lever arm. Perhaps it is worn down, other than that maybe the float levels need to be adjusted in the carb.

 

That sounds a little bit better, any tutorials or tips on how to do that?

 

To replace the eccentric the timing cover will have to come off and it attaches to the end of the camshaft. It is a fairly straight forward job, but you have to take quite a bit of things off to do so. Order an eccentric (probably have to be purchased online) and get a timing cover gasket kit at your local parts store and go at it (if you think this could be the problem and you feel comfortable doing it).

Adjusting the floats on your carb depends on the kind of carb you have. Look it up on the internet, there maybe a video or instructions for it.

 

also as a side note, you may want to trace the fuel lines and make sure they are not pinched somewhere.