[72projectbird]

So I picked up a 77 TA from GA. When it arrived the fuel pump was dead. Would run fine with the fuel bowl filled up, but the pump wasn't pulling any fuel. I hooked an electric Carter pump up just to get the car moving, and it worked great.

I just installed a new mechanical pump (Carter M6122) which looks just the same as original, with the larger canister, and return line output.

As soon as I installed it, the engine flooded immediately. I checked for a stuck needle, or sunken float, but everything is fine. When I went to crack the fuel inlet line on the carb, it was extremely pressurized. So I crawled under the car to see if the return was plugged, and when I removed the return from the pump it shot fuel out with enough force to cover the front disc brake.

I compared the old pump to the new, and the only difference I can see is that the return port on the new pump is the size of a pinhole compared to the original. I opened up the opening with the correct size drill bit, but it still is creating a ton of pressure at the carb inlet.

Is there something stupid I'm missing?