Copper Fuel Line?

Correct. Better to run the filter under pressure, rather than under suction.

 

Ayuh,.... The problem with that is, yer pumpin' the unfiltered gas through the fuel pump,.....

I just had to replace the entire fuel system on my CJ, includin' the tank,.....
What I used: new rear mount tank from Qudratec, ni/cop 5/16" fuel line, an electric fuel pump('cause it was there), a Mercruiser water sep/ fuel filter('bout a pint cap.), 'n a few feet of marine rated 5/16" fuel hose,....

The tank has 2 extra ports on the top, left, rear corner, so I capped one, 'n put a 5" piece of fuel hose over the frame to a couple feet of hard line, which I ran up, 'n over the tail light mountin' bolts, inside the tub/ rear fender,.....

The sendin' unit in the tank has a feed port, 'n vent port, I capped the vent, as it don't need 2, on the feed port, I put a 1' piece of rubber line to get it out from over the tank,....
From that rubber line, I ran a single piece of hard line up to the front of the left front fender,... behind the left head light bucket, I built a bracket to mount the spin-on fuel filter, 'n the fuel pump,.....
There's short rubber fuel lines that go from the hard line(from the tank), to a 5/16" barb on the filter housing, another from the filter housing to the fuel pump, 'n another from the fuel pump to the original steel line to the carb,.....

 

Agreed.

The old Ford flathead pumps had an integral filter before the pump valves.

 

Flathead Fords are also notorious for vapor lock issues.

 

Well, they also have the exhaust coming out above the cylinders and channeled down through the block. They had cooling problems generally.

Kinda think a filter before or after the fuel pump won't matter. It's the float needle that is most vulnerable to debris in the gas. Maybe not an old CJ, but from the '70s on fuel tanks used a filter sock on the fuel pickup that keeps larger debris out of the fuel pump.

I'd also reason that a larger filter will have less pressure drop than those small glass-barreled filters. I'd use a conventional filter from a good brand, like this -
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=577845&jsn=267 Not rocket science.

 

I know people say that, because they 'pull' the fuel rather than push it, and because the pump sits up high on top of the hot engine.

That said, in over twenty years my stock '34 has never vapor locked even once. No cooling problems either. Maybe I'm lucky I don't live down south.

 

Yeah, my 50 never had issues either, but that was in the mild Pacific Northwest. Several of the folks with my parents Early Ford V8 Club chapter have added electric fuel pumps at the tank because of vapor lock issues. Particularly for long summer trips across the Eastern Washington and Oregon deserts.