so should my mechanical fuel pump completely fill the plastic fuel filter? i am running the stock carb, recently replaced with a carb remanufactured by holley. the throttle shaft on my original was wated. that fixed my idle problem, but now i am gettin surging and bucking at light cruise. timing is where it has always been and it used to run perfect. also a fresh tuneup and new fuel pump and filter. so i am at a loss here. idles perfect and usually runs good under acceleration, but sometime bucks then as well. definitely is not right at cruise though. no vac leaks. ('71 ford 302... i know, ford, but you guys seem to have more smarts than everyone over on those boards) I guess i should put a fuel pressure gage on it to verify that i have good fuel pressure.

anyone?

There will always be some vapor visible in the filter. The fuel flows just fine through the wet part of the element. What you have is normal.