I can't speak on the 58-63 but maybe on the earlier pumps. If I'm wrong someone will correct me but my take is that the 37-51 pump has straight across inlet/outlet ports where the later had the ports angled to account for the side motor mounts. Other than that, I believe they are the same pump.

@tiny @lou-macmillan Tiny and Lou, 1952 and earlier aster Parts Catalogs show individual parts for fuel pumps. The "rocker arm" or lever, as I would call it, group 3.920, is the same from 1937 through 1952. My 1954 catalog does not show group numbers for the pump parts.

My thought would be that if you can hold two pumps side by side, and the base and levers match, there should be no reason why the pumps would not perform the same. Location of inlet/outlet would obviously be an issue.

Mike

    My specific problem is I had a fairly new glass bowl pump go out in a 37 on my way to a meet.   I bought a metal case pump at the nearest store and installed it in a parking lot.   It didn't pump either.   I just wondered if the wrong pump would not align with the cam or my cam lobe was gone?   I bought a glass bowl wiper assist for a 1938.   If it is for a 1953 or newer, would it still work?   I thought that glass bowl pumps were used on older stove bolts and  the metal body was the only difference between the pumps.         

I don't know if this is the "correct" method but if it was me, I would do the follow to test if the lobe on the cam is functioning. Remove the fuel line from the inlet side and have someone crank the engine while you hold a finger over the inlet port of the pump. If it's sucking, it's working. The newer, metal body, pump should work just fine. I've seen a lot of grousing on-line about buying new reproduction pumps that are bad out of the box. If I remember right The Filling Station got a batch of them some time back. It's possible you just were "lucky" enough to buy one of those.

@lou-macmillan i had 3 of the new metal case ones not work out of the box. Precision Fuel Pump M16094 | O'Reilly Auto Parts this pump is what ive been using for years with no problems. It has a longer arm so you dont have to worry about it not engaging your cam. You do have to get longer mounting bolts.