Another idea I had was to somehow seal the top of the housing to keep air out, which would disable the primer pump, but also keep air out of the system.
As far as the housing from the ford diesel, do you mean for like an f-250? Would the part from a VW diesel rabbit work as well? I know I've got a few of those lying around that I can take the filter and housing from, none of them have the primer pump, either, after about 1975, VW quit using it.

1984 Isuzu p'up 2.2L diesel -in rehab
Warn lockers