Electric Fuel Pump

[Arturo & Julia Serrano]

I have the standard Series IV fuel pump which I overhauled. I also have a Series V (no glass bowl) which I tried on the car. Neither seems to work very well. It takes a lot of cranking and/or priming to get fuel to the carburater. I don’t start the car very often as I am still working on a lot of other things. I usually end up pouring some gas into the carburater. After it starts is seems to run OK. I am wondering if it is possible to install an electric fuel pump on the car. Does anyone know of a source of a pump that would work (i.e. positive earth type)?

[Eric and Bonnie and Bonnie Gibeaut]

Facet makes a good electric pump that can be used in positive or negative ground cars depending how it is hooked up. Purolator sells the same pump with their name on it. Many auto parts stores sell these. You want to get the low pressure model-about 3-4 pounds of pressure. I have these on several of my cars and they work well. Eric

[impbarn]

While I won’t argue that a facet electric pump is a good option, the original can be made to work properly. (I’ve got a facet pump on both our Imps, but I’m running the stock pump on my Alpine.)

Have you measured the fuel pressure at the carb to see what you’ve got while cranking? Should be at least 2psi.

What I found was that even after applying the rebuild kit to the stock fuel pump, it would not make the rated fuel pressure. It made LESS pressure after I put the rebuild kit in. The key to the matter was in the stroke of the pump. The arm which is driven from the camshaft, wears against the arm which pulls the diaphragm up and down. This interface point wears. Mine had little teeth ground into it where the very HARD material of the cam lobe arm wore into the softer metal of the arm which drives the diaphragm. The result was a compromised stroke length. If you build material up on the arm which drives the diaphragm at the point which it contacts the arm from the camshaft, you can maximize the stroke. I mig welded a bead on the diaphragm arm, and then ground a little away at a time until I JUST got a little bit of play in the mechanism.

Not sure if that’s the problem you’ve got, but that’s what I ran into.

[David Reina and Donna Koretsky and Donna Koretsky and Donna Koretsky]

Hi,
I was reading through some older posts and read your fuel pump question. The original Sunbeam mechanical fuel pumps have a prime lever on the bottomside of the pump. When I’ve left my cars sit for a period of time and I don’t want to run down the battery I will pop the hood and manipulate the prime lever. You can hear the gas entering the fuel bowls and also hear when it stops filling the bowl. This may help with starting after the car has been sitting. (Replacement pumps may not have the primer lever.)

Gasket thickness between the pump and block will also affect the pump pressure.

I’ve found the mechanical pumps reliable and have driven my Alpine across the country twice as well as taken many other long trips.

A bigger fuel supply problem I’ve had is from paint which flakes off the interior walls of the fuel tanks. This can clog the fuel line at the center of the crossover tube between the two tanks where the fuel line connects. I have also had it mess with the fuel pump. For a while I kept an openable fuel filter in front of the pump and would remove flakes of paint as big as my thumbnail. Under heavy acceleration they would get sucked against the tube inlet and start to stall the car. Eventually to solve this I pulled the tanks and had them boiled out and coated. Anyway paint flake clogging can really cause fuel supply problems.

Dave Reina
66 Alpine

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