Hello, I respectfully solicit advise on SBC fuel pump selection for my '54 Ford Customline 2DR sedan g***er build. It raced on the left coast in the late 60's to early '70's and since buying it 6+ years ago I've been resurrecting it with strict compliance too 'period correctness'. With adherence to South Eastern G***ers ***c. (SEGA) rules I'm also making it streetable so here's my question. It currently has a vintage electric fuel pump setup directly behind the rear bumper which hangs slightly under the bumper making it dangerous for street use. I'm using a TR-1 high rise "bread box" intake with factory matched Carter 625 AFB carbs. Engine has more top end than bottom with Comp series Mother-Thumper cam so I'm concerned about fuel pressure to feed it. Do I stick with an electric pump relocated to trunk or go mechanical with a 8-10psi unit? Thanks for any help you can provide.
Take a Pressure reading , Is your set up Gravity fed to pump, Most of pumps are designed to push, Fuel volume is more important then just psi ( keeping the bowls filled for the fuel consumption) A 7/16 to 1/2 gravity fed supplied to inlet of pump would be better then 5/16 -3/8s to inlet . 3/8 outlet should be enough to carbs , Holley Red /Blue or equivalent I have gotten away with a 427 tri power AC delco mechanical pump over 650hp with twin holleys
Ah the old days when it was cool to mount the electric pumps in that position so you could see it, especially on hot street cars. That way they looked race ready and fast just setting there. I'd check the pressure on the electric pump and see if you can find specs for it to see what it's gph is. If enough gph and the pressure is good I'd just move it to just behind the rear axle and run it. .
It seems Carter AFB carbs are meant to have around 5psi fuel pressure, so the 8-10 psi unit is too much. Probably you can get a mechanical pump that delivers the correct pressure, although a lot of the new units deliver too high fuel pressure.
I've ran a stock mechanical, Twin Carter's, blower, 327.. Ran to 6300 rpm, with a regulator set at 4.5 psi... Anything More an the carbs would leak after shut off.
Thanks for your reply. I'm running the stock gas tank and I'm pretty sure pump is slightly higher than tank outlet but I'll check. I thought most pumps are push/pull so what terminology do mfr's use to differentiate between gravity & push/pull pumps?
Many thanks gent's. This is the advise I needed. I never would have guessed that a dual quad setup would only require 4.5-5.0psi. I also got the message about GPH volume so I will be sure to select the correct fitting/hose diameters.
Mechanical fuel pumps are also excellent at ****ing, unlike electric fuel pumps. It's hard to damage a good ol' mechanical pump.
Thanks. I'm leaning toward mechanical but given the advise I've received here I'm first going to try to identify the mfr. of the electric unit in hopes of finding specs and also pressure test it to see if it's working and how well. Since I'm building it on a budget I want to at least test what I have before I toss it but I do like the simplicity of mechanical and feel they are as ol'school as it gets. Thanks again for your inputs.
Whenever possible I run a mechanical fuel pump on all my cars, but I still run a pressure regulator on all of them too. Mechanical pumps can easily put out enough pressure to push fuel past the float needle, so I keep my regulators set at 5 psi. But my Austin g***er doesn't have enough space to allow a mechanical pump. So it has an electric pump and 10 micron filter both hanging down at the rear below the body line, and I've driven it almost 20,000 miles on the street. Never concerned me, nor has it ever even been close to rubbing or hitting.
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