A tale of two fuel pumps
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 5:30 am
I am sure I am not the first newbie working to restore/modify/repair a newly acquired truck to find some strange and interesting, even perplexing changes from the original military build. When I pulled my motor and started to remove the "bolt-ons" I took a lot of pictures so I can hopefully get it all back together in a reasonable approximation of what it should be. But I did not pay a lot of attention to how some things work. Like my mechanical fuel pump. Just unbolted it, cleaned it, and set it aside. And replaced the aged rubber tubing connecting one port to another. Like here still on the engine.
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
And the former owner had put in two rear-ward facing bed lights, mounted on a bracket at the top of the aftermarket "hard-top", and told me they were wired to 12 volts. And that he had also added an electrical fuel pump, wired to a lit-if-on toggle right above the ignition switch. The truck seemed to run fine, although I had to learn how not to flood the motor on a hot restart. I got a good look at his rather rudimentary hose connections to the pump the other day when I removed the bed. He had not cut the hard lines, just added some barbs to them, and ran some hose, as you can see in this picture the hoses where routed back and around to get fuel to and from the pump. The wiring is a bit flakey too.
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
I was always quite worried about my mechanical fuel pump leaking gas into the crankcase, with shall we say deleterious results. Recently I was up to Charles T's place for some questions, and I also dropped off several items for his team to have a "look-see." Left my mechanical fuel pump there.
Well, now that I have finished my brake, vent, and fuel lines with the Fedhill lines, (more about that in another post), I went to hook up my 12 VOLT fuel pump, and after a much tidier hookup, including several hours of running protected wiring, I traced the power wire back up under the dash, expecting to find the power coming from the small switch converter under the dash. Surprise! My 12 volt fuel pump was wired into a fused line straight from the batteries to the flip switch, then to the pump. So my 12 VOLT was running on 24 Volts! I am not sure it that made it pump a lot more fuel, but I have ordered a Facet small 24 volt pump, 5-9 psi, and install it, and may need to add a fuel pressure gage and fuel regulator. I had put one in my former Superformance Cobra. Here is a picture of my much tidier hook-up of my 12 V pump, which will be coming out in a few days. All that work for nothing. My fuel injection hose is only a few inches each side, to my new 5/16 fuel lines.
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
Then, while I still have my Fedhill flairing device, went back around to the front of the frame, and realized that my fuel lines had not been connected to the mechanical pump at all! So it was only for wiper vacuum. So I am not sure if I will use it just for wiper vacuum, or just remove it all together, and add electrical wipers, or just go without any wipers. How often will I drive in a downpour anyway, and besides, Rain-off works pretty well anyway. I do intend to remove the 24 to 12 volt thingy, which external wiring I can't figure out, remove the bed lights and their wiring.
enough pictures already in this thread.
all the best, NV
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
And the former owner had put in two rear-ward facing bed lights, mounted on a bracket at the top of the aftermarket "hard-top", and told me they were wired to 12 volts. And that he had also added an electrical fuel pump, wired to a lit-if-on toggle right above the ignition switch. The truck seemed to run fine, although I had to learn how not to flood the motor on a hot restart. I got a good look at his rather rudimentary hose connections to the pump the other day when I removed the bed. He had not cut the hard lines, just added some barbs to them, and ran some hose, as you can see in this picture the hoses where routed back and around to get fuel to and from the pump. The wiring is a bit flakey too.
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
I was always quite worried about my mechanical fuel pump leaking gas into the crankcase, with shall we say deleterious results. Recently I was up to Charles T's place for some questions, and I also dropped off several items for his team to have a "look-see." Left my mechanical fuel pump there.
Well, now that I have finished my brake, vent, and fuel lines with the Fedhill lines, (more about that in another post), I went to hook up my 12 VOLT fuel pump, and after a much tidier hookup, including several hours of running protected wiring, I traced the power wire back up under the dash, expecting to find the power coming from the small switch converter under the dash. Surprise! My 12 volt fuel pump was wired into a fused line straight from the batteries to the flip switch, then to the pump. So my 12 VOLT was running on 24 Volts! I am not sure it that made it pump a lot more fuel, but I have ordered a Facet small 24 volt pump, 5-9 psi, and install it, and may need to add a fuel pressure gage and fuel regulator. I had put one in my former Superformance Cobra. Here is a picture of my much tidier hook-up of my 12 V pump, which will be coming out in a few days. All that work for nothing. My fuel injection hose is only a few inches each side, to my new 5/16 fuel lines.
[URL=http://s663.photobucket.com/user/h ... .jpg[/img][/url]
Then, while I still have my Fedhill flairing device, went back around to the front of the frame, and realized that my fuel lines had not been connected to the mechanical pump at all! So it was only for wiper vacuum. So I am not sure if I will use it just for wiper vacuum, or just remove it all together, and add electrical wipers, or just go without any wipers. How often will I drive in a downpour anyway, and besides, Rain-off works pretty well anyway. I do intend to remove the 24 to 12 volt thingy, which external wiring I can't figure out, remove the bed lights and their wiring.
enough pictures already in this thread.
all the best, NV