Fuel System: Electric fuel Pump

[63looks59]

Hope all is well with everyone:
I am wanting to go to an Electric Fuel Pump set up--- and wanting to eliminate the Mech fuel pump.

Does anyone have a suggested parts list ? And set up methodology ? perhaps including a safety relay?
A favorite pump brand ? ect ect
Comments / suggestions will be appreciated

[thehotrodder]

Not the most expensive system or the fanciest but I do like what I have built.
From the fuel tank I added a regular steel inline filter as close to tank as I could. Then I T the line and run both lines into 2 separate pumps ( cheap mr gasket pumps) I got brass barbed on one side threaded on the other fittings for the inlet side of the pump because those cheap little pre-filters leak where the filter body crimps to the nut/fitting side. I make a bracket out of whatever is lying around and since these pumps are small I bolt them to each other sandwiching my bracket and at the same time I ground both pumps. From there I run my fuel lines out the pumps and T them back together and plumb this into the original fuel system on the vehicle. At the motor, remove the mechanical pump and block the hole off. I used a gasket and shellac on the back side of my block off plates. Then I plumb in more 5/16” steel fuel line to an in line steel fuel filter one that has a vent hole with a 1/4” line. This will be a return line. I route this line all the way back to either the filler neck because it’s easy to remove and clean (don’t wanna blow up) and with the gas cap off and the pumps running you can visually see it work if you can’t hear the pumps running. (done this on a few cars) or the top/highest point on the tank. I did this on my truck- it has dual tanks. I braze mine so I know it won’t leak. Back to the top of the motor and from this new fuel filter right after filter I throw a cheap adjustable regulator in then to the carb.

electrical side of this goes from I think the accessory side of the ignition switch (you want pump on when key is on) through a fuse(I use inline glass since that’s what the rest of the car has) to a 3 position toggle switch and then those two wires one goes to each pump. This setup allows me to run one pump at a time and should one fail I can flip my toggle switch to the other pump and save myself from a stranding. Also I can flip the toggle switch to center/off if I am worried about auto theft. The return line is to dump what fuel the motor didn’t use that got hot in the fuel line back into the tank full of cooler fuel. I have ran this system on my lark for almost 10 years with no issues. -however there is a touch of maintenance: under the hood the rubber lines (from steel to filter, from filter to return, from filter to regulator and regulator to steel line to carb) tend to crack. I like to change mine annually.
all my studebakers that have this system see heavy regular use. Regular pump (with ethanol) gas and I have no vapor lock issues, no leaks, no starvation, no dieseling, no issues at all.

a relay seems a little overkill for me. You will need a couple pumps, a couple 5/16 barbed fittings, a couple brass Ts and a couple boxes of hose clamps. A couple sticks of 5/16 line and a few sticks of 1/4 steel line for return. Some 5/16 unions and a few 1/4 unions. This will require cutting and flaring lines so those tools will need to be had/borrowed. Some 5/16 rubber and some 1/4 rubber fuel line. It all depends on how liberal you want to be with the rubber as to how much will be needed. I try to use as little as I can. And a mechanical pump block off plate w/gasket. On the electrical side there will need to be eyelids and Butt connectors. I like the kind that heat shrink after crimping. And an in-line glass fuse holder. A 3 position toggle switch. Some stray metal for toggle switch and fuel pump brackets. And enough electrical wire to go from key switch to toggle to fuel pumps twice. Length varies based upon well, everything. Where you mount your pumps, switch, how you run the wires whether that be out and down the firewall or under the carpet and out the back.

Good luck and if you want pictures or anything let me know

[doofus]

Most impressive! a common universal fuel pump block off plate from your local flaps fits, dont ask for one for a Studebaker, you get the deer in the headlights look! Luck Doofus

[4NStudy]

I used a Facet pump along with a Holley oil pressure safety switch. The recommened pump is #40106 and the Holley safety switch is 12 - 810. I ordered my pump from Aircraft Spruce. There's also an inline filter that they recommend for the pump. I got the Holley switch from the Amazons.

I mighted have added a parallel pump if I'd thought about, but the Facet pumps seem reliable enough and they're self regulating so I didn't bother with a return line.

I cut the pump into the gas line where it runs along the frame under the driver seat. Its a convenient location and its close enough that you can hear the pump running when its on (the Facet pumps are pretty quiet). I added a fuel pressure gauge and another clear inline filter up near the carb while I was at it and moved the fuel line as far away from the block as practicle.

I installed the pressure safety switch on port where the oil pressure gauge pick up comes of the cylinder head . You'll need a brass tee connector 1/8 npt, male, female, female, to make this work. The instructions for the pump and the switch are straight forward.

[thehotrodder]

4NStudy: Is the car hard to start after it sits for a few days? Or did you do a Murphy switch thing to where you can prime the carb without running the motor?

[bensherb]

I use a Toyota truck pump, they're cheap, around $10 on ebay. I mounted it in the stock fuel line just forward of the left rear spring. My tank is sterile, but I do use a bronze filter on the engine side. I only
use rubber fuel line where the stock hard line connects to the pump. The Toyota pump has no provision for anything else. Otherwise it's all hard line and routed around the engine compartment, not cross/through it. I have only 18" of insulated hard fuel line in the engine compartment (don't worry about "lack of flex" my engine sits on 5 hard urethane mounts, and is balanced). The pump is wired through a "on-off-on" switch. I originally installed it only for priming, but later removed the mechanical pump. Any standard Ford block off plate easily works. I have an oil pressure switch to wire the pump through on the other side of the switch but havn't done it yet.

[Jeffry Cassel]

First , use a piston type pump. If you go cheap with a vane pump and you run out of gas or the car sits for a while, the vane pumps will lose their prime and won't work. My son said use a Bosch pump for a mid 80's carbureted Honda. I do not abandon the mech. pump. Redundancy is good. If the electrc pump fails the mech pump is a back up and vice-versa. I piggy back into an acc. terminal. This allows you to switch it on without having ign on so that you can pump fuel to the carb with ign off (so you don't burn the points.) I also switch the pump so I can drive on mech pump alone. (aircraft do the same--you take off with the electric pump on and switch it off and run on the mech. pump when you reach pattern altitude) So use a piston pump. Always put filter between tank and pump. If you run on elec. pump alone, you'll probably want to put one of those turn-pump -off- in case-you-crash-switches in the circuit. But then this is but another thing that can fail and leave you along side the road.

[4NStudy]

4NStudy: Is the car hard to start after it sits for a few days? Or did you do a Murphy switch thing to where you can prime the carb without running the motor?

When I intially installed the pressure switch I had the Normally Closed (NC) terminal wired to the starter soleniod as per the instructions. This meant that the pump would run with the starter on start-up and prime the line( and likely fill the bowl too). So it would take a few moments if the car was sitting for a few days - so not harder to start, just longer. Also, you cound't hear the pump running because the starter noise would drown it out. I didn't like that.

A few weeks ago I order a momentary switch (assuming thats what you mean by Murphy Switch).

$13 (Canadian Dollarettes) from the Amazons. I wired one side directly to the battery and the other side to the NC terminal on the pressure switch. I use it to prime the system before I start the car.

Here's what it looks like installed

[thehotrodder]

4NStudy:
that is pretty slick and looks very nice. What I meant by Murphy switch is a switch that is wired in to fool something into working. (Usually found on construction/industrial equipment) the switch is commonly used to fool the machine into thinking it has oil pressure so it won’t safety-kill itself (usually by shutting off fuel) until the engine has oil pressure. Then you let the switch out and the electricals now can work as they were designed. Cutting fuel off in the presence of a no oil pressure situation.

By the way, I run 2 fuel pumps on a toggle switch not because I was stranded but because I remember hearing stories of my grandad in his ‘63 Avanti getting stranded in the Mojave desert with a tank of fuel and no way to pump it to the motor. (I think he was running one of those big ol’ carter electric pumps at the time)

I run cheap pumps because I’m a “financial conservative”

[NCDave51]

Not sure what type or make of pump I have - came as a nicely working unit with my Champ this January. Piston or vane, not sure?

Good chance that “jackb” might know as he had this truck for a good length of time with all its upgrades.

There is a manual kill switch at the left underside of the dash; pump is wired hot with ignition “on”. No return line being used. Old (AC?) pump still in place on the block.