Primer pump

[alexblack13]

Hi All
I can't for the life of me find the post that showed (by accident) what I recon' is a brilliant idea. The pic in the post (?) Showed a hand primer bulb pump plumbed into the feul line in the boot. This idea I recon' is a 'Stoater'.

I was hand filling my carbs using various methods and had resigned myself to fitting a 'lecy' pump just to fill the carbs after standing for a while. I then saw the said post, shot off and paid 8 quid for an outboard motor hand primer bulb as per the said pic's and fitted it. Absofeckinlutly bang on! Car starts more or less 1st time. No more jumper leads, hot starter motor and even hotter solinoid!

Pay attention folks. This works perfectly!

Thank you. thank you. thank you.... Sorry I can't remember who you are but thanks again !!!


Alex B....

[paddy]

viewtopic.php?t=17061

Paddy

[alexblack13]

Thanks Paddy. I just thought simple was best and cheapest. And it works wonderfully. I know about building up the oil pressure which is always a good idea. My engine has the oil pressure up in a couple of turns. Getting fuel up into the carbs was another story though. Had to use jumper leads once as I flattened the battery. The good bit about the hand pump is you can feel whats going on and stop when you feel the pressure is built up. Pull the choke and 1st / 2nd turn and its running.

I like it.

Now done about 250 mls in the wee car. So far nought has fallen off. 250 more and I will drain all the oils and refill with fresh. Redline synth going in the gearbox and diff. Engine will get fresh good quality mineral oil & new filter. I will run that for 1000 mls to finish run in then its on to best quality synth for that also.

Roll on summer. Clocks forward in a couple of weeks !! Brill !!

Cheers all.....

Alex B....

[Leo Leentvaar]

glad to hear you are enjoying your wee car Alex, it makes the Kingdom of Fife even more interesting. Must say had a similar problem with my car after last winter, I resorted to filling the carbs with a syringe

[alexblack13]

Never tried the syringe! Tried a few devices.Ended up with a funnel and a little bit of rubber hose.
Messy. Smelly and B dangerous .

The little pump is great

AB....

[cliveyboy]

I got to admit the hand primer is a neat idea. Cut rubber pipe, push in primer and tighten clips. 5 minutes
I have just installed a low pressure fuel pump which entailed:-
Mounting the pump in boot with custom made brackets.
Remove mechanical pump and make blanking plate with connector for fuel lines.
Modify fuel lines to fit above connector.
Fit inertia switch
Install relay
Add small fuse box
Run extra wires.
Total time taken 2 days +

Clive

[redskatejbf]

Cliveyboy.......At the risk of hijacking this post, could you tell me how / what you used to connect the fuel line output from the elec. pump to the carbs. i.e. by-passing the original mech. fuel pump. I`ve considerd fitting a elec. pump several times but have not done so as i`ve never found any supplier (usual people) that supply 1/2" UNF (I think) female / female connection that would replicate the same connections on the mech. pump so that this pump can be removed.

Regards John.

[cliveyboy]

John
I removed the mechanical pump and put on a blanking plate which had a bracket on it to take a bulkhead fitting.
I then removed the olives and fittings from the fuel lines and reinstalled the pipes in the bulkhead fitting.
One pointer is that the mechanical fuel pump and fittings is much longer than the bulkhead fitting so the pipes might be too short.

Clive

[redskatejbf]

Cliveyboy.......Thanks for your reply, where did you get the bulkhead fitting, is / was it female / female and 1/2" UNF. or a totally different type of fitting. I`am looking for ideas and more details if possible.

Thanks again John.

[cliveyboy]

I actually installed new 8mm fuel line and used a 8mm Union bulkhead connector female-female from my local hydraulics supplier
However if the fuel line is 5/16" you could use an imperial fitting by carefully removing the olive and nut on the fuel lines.
If the lines are a bit short you could use another union connector to connect a short length of pipe to extend it.
I did something similar as I ran copper fuel line and needed a short flexible piece to connect to engine to allow for movement.
It is possible you might have a mix of 5/16" and 8mm pipe as they are so close size wise.
I have in the past swopped olives around to get 5/16" to fit 8mm but only on very low pressure systems.
As this is a public forum I must state that it is not recommended to modify pressure fittings.
If you need more info,clarity etc email me.

Clive

[redskatejbf]

Clive........Thanks, I understand what you mean now, I was under the impression that you had used the existing flexi. pipework from the carbs. and connected it to the elec. feed pump directly with a female / female fitting without a great deal of alteration using what was there. Now having read what I have just written thats what you did do, but altered the olives etc.
I do suffer from brain fade these days, please excuse me.

John.

[cliveyboy]

John
If I had not been running new fuel lines I would probably have made a part thats a direct swop.
i.e Uses the same female fittings as the mechanical pump and same distance offset from engine, fittings same width apart etc.
(I might look in to it)
Clive

[NickD]

When I fitted an electric pump to my Elan, I retained a modified version of the mechanical pump to leave the engine bay plumbing unchanged. I removed the actuating arm and valves from a spare glass bowl pump and then fitted an aluminium plate between the two halves of the pump, sealed by the outer ring of the original diaphragm. I then refitted the pump to the block with a blanking plate in place of the fibre spacer. The pump now just functions as a fuel filter but looks completely standard.

[RichardS]

I bought one of these primer pumps on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/8mm-Fuel-Primer-p ... |294%3A50- nicely made with alloy fittings. Only takes a couple of minutes to fit into the fuel line.

I'm going to fill the carbs with fuel tomorrow and try and fire up the Twin Cam for the first time in 20 years. Wish me luck!!

Richard

[Leo Leentvaar]

Good luck Richard, finally all the toiling starts to pay off.