TeriAnn Wakeman says:
>But to be honest, the MG isn't half bad, but I do get tired of beating the
fuel
>pump all the time.
Several others have written about having to routinely pound their pump
to get it restarted. Every time I see these notes, I cringe.
I know this may irritate the "originalitynazis", but I want anyone on the
list
who really drives their car to take that SU pump and toss it as far as they
can and replace it with something that works reliably.
In the mid-70s Ernie's Sports Car Center had a photograph on the wall
in the shop. The picture had a little hand-lettered sign above it. It said
"We do not rebuild SU pumps". The photo was of an MGB. The owner
of the car had been bugging Ernie for advice on the rebuilding of his
SU pump. Ernie had told him to get rid of it and put in a decent pump.
But he wanted to fix the one he had. He bought a set of points and did
the work himself.
A few weeks later he was on Interstate 80 just outside of town. The
pump quit. He pulled of onto the shoulder, turned on the 4-way flashers
and got down to start pounding on the pump. He saw the semi coming
and saw it starting to drift over on to the shoulder. He jumped out of the
way just before it hit the MG. The MG was propelled down the road
about 150 feet. The car from the cowl back was completely destroyed.
He was uninjured, but his girlfriend who was sitting in the car, was killed.
I never will rely on an SU pump. I put a decent high pressure pump and
an adjustable pressure regulator on all my cars. I don't think it makes
any sense to insist on originality when the original part is so obviously
flawed. The car and the people in it are put at risk.
If some anal-retentive fanatic ever gets down on his knees to look at my
fuel pump, I will use the opportunity to kick his intellect.
|