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Re: Please throw them SU pumps away

To: TVRVixen@aol.com
Subject: Re: Please throw them SU pumps away
From: Randy Wilson <randy@taylor.infi.net>
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 1994 23:46:27 -0500 (EST)
> 
> 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.
> 

 I'll agree fully with not rebuilding an SU pump. While the basic design was
alright for the era, they tended to burn the points after a while. This
could have been cured by the addition of a simple surge-supression diode.
Alas, I don't think diodes had been invented at the time the SU pump was 
designed. A properly rebuild pump will last many years. But there are
better...
 However, I would not go so far as to recommend bodging in any old fuel pump
and quai-regulator. Instead, I can vouch for the new generation (new being 
a relative term here) SU pump replacements. The ones I get are labeled 
Auto-Pump. Black plastic body, mounts directly into the SU bracket, accepts the
stock MG banjo fittings, and contains the needed surge-supression diode.

 In the last ten years or so, I've only see one of these pumps die. It was
killed by the owner. Thirty minutes after picking up his car with a brand
new pump in it, the car died. As happens all to often with British car owners,
he first blamed/cursed Lucas. When that failed, he blamed "SU" (note, now
an Auto-Pump), and commenced to fiddle with the pump. After beating on it
to no avail, he reversed the wire connections. This blew the diode out,
rendering the pump DOA, and did nothing to cure the real problem, an empty 
petrol tank.


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