[TR] TR3 Electric Fuel Pumps

[Randall]

>      It looks like a good quality German made pump. Does anyone else
> have a
> recommendation?

I much prefer the little rectangular Facet electric pump.  In addition to
being solid state, it has no diaphragm to be incompatible or wear out (and
leak fuel in unpleasant places).  It's also quite a bit cheaper than the
pump you linked to, even in "aircraft grade":
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/facetpumps.php

The downside of this pump is that they are kind of noisy, and make noise all
the time they have power.  If bolted directly to sheet metal, the metal will
amplify and conduct the noise, which can get kind of irritating.  So some
sort of vibration dampening mount is a good idea, IMO, for a permanent
installation.  On the Stag, I used rubber grommets and bolts to fasten the
pump to a strip of flat iron, and then another set of grommets and bolts to
fasten to the stock SU mounting points.  The result worked out quite well, I
have to listen closely to tell if the pump is running when the engine is
off, and cannot hear it at all when the engine is running.

Although it is recommended that the pump be mounted at fuel level, the one I
put on my motorhome gen set was closer to 24" above the bottom of the fuel
tank, and still worked fine.  The one in the Stag is also maybe 18" above
the bottom of the tank, and works just fine.

They don't like dirty fuel though, so I would definitely recommend a filter
on the inlet.  Fortunately there is a commonly available filter that doubles
as the inlet fitting (5/16" hose barb on one side, 1/8 NPT fitting on the
other).
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FRM-G22A
(should be available at O'Reilly, Pep Boys, maybe even Wally/K Mart).

Used with the filter, I've never seen one of these pumps fail.  Although I'm
also fond of the original mechanical pump in the TR, I keep a Facet in the
spare tire as a "road side spare".

-- Randall