Tim, your NAPA pump is an Airtex brand. Some say those are great, others say those are bad pumps. Hard to decide which is true. I found a lot more positive reviews than negative. Airtex is popular and is widely used. Probably an OK fuel pump. That Airtex looks to be an "impeller" type. Read on to learn about this.
Your Carter page displays the three types of electric fuel pumps. Top one, the "rotary" pump is the best type and most expensive. Those have been around for ages and prove a good pump.
Second one is an "impeller" design. Those seem to work pretty good but don't last as long as a rotary design. Mercury uses or did use an impeller design for the water pump in their outboard marine engines. I recall those have problems but this was many decades back. Primary problem was the rubber blades becoming distorted. An impeller design works on an eccentric shaft. The impeller blades fit loose on the side where gas comes in, then those blades are squished on the side where gas goes out. This squishing over and over seems to wear out those blades. Advantage is an impeller design can produce higher fuel pressure.
Last one down over at Carter, this is the one I suggest you avoid. This is the "vibrating" piston type. Those deliver fuel OK but do not "draw" fuel well from a fuel tank. This type is aimed at small four cylinder engines for the most part; low pressure, low delivery rate. I would not use one for your truck.
You can see the progression in sizes from large rotary type at top to very small with the "electronic" type at very bottom. This is a case when "size" really does matter and this size relates to reliability; larger more reliable, smaller less.
Stay away from the one at bottom, the tiny one, just bad news.
Your choice is between the large rotary type at top, and the next down impeller type. Here is the difference. The top one, rotor type, is an age old "military" grade pump, in use for many decades. The next down, impeller, was ushered into use with modern electronic fuel injection. This one is the "high" pressure type.
An old design rotor type is best for carburetors, the new impeller design is best for fuel injection.
Almost all fuel injection cars have an impeller type mounted inside the tank. Have to be reliable because of such difficulty replacing an in-tank pump. This speaks to the quality.
I installed an impeller type, the fuel injection kind second down at the Carter page, in my girl's Corvette for fuel injected flame throwers. Size is not quite as big around as a beer can and half again longer. Price tag is $350 even. I bought the best available for safety. When shooting out flames from a fuel injected flame thrower system, there can be no mistakes, this is dangerous.
Same safety principle applies to your truck. Not so dangerous but you want the best reliability possible so you don't break down on the road. An old truck, especially a nice old truck, sitting on the side of a road is an attractive target for car thieves. Classic cars and trucks are very often stripped or just outright stolen. Many end up in Japan and the Mideast. Big money market in classic vehicles; you cannot be too careful.
This is the order of reliability:
Mechanical engine block mounted
Electric rotary vane type
Electric impeller vane type
Again, forget those tiny "electronic" vibrating type.
Tim, I will again argue in favor of an old fashion mechanical type engine block mounted pump. Those are the absolute best for a carburetor type engine and virtually never break down.
If you are dead set on electric, I suggest the top of the line Carter rotary type, top of your Carter page, the big pump.
Do not try to save money on a fuel pump, do not cut corners, this is one of the most critical components of your vehicle. No fuel pump, no driving.
As said at the laundry, No Ticky, No Washy.
Be careful to not place yourself in a position of having to abandon your truck roadside, probably will not be there when you get back.
Billyray
Last edited by Billyray; 04/01/2010 2:18 AM.
