The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Mechanical and electric fuel pumps simultaneously?

Hello all,

I met a guy at a swap meet who told me he's running a Carter inline electric fuel pump on his 235. I asked him how he blocked off the hole where the mechanical pump is, and he said he just left it in place. Said it's been running that way for years. Is this a sound stategy? Is it desirable? I'm about to run a pair of 32/36 carbs on an Offy dual intake. Shouldn't that require higher fuel flow than the mechanical can provide? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

GW

GW - In the post I did on August 25, I failed to indicate what I did with the mechanical pump when I installed the Holley electric pump. I picked up two plugs for the inlet and outlet of the mechanical pump and left it in place. I haven't found a block off plate that I liked yet - but that is my intention. Works good for now - and from what you say - it may be a long term solution as well. Tim-o

You will have enough problems with that Rube Goldberg dual setup without creating a flooding condition with higher fuel pressure. Unless you plan on running wide open throttle all the time, there's no reason to believe a standard mechanical pump won't provide more than enough volume to feed those carbs. If anything, you might need to install a pressure regulator, as the progressive 2-barrels need somewhere around 2-3 PSI, and the stock pump produces a pressure of 4-5. Why would two carbs require more fuel flow than a single carb, when the throttle opening, not the number of carburetors, is supposed to control how much fuel the engine gets?
Jerry

On my fork lift, gas compressor, 37 Buick, and 46 Ford all have a priming electric pump which is turned off as soon as engine starts and the mechanical pump takes over. Everything but the compressor still has 6v starters which last for years providing you don't grind on them for long times, like pulling fuel from tank to carb. Buick has been this way for 40 years.

My Pop has an electric pump on his truck in case the manual pump quits. Back in the 80's someone borrowed his truck and the fuel pump did quit, and they were about 20 miles from civilization. After they walked for hours to a phone to call him to let him know his truck was dead, he asked them why they didn't drive it down from where they were.
We told you the pump died.

I know, I heard that, but I have an electrical pump wired in for situations like that, if you'd just flicked the switch you could have drove it down.

Oh yeah! Forgot all about that auxiliary pump being there.

I have installed electric aux fuel pumps in most of the vehicles I owned prior to the advent of fuel injected engines.
Electric fuel pumps are extremely handy on a long mountain grade on a hot summer day to over come a vapor lock. We had a '65 C20 camper special for 18 years, the electric pump I installed saved the day on many occasions.
In about 1974,75 I was with a friend hunting in the mountains of Idaho. The fuel pump quit, we were in deep do do. I removed the small rubber hoses going to the windshield washers. Then I took a gas can we had for the chain saw, siphnened fuel from the tank into the gas can and taped the can of gas on top of the cab with duct tape. Fuel gravity fed via the washer hose to the carb, we drove the truck 45 miles to town. Of course the truck would only run about 30 mph, then would starve for fuel. Wm.