Are electric fuel pumps worth the time to upgrade to? One of my coworkers stuck one on his half ton jeep with a small 6cyl, and he said it helped with taking off and not having to rev so high so it doesn't bog down.

I've used electric fuel pumps before, once on a compressor and once on my Baja. Compressor was for the priming, and the baja was for safety reasons.

So, anyone stuck an electric fuel pump in their trucks? Notice any difference in day to day driving?


Thanks
Jameson

 

I think of electric FP's as a problem solver, especially for vapor lock. If the stock style fuel system is working OK (like mine), I would expect little if any gain with the electric pump.

 

the positive for me is that it primes the system before startup and it gets the fuel lines off the motor and away from the heat.

The negative is that on mine, when I'm out of gas I'm OUT, it doesn't spit and sputter then go for a while longer it sucks the tank till it's dry. This wouldn't be much of an issue if I had a fuel gauge but I don't, so I just carry a can.

That and having a BBF I know every auto parts store is gonna have some sort of an electric pump in stock, usually factory replacement parts are a matter of finding a place that happens to have it or order it in and wait a few days.

 

I'm going Edelbrock EFI and plan on carrying a spare... just in case.

 

If you decide to go with an electric pump, choose the type carefully to be sure it fits exactly what you need. Summit sells a pretty cheap combo of a rebranded Holley blue top and Holley regulator that will be a good unit, but it's a diaphragm pump and is plenty loud. I've been running one for years and I could hear it over the engine 'till I swapped to a loud, stinky diesel.

A gerotor type pump will be very quiet and should be plenty reliable for the long haul. You can expect to spend a little bit more money for them, from what I've seen; I've also never seen one that puts out the pressure your carb can use, so make sure that you check that and regulate as needed.

It never hurts to put a little thought into the connections you'll use as well. If you use high quality connections, it makes service or replacement a breeze.

Flare fittings like AN or JIC are nice, but if you decide to just go with tapered threads, that will work well too; be sure to put some sort of fuel safe sealant on the threads, rather than just tightening the hell out of them, as the tapers on these are not designed to be a dry fit.

Also, some good reusable electrical connectors will help if you need to replace it ever, especially if you like to keep a spare one rattling around, "Just in case."

The electrical pump I put on my Bronco got rid of the annoying vapor lock I'd get when it was over 100* outside but also made fuel plumbing very easy for the engine swaps I've done since. It's mostly unused now, but still pulls duty as a priming pump when I let the vehicle sit long enough.

 

I agree that the electric fuel pump is really just a means to solve a problem. There's no running performance increase. If your coworker begs to differ, then his previous mechanical pump was actually failing, and/or he doesn't know what he's talking about. Off-the-line acceleration has nothing to do with the fuel pump unless the fuel pump is on the bleeding edge of failure.

I switched to an electric pump because I couldn't find a quality replacement mechanical pump for my straight six. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have to. But here's my writeup:

www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1310475-electric-fuel-pump-conversion-pics.html