TR2/3/3A Electric Fuel Pump Sound

I am working on my friends TR3. He had one back in the day with an electric fuel pump. He says when he would start the car, he'd turn the fuel pump on and hear it go ticky, ticky, tick and then stop. He would then hit the starter. He wants a fuel pump like that installed on the car he owns now. I know this is a really strange question, but which of the currently offered electric pumps would be described as making a noise like that?

Almost any of the typical SU fuel pumps will do that. You can get the original style (with points) or an identical looking unit with solid state works -- they will both tick until the fuel bowls are full then shut off.

I guess he wants his TR to sound like an MG?

Edit: Typicals here: https://mossmotors.com/catalogsearc...CMOKpIRu9n-s1JkrU2fGawkDf4jqfaQsaApCpEALw_wcB

Interesting that he said he turned it on. Must have been a direct electric hook up with a switch. Not a very safe set up if that's the case. I had a electric fuel pump set up in my TR250 that turned on with the ignition switch was in the on position. Worked great but if the car stalls the pump keeps pumping (happened to my daughter driving it and a 10' puddle of fuel under the car), an accident where driver is impaired and can't turn the ignition off. So I installed a oil pressure switch. No oil pressure the pump is off. Worked great put if the car sits for a while and the gas evaporates out of the float chambers the car doesn't start with out a bunch of priming and battery charging. I went back to a mechanical fuel pump. The ticking is cute but let a Triumph be a Triumph.

I'll try to dig out my pump and post a pic of it. It also ticked while running. My Triumph mechanic told me about it that he used it in MGs. Purchased it from my local Car Quest too for less the $20. Ironically it looks a lot like the one in another recent post for a back up electric pump. I did buy one as a back up for my TR6.

There are a couple kinds of pumps. The rotary type are quiet, but there are others, which work like the mechanical ones, but are electrically operated. You want one of the latter. There is a pump by Facet, now part of Purolator, which works that way. It's very reliable and can be obtained with various output pressures. For an example of the installation in my Porsche, see https://www.nonlintec.com/porsche/fuel/.

Some sort of mechanism that turns the pump off in an accident is not a bad idea. Some people use the oil-pressure switch, but with a circuit that turns it on long enough to start the car. I have an inertial switch. I will do the same in my TR4A when I get it to that point.

I currently use a relay to my Facet fuel pump. It senses distributor rotation and energizes the pump only when the distributor is turning. If the engine stalls due to an accident power to the fuel pump is cut off.

Maybe others work different, but the Facet pumps I have will keep on clicking even after the fuel pressure has come up. They don't stop like the SU pumps do.

Mine is pretty loud until the float bowls fill up. Then, it does give off a muffled click, but it's quiet enough to be drowned out by the Porsche's engine noise (which, I guess, isn't saying much). Of course, there are a couple models of the Facet pump. I've used only the little cubes; can't say much about the others.

As promised. The pump in the middle is the one that ticks. The bottom one is the same as the middle one but I never ran it. There is a link for it on Ebay in another active post for an emergency fuel pump.