• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Fuel priming question

Share this page

tweety

tweety

Jedi Trainee
Offline
'79 midget, Zenith carb and of course the mechanical fuel pump.

If I don't start the car at least once a day, it takes 20-30 seconds of the starter chugging before the fuel system is primed.... Common complaint I know.... I know that I can go with an electric fuel pump, but I'm wondering if there is another way.

When I want to start my lawnmower, weed wacker or leaf blower; I just push the primer bulb a few times and pull the starter cord.

Is there any way to add a simple mechanical priming system like that of a lawnmower? Any other ideas?
 
Should not need it. It should start instantly.

For some reason you are loosing the prime in your float bowls. Leakage.

Check and set the floats and renew gaskets as appropiate. If you take a clean paper towel and push it up against the bottom of the carb and bowls it should come away clean.
 
The vast majority of Zenith Strombergs have a plastic drain plug in the bottom of the float bowl. Lord knows why it's there, its only function seems to be to provide the most convenient location to leak raw fuel onto your exhaust manifold. :smile: Bet you that plug is what's leaking.
 
Failing anything else... wouldn't converting to an electric fuel pump be easier / better than jury-rigging a priming system? Let it whirr away for a few seconds before starting?
 
Exactly.
 
Agreed..mine started right up with the same setup. The battery has been out for about 6 months whiel I polish up the engine compartment!
 
Ok, so electric fuel pump just outside the tank. Fuel filter between the tank and the pump. Wire it up to with the key (relay I assume)

Do I keep the mechanical pump in the line?

Do I leave the current fuel filter (near the carb) in the line?

How can I be sure that the pump is sending the correct pressure?
 
is it possible to have the mechanical pump installed and bolted up tight but not working? I don't seem to be drawing any fuel and am trying to figure out where the problem is.
 
No, Yes, and see if it floods the carbs. If not all is fine.


Of course John-Peter. See if you can blow back through the fuel line for starters. Is there fuel in the tank?? Hehe.

Time to go electric.
 
My 1500 had the same problem. Seemed to take lots of cranking, only to have it "chuff", disengage the starter, and I had to try again... Sometimes multiple times. Then I got the electric fuel pump. Phenomenal improvement. Now I just turn the key on, wait a second, and it starts right up.
 
After reading all the positives of the Facet fuel pumps talked about here I bought a low flo from NAPA (this is a private label item for NAPA)and installed it on the rear wall where the original one was. I put a filter between the pump and the tank and a clear one up by the carbs to monitor the flow. No priming necessary there was fuel in the line and she was ready to go in seconds. It is noisy even though I did put large rubber bushings under it. About $49.00 and some new fuel lines and clamps. My car is also positive ground, just switched the wires. Could not be happier, too easy.

Mark
 
Phil, I have over the years made every mistake there is to make with these little cars. In fact I still make them.
 
A few thoughts/responses:

-Yes, it IS possible for a mechanical pump to be installed correctly & still not deliver any fuel. Causes could be "ruptured diaphragm" (never a phrase that any guy wants to ever hear!) :pukeface:, broken drive arm, or even a drive arm that simply "hangs-up" (I had this happen on a Ford 351 Cleveland w a cheap aftermarket mech pump installed...). Could also be a complete loss of prime.

-On my Austin FX3 London Taxi the mechanical pump has a built in prime lever. This particular FX3 has the Austin 2.2L diesel installed in it, and diesels are PARTICULARLY unhappy if they lose prime! So evidently Austin decided that it was worth it to install a prime lever. :iagree:
I wonder if this same pump would fit a BugEye??? HMMMmmm... might need to do some measuring.....

-Elect pump installed between the tank & mech pump seems like a good modern day solution. Besides, they are so low cost that it is also the more economical solution!!

-Looking back to the days of Model-Ts (I have 2 of these wonderfully simple machines...) it is worth noting that Model-Ts didn't even have a fuel pump! (nor a water pump, nor brakes at the wheels, nor turn signals, nor brake lights, nor shock absorbers, nor a gas pedal, nor a starter motor, nor an oil dip stick, nor.... but that's a whole 'nother discussion...) They used a gravity feed system that took advantage of the height difference between the fuel tank (located under the driver's seat) and the updraft carb (located on the lower RH side of the engine). UNFORTUNATELY this system didn't work very well when attempting to climb steep hills!! Typical solution for this problem was to BACK UP the hill!! (many roads even had a turn-out area specifically designed to facilitate this change in vehicle direction.) BUT some clever T-owners adapted a tire valve to their gas tank cap & pressurized the system using their tire pump (a standard piece of equipment for a T)! :banana:

-I've seen a Spridget owner who followed this same line of thought by adapting a fuel cap to have an air fitting on it. He would simply connect the fitting to his compressor (at low pressure) and "whola" the fuel system was primed!! :thumbsup:

That's my 1.5 cents worth!! (the dollar isn't worth what it used to be.....) :driving:

-Bear-
 
Back
Top