Electric Fuel Pump in Cold Weather?

[Bigfoot]

I have a mild 318, about 180-200hp and I keep eating mechanical fuel pumps. With the 4 barrel thermoquad, I can cruise just fine but when I open the secondaries it runs great until I cruise again and then sputters for a while until it recovers. In the past this meant that the fuel pump was on it's way out and I finally bought a fuel pressure gauge and hooked it in line to the carb and ran the hose up thru the hood and tie wrapped it down for a run down the street to see what it would do. Sure enough at idle it was only putting out about 3.75-4psi. When I cracked open the throttle in the drive way a couple of times and then let it idle it would fluctuate between 2.5-3.5psi until about a minute later when enough fuel was pumped back into the carb to keep it happy again. On the street it was even worse at 2-3psi and that was it after a hard run. That was kind of lengthy but I thought I would give you some back ground, now to my main question. For the last 5 years I have replaced 3 pumps so far. I drive like there is an egg shell under my foot so I am in no way ripping around all the time. I buy local NAPA replacement pumps etc. Is there a better mechanical fuel pump that I can get to put out at least 5-7psi and last longer than 18 months? Should I switch over to electric with a regulator? Do they work OK in the extreme cold that I have in Canada sometimes -40 below? How much current do I need to run one?

[charger_dan]

So the NAPA pumps just quit on you?
Do you have any idea on how they're failing?
Any strange noises coming from fuel pump area?

Carter makes a good mechanical pump. While they do offer stock replacements,
their street/strip mechanical pump would be a better choice in my opinion.
I got 6 years outta my last one on my 440. If you wipe one of these, I would
suspect a mechanical problem somewhere else (pump cam eccentric futzed up,
pump arm alignment incorrect, etc.).

Whether you go with an electric or a good Carter mechanical, use a good
regulator set to 5.5-6psi. Also, if you go with an electric, make sure you
use a relay.

Good luck.

[Blygy]

Bigfoot I see your from edmonton..

Do you know of any good Mopar engine shops??

I went to AMS and was told that they couldn't touch a block till April or may..

They recommended Alberta Engine Builders?? Talked to the owner and he seems OK..

Any thoughts???

Thanx

[cuda66273]

You may want to contact Dave571 on this board, he's in Calgary and he knows his Mopar stuff, we've talked and he's right on the money when it comes to building mopar engines.

..your fuel pump....try the Carter HP 120 GPH mechanical pump, we've had good luck with them on semi stock applications. Part of your problem could be your fuel delivery system. If your running one of those little in-line filters throw it away and put on a Fram HPG 1, it'll flow at about 90+ GPH which is where you need to be.

If you still have the 5/16 fuel lines you might want to consider up-grading to 3/8ths.

You may also still have the sock in the fuel tank over the pick-up tube...open up the tank and chuck that stupid thing in the trash can...the HPG 1 will be plenty of filtration for your application.

At minimum you should change over the stock fuel supply line from the pump to the carb with a -06 braided line.

Feel free to give me a call if you still have questions or need more help.

The toll free number works from Canada.

[ehostler]

What Cuda said

[Bigfoot]

Blygy: I took my 360 block in there for 30 thou. over boring and the work was perfect, no problems at all. That is about all I have had done and I haven't used any other shops in town so I really couldn't give any recommendations.
Charger_Dan: When I changed the timing chain 2 years ago I thought that maybe the eccentric was bad because the pumps kept going so I bought a new one with the timing chain. When I finally got it all apart it, the eccentric was fine so I just replaced it anyway for the heck of it.
Cuda66273: You gave me a good idea about the filter. I think I will pull the line off before the filter and put the gauge in there and see what kind of pressure I am getting. I don't have time to play for a couple of days but this weekend I will get to the bottom of it.