Facet fuel pumps...

I'd have thought so. The line pressure / volume doesn't need to be that much to feed carbs. Anecdotal evidence I know but on a TR7 V8 I had there was a cheapo taiwanese job punting fuel up to twin SUs on a 3.5 V8. I'm assuming the pump is fitted fairly low down, at the tank end of the car.

-- Ken Davidson DocDelete

Now there's a rarity.

Used to be, but I believe they're not any more. Can't get the parts, Guv'nor. Might be worth talking to Moquip, Demon Tweeks or someone, just in case.

Yes. Can't remember the figures, but I did check when I fitted one to a friend's Landie conversion.

-- Do whales have krillfiles ?

Yes, but a single SU petrol pump won't stand up to a v8 at full throttle. It'll cough and gasp when accellerating, particularly from a standstill. Fuel consumption goes a hell of a lot lower than 15mpg when accellerating. Or how about in low range? At full throttle in 4th Low you're looking at about 5mpg tops.

Alex

The plunger types are renowned for jamming when they've worn a bit. Bloody awful things. I remember trying to get home one night on a car with a pair of DCOEs I'd borrowed from a friend to test along with the Facet he used with them. It jammed every half mile or so and I had to tap it with a screwdriver and hope to get a bit further before it jammed again. A good fuel filter upstream of them helps but the fault is mainly in the design. I'm sure if you belt yours a couple of times it'll struggle back into life.

Fuel requirement is approx 0.8 gallons per hour for every 10 bhp. The largest solid state should suffice for your engine.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

A single SU electric pump will supply a Rover V8 at full throttle it just depends on the size of pump, SU pump reliability is a different matter.

Like Dave I had problems with the solid state Bendix//Facet jamming -- it is essential they are used with an inlet "sock filter" inside the tank. They are also dammed noisy, but should cope with the peak flow rate.

With the other type of Facet/Bendix pump make sure you get a low pressure one suitable for carbs not fuel injection.

Alternatively you could fit a suitable sized AC vane type electric pump, some Austin-Rover carb equiped models use these and they were very reliable and silent. Burlen could also supply a suitable Jag XK sized SU complete with solid state switching much more reliable than original points.

Yes - the Jaguar 4.2 engine was supplied by one pump, so they certainly can. I had an old Bentley which had a sort of twin pump with one chamber and I think a similar arrangement was used on later near 7 litre Rolls V-8s until EFI arrived.

As usual Dave you are right....duly wacked the end and it burst in to life. Shame the AA man didnt know about it. Had to do it again later in the day when she cut out but all seesm well now. It does have a filter...perhaps not a good enough one. I'll replace that before investing in a new pump. I see there is a Stag one on ebay....that should be up to the job. Is it mounted near the tank on a Stag or under the bonnet?

Jonners

Some were. Had several. In the E-Type it was a single SU pump which was totally unreliable. Similarly the Daimler/Jag 250. Other Jaguars (from my experience) Mk X and Series 3 Sovereign and I assume others had pumps immersed in the fuel tanks, which really frightened me. I have a solid state fuel pump in my daily driver E - bugger originality - I need it to work.

Geoff MacK

The carburettor XJ6s had two pumps - one for each tank - switched to select either tank.

Whilst it's true SU pumps can be unreliable, they're also cheap and easy to fix, and give a reasonable life when setup and working correctly.

The actual tanks on an XJ6 where a different matter. ;-)

I recently fitted one to my Lea-Francis and there was a bit in the instructions saying that an upstream filter was essential. It's certainly clatters a bit, but it delivers fuel pretty well (at the moment). Would a smidgen of 2-stroke oil help its life at all or does one just wait till bits of it appear in the downstream filter? I must confess I know nothing of what goes on inside them, except it bears a striking resemblance to the Bendix pump of about 35 years ago. Never had much trouble with them, but I may have been lucky.

Standard cure for electric pumps of this type, though not even I would recommend a sledge hammer for this one ;-)

Ron Robinson

Mine was an injected Series 3. Switchable in theory, but an unfortunate habit of filling one tank from the other producing a fountain of petrol from one of the filler caps.

Can you still get points for an SU pump? Not much else to go wrong, but still let me down more times than I wish to remember.

Geoff MacK

Caused by knacker valves in one of the pumps

Yes still available but most people get the kit that conversts them to solid state switching

Err no....there is only one pump on an injected series 3 and a switcable selector valve. The problem Geoff describes is caused by this valve failing to select...fuel is therefore pumped from the worng tank and returned to the other, which causes the overflow. Very embarassing as it often leaves you with any enmpty source tank, and an overflowing spare that you cant select. Can often be cured by switching to the full tank and whacking the valve at the back of the spare wheel well... Could also be caused be the return valves failing...and selecting form one tank and returning to the other.... The fuel tank system is not the series 3's best feature....

Jonners

Ahh - the EFI didn't use SU type pumps, but IIRC a Bosch/Lucas high pressure type with an electrical divertor system for both flow and return to either tank. Not really surprising it gave trouble knowing Jag standards of the time. ;-)

I'm pretty certain they're still available from Burlen, but the electronic conversion which replaces them is said to be much more reliable.