loud MGB fuel pump

Never owned an MGB but my car has basicaly thesame fuel pump and carbs (a bit bigger and more of them, but along the same lines). All depends on how fast it's tapping. Ignition on goes like hell then slows down; normal gentle running taps about twice a second, pressing on about double that.

If it stops tapping it's not pumping, and orderly progression will cease. I assume it's an SU electric pump, in which case your wish for it to stop will undoubtedly be granted at some stage. Unfortunately so will the car.

Service kits are available if you're still concerned. Gasket, diaphragm and points. There's not much else to go wrong.

Geoff MacK

Each 'tap' delivers a given amount of fuel, so the number of taps per minute should depend on how much fuel the car is using - ie how it's being driven. If there are leaks anywhere, it will run faster than it should. The leak could be just a slight air one on the input side with no petrol actually leaking. Faulty valves within the pump can make it run faster than normal as can other faults within the pump.

As regards noise, they are usually rubber mounted and connected to the fuel lines via rubber hoses. If either of these is non standard it might transmit more noise via the body structure - I'd not expect to hear the pump with the engine running.

The other common reason is leaky valves within the pump. After all it could be 40 years old. ;-)

Mine is 45years old, one, from the first year of production.

Ah yes the broken spring within the valve. They also replaced the solid material (brown woven stuff??) with rubber. That rubber flap was being affected by unleaded fuel.