Fuel pumps: which way to go – AC mechanical, or electronic?

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      Tim WilsonTim Wilson
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        Hi, all: l discovered about 10 days ago that my AC fuel pump had begun to dump neat fuel into the sump of my Special. Of course my car runs an SU pump as a primer, mounted on the bulkhead. That’s fine; it was the AC which was suspect – it has a fibre diaphragm as well as a number of other seals, all of which l’ve heard can be vulnerable to ethanol petrol. I was advised to ‘go electronic’ with a facet pump plus a pressure-regulator. Maybe £80+, cost-wise… I took off the AC mechanical pump and something inside me muttered: why not stick with this simple, mechanical device? I’m not a stickler for originality, but electronics can be described as ‘the new rust’ – and l don’t want my old warrior to become ruled by electrickery, anyway. So l rang a guy in Manchester, recommended for years by the TR Register – Dave Davies. He’s old-school – does a lot of old car stuff, bearings, brake and clutch cylinders, et al., and specialising in AC fuel pumps – and he said he’d totally rebuild my pump for £55. I sent it on Saturday and got it back today. A beautiful job. He told me exactly what had been wrong with my pump (soft stem seal and knackered – but not torn – diaphragm, and lacking the thin fibre gasket in addition to the paper gasket which faces onto the side of the oil-filler vertical). His view is that E10 per se does not attack pump diaphragms. I’ll be bolting it back up tomorrow. So now, what do you guys opine, regarding mech/electronic, and my eventual decision to stick with originality?  Tim. 

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