I was wondering what I'd have to do to convert my Pierburg/engine driven fuel pump to an electronic one that could be more sufficient for my fuel needs, or whatever. What can I do to more reliably supply fuel to my carbs?

I recently (actually in process) of doing the same thing. My holley red fuel pump just arrived today wich I plan to run with a low pressure regulator.The regulator was 25 bucks and I bought the pump rebuilt on ebay for 40 bucks incl. shipping.The only reason for my swap is because I'm using a fuel cell instead of the stock tank and I feel more secure knowing that I can stop fuel flow with a flick of a switch. The other reason is that my comp. ratio is about 12/1 and I'm running dcoe's, I was a little concerned with fuel starvation with the stock pump. If you plan on keeping the stock tank it might be hard to find a good spot to mount the elec. pump because most manufactures recomend that the pump be gravity fed i.e. below the tank. Anyways is you 142 running, what year is it? I live across the river in vancouver and was wondering if there were any cool vintage volvo clubs in the area. Well I'll probly see ya around.

Aaron

Aaron,

Across the river in Vancouver, as in SW WA state? That's where I am... no performance-oriented club here, but a few of us local enthusiasts get together once in a while.

If you're in Vancouver, B.C., absolutely join VCBC - most fun Volvo club on the planet. Heck, join 'em anyway - it's worth a few hours of driving to attend their functions.

But back to the topic... I'm running 45 DCOEs with a Facet electric pump back by the tank, and a Holley regulator under the hood. The Facet is solid state and has the reputation for extreme reliability, but it clicks. It's not noticeable once the car is under way, but is definitely audible at idle. I don't mind it a bit, but some might.

Whatever pump you use, wire it through a relay and fuse it. The oil pressure gauge on my 1800 doesn't use an electric sender, so I didn't mess with any sort of auto-kill function. The pump runs whenever the ignition is on.

The regulator is set for 4 psi -- conventional wisdom is that this is too high for Webers, but no problems with mine. It raises the float levels very slightly, which suits my motor's overall tuning.

For the record, the mechanical pump is just fine for mid-performance motors. I have never had one fail in 18 years and ~400K miles of driving B18/20-powered cars.

--Phil S.

Whoa whoa whoa... Fuel cell? Tell me more!!!

Intrigued,

Ben

Why do you want to change to an electric pump? The mechanical ones are extremely reliable and provide as much fuel as a stock or mildly modified B18 or B20 needs, and at the proper pressure, too.

Ron Tewksbury
1968 122s ?66K miles
1987 245dl 136K miles
1989 745gl 176K miles

You mean that the stock mechanical pump will feed a mildly
modified B30...

If I understand correctly, a "regular" motor uses half a
pound of fuel per unit of horsepower per hour. A B30A can
make as much as 145HP as setup from volvo which means that
the pump can deliver about 72 pounds of fuel per hour.

I would actually consider using the mechanical fuel pump
to feed a surge tank to feed an electric fuel pump to run a
fuel injection system. I think the pump is up to delivering
the volume just not the pressure.

The nice thing about the pierberg pump is that the gas
flow stops as soon as the ignition stops. A good safety
feature, if you ask me.
chris

"The nice thing about the pierberg pump is that the gas
flow stops as soon as the ignition stops. "

So's the electric pump in my Weber-ized 142. I triggered a relay off the oil pressure switch. If the o/p drops to zero (engine stall? Crash?) the fuel pump stops, too.

I've seen my share of stuck oil pressure sensors (usually stuck
in the "good oil pressure" setting and I've also seen more than my
share of problems with wires (oil pressure sensor wire runs right
past several things that can melt the insulation and short the
wire to ground, resulting in a "no oil pressure" looking situation).
Either event is not good, and running the fuel pump off this wire
seems less than perfect.

In my mind, the pierberg pump is the best option in terms of
low complexity, quiet and failsafe operation and performance.

Clearly your setup is good in almost all situations and if you
use good materials and correct wire routing you won't have any
problems at all. If you need a different fuel pressure range than
the pierberg pump delivers your setup may be the only game in
town and is certainly a better setup than I've seen elsewhere
where the fuel pump is simply run off of a circuit switched with
the ignition key -- a fiery disaster waiting to happen.

Fuel injection systems have a relay to the fuel pump that is
operated by a computer sort of thing that senses when the ignition
has stopped firing and stops the pump (Except in the "start the
car" condition". With webers this isn't an option. And, I think
old mechanical fuel injection systems had the pump driven off
of the motor, like a diesel.
chris

Yea...I'd stick with the stock pump too... they work fine and deliver plenty of fuel.

One modification I have seen though was an inline electric pump back near the tank, hooked to a toggle switch. If the mechanical pump failed, you just hit the switch and you're back in business. Also, if you needed fuel for something else (helping someone that ran out...or...), you just pull the line at the carbs, stick it in a gas can, and turn the elec pump on.

That was slick and handy, but quite honestly, it was the electric pump that went south first. THe mechanical pump is still working fine in the faithful hands of Justin.

-Matt