Dead Car.

[korg_geek]

As I like to joke (but its always true), as soon as I finish a project on my car and its running great, something else fails the next day.

This time, the day after i overhauled my brakes, i think i blew a fuel pump. I was all eager and ready to go driving (for the first time this year) and this happened. My '73Z was in storage all winter, with a full tank of gas and some fuel stabilizer. I've been driving it around in town for 2 months now without any problems (other than the brakes). Yesterday I drove it a tad and it sounded underpowered, like there was a problem with fuel delivery. If you gunned it, the rpms would fall.

Today it didn't start at all. It turned over, ran for about 60 seconds, then died. It still turns over but doesn't start. I blew out the fuel lines after taking out the fuel filter (which is also a few months old, and looks clean), blew out the fuel filter and put everything back together. I tried starting it again, and you can see in the filter that there's no gas being pumped into it. So, I figure I blew out my pump.

I installed a fuel regulator to control the over-pressurization of the electrical pump last year... the electrical pump itself was installed only a couple years earlier. Which is why I'm pissed.

I guess my question is, can a Z run with a mechanical pump but no electric pump? How do the two pumps work together on a 73? With my car totally dead, and nothing pumping, what should I plan for next? My dead-last option is a $350 replacement electric pump, since I have about $400 to my name....

[korg_geek]

Now my battery's dead, too.

I'll get back to you once God has struck my car with lightening.

[tanny]

I have a 73 and run my triple webers on just the electric pump. Took the mechanical off so I don't have any idea if it would run the flat top SUs on just the mechanical. The mechanical alone was apparently good enough for the round tops. I sure couldn't afford the new stock pump. I think the aftermarket electrics(non fuel injection low pressure type) go for something like $60-$80 bucks. Good luck, Victor.

[korg_geek]

Yeah, round tops can run off the mechanical pump alone, so I discovered. I suppose I'm more perplexed by the fact that BOTH of my pumps have failed on me. If the fuel system can function on just one and not both, however, then I guess one could have blown a long time ago, and only the other one recently.

A new electrical pump is out of pretty much anyone's price range for what you get, I'm sure. I guess I'll be getting a new mech. one, but its still better than an electric - less of a pain in the arse to put in, as well. Ugh.

[kmack]

Yes your car can run on either the mechanical or the electrical fuel pump. Most often (on the '73 cars in particular), it was the electrical pump that went out first and then the mechanical failed.

If it was me, I'd buy a mechanical pump because it's less expensive and easier to install. Then when you have time down the road (and more money), search out a a replacement electrical pump as a back up.

[korg_geek]

Good to know. I just ordered a mech pump from VB. The previous owner installed an aftermarket mechanical - the brand name seriously looks eastern european or russian or something. Not exactly top-quality.

Hopefully, it'll get here soon so I can get out on the road for once! Or, at least, get me out on the road until something else breaks.

[biker]

Down here in Oz, I don't think we got a choice. The early Zeds come with a mechanical pump only. My 73 certainly does not have an electrical pump, only the mechanical one on the engine driving the round tops:cry:

[korg_geek]

You probably shouldn't be too quick to curse your luck - a bad mechanical pump is less likely to quit out of absolutely nowhere while you're on the highway

On another note, do I have to do any sort of bypass of the electric pump if its stopped working? If you have both pumps, and one fails, the car can still run, so I'm assuming that installing a new mechanical one (while still having a busted electric one) won't affect performance that much. Is this true? Or do I have to rerout the fuel lines in the rear?

[kmack]

You should not have to re-route any fuel lines around the electric pump. As long as there is no clog in the elec. pump, the mechanical will pull fuel right through it.

[tanny]

kmack is right. The only disadvantage of leaving the electric inline is that it is one more filter to clog that is in an inconvenient place to service. But it is an extra filter, which isn't bad. Victor.

[zoom240]

Originally posted by chrishorne1967

do you have to use a stock electrical pump?could it be retrofitted with an after market pump? .....

I once got stuck with a bad fuel pump when I was 100's of miles from home - on a Sunday. I trotted into the local autoparts store & got a low pressure, GM fuel pump for about $20-30 & hooked it up. Worked like a champ. The car had no mechanical fuel pump - it had been taken out long time ago. Seemed to work fine.