You need a return line to basically take some pressure off , like I said hook up a "blue pump" and see how much comes out. Just restricting the flow before it goes into the carb is doing no favours for the pump its still wants to pump that much but cant its why they don't last . I used one when I supercharged a car a while back and we made up a return line and soldered a jet in the return, was near the regulator if I remember..  and all you need to have is a .060 hole and you're good.  



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

I didn't mean to say your pump and/or regulator needed a return line. My combination did. It was a PITA, but I did need to regulate the fuel pressure with the boost reference on a "blow thru the carb" supercharged application. The carbs were modified also.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Re read the instructions for the pump for the umpteenth time and realized that the pressure regulator that came with my pump does not have provision for the return line. It requires a different regularor. I am not going to go through the nightmare of fabricating a return line plumbing.

To me the F setup with the supercharger and pressurized carb is a totally differeng animal. I have the thicker non metalic carb spacers under the carbs to hopefully eleminate the problem of too much heat to the carbs on the Bird's . I appreciate all the input. It's been an interesting and informative discussion. If I run into a short pump life I may have to re consider the return line. They put a regulator on the blue pump so you can dial down the pressure so it doen't make sense to me that doing so would trash the pump.
I had to add an electric pump when I first put the E setup on the car in '66. It would totaly run out of gas like you shut the key off when I hit 3rd gear with a totaly stock engine. The pump fixed that. I often wondered if owneres had this problem in '57?

Interesting conversation guys. I have been running a Holley Red electric fuel pump with a regulator for many years. No return line. My set-up has dual Edelbrock 500 cfm (#1404) carbs (with 1/2" phenolic spacers) and Edelbrock says that 5.5 to 6 psi is optimum, so I run the Holley adjustable fuel regulator also to knock the pressure down a bit. On my 56 Customline the fuel pump is located on the inside of the left rear frame rail with an aluminum heat shield mounted between the exhaust pipe and the pump. The pump is positioned above the axle housing to protect it.  It has operated in that location for a long time without any problems until recently. After the motor warms up (15-20 minutes) I can see my fuel filter go empty and my fuel pressure drop to 0 on the gage that is mounted directly on the fuel log before entering the carbs. At first I thought my pump has gone bad although I couldn't understand why it worked fine when cold. Anyway, I replaced it with another Holley Red electric fuel pump I had as a spare and it did the same thing. Today I wrapped the inlet and outlet fuel pump lines with heat tape and will also try to wrap that section of the exhaust pipe nearest to the pump with a heat "blanket" and see if that changes anything. Recently I also switched to an "ethanol free" 91 octane gas from a new station (Sinclair) that opened near my house. Could it be the gas? I plan on running out the fuel it the tank and trying a different gas station to see if the gas is the issue. If all else fails, I guess I'll switch back to a mechanical pump. On my supercharged motor I ran an Edlebrock Performer fuel pump rated at 110 gph at 6 psi and it seemed to provide plenty of fuel during the "Break-In" period on the dyno. This issue has me really frustrated.

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

I think it is probably that the newer Holley pumps are junk.  The two that failed on me, I had about 8 years ago.  Both failures occurred within a year.  Switched to Carter, Made in USA on the box, no problems since.

I like the Carter design a lot more.  It has a bowl.  I think the motor is in that bowl, providing a means to keep the motor cool, as an in tank pump would.  The Holley has no effective means of keeping cool.


Lawrenceville, GA

I am thinking the blue pump was designed to run with a regulator since it came with one. I would set the pressure as Ted mentioned for the teapots. I have ran a red one for 25 years with no regulator and nitrous, and a blue one for over 10 years with a regulator with two 600 Edelbrocks. My street usage is more short trips then long ones though.

  Vic Correnti

I left Holleys electric pumps years ago and went to Mallorys. I also found the Holley regulators were really the problem. We currently use Areo Space Products regulators with both electric (LSR engine) and mechanical (circle track engine) pumps they maintain perfect pressure at 5.5 psi the recommended pressure by our carb guy.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Its interesting that Rono has his pump above the axel housing on the frame. I read the instructions again and realized that Holly says the pump has to be mounted below the level of the gas tank. Called their tec guy and explained that there is no place to mount it below the tank. He says if you don't the pump will fail. I had a cheap Carter pump mounted in the trunk for many years and no issues. Now I am trying to figure how to attach a bracket to the frame to get the pump below the tank. Difficult to do so it doesn't get hit by something and how to route the fuel lines to clear the rear suspension as it moves up and down. Someone here had problems with early failure. Was the pump mounted above the tank? My pump was mounted above the axel housing on the frame but I am not sure how long it was on the car or hom much it was actually run as the car was apart for a long time.

My Holleys were mounted so that the inlet and outlet was below the bottom of the tank.  They still failed.

The Carter can be mounted something like up to 18" above the top of the tank - double check the instructions.  Much more versatile.

If the position of the pump can result in failure, I imagine there would only be a threat once the fuel level in the tank drops below the level of the pump.  If that is correct, position it right at the bottom and don't run it out of gas.

Because the fittings are on the very bottom, the Holley pump will not be much lower than the tank when positioned correctly so there is probably not much more of a  threat of being hit than anything else under the car.

The design of the Carter, on the other hand, could require mounting above the bottom of the tank to avoid road threats..  It has the fittings near the top.


Lawrenceville, GA

The Carter sounds better but I already bought the Holly and am in the middle of installing it. I do like the fact that it came with a pressure reguilator.