HUCO 133010 ENGINE BAY PUMP

Andrew Wiggins

New Member
The summer before last my V8 broke down several times because of fuel vapourisation so I fitted a Facett square pump in the engine bay to replace the mechanical pump. Although a pusher it's worked until the very hot weather this year where it finds it difficult to work against vapourisation and low fuel level in the tank becoming very noisy (like a woodpecker). So I've followed the forum and fitted HUCO FUEL PUMP ELECTRIC SUCTION HUCO 133010 ENGINE BAY FITMENT.
Now all seems well until 60mph, when it appears I have fuel starvation. The old Facett pump was obviously over pressurising the carbs but never caused starvation. If the new pump is man enough where's my problem?
 
glad you got over the fuel vapour issues ( still struggling here) starvation would be lack of fuel pressure or a restriction in system is fuel filter ok?
 
I've had problems with the huco over delivering fuel.... It now has a regulator. Some people dont need one.... I think the tolerance of what fuel pressure is delivered is pretty changable between different huco pumps that are supposedly identical.
 
How low does this Huco have to be to work in the engine bay? I moved my coil up the inner guard some to allow fitting the pump roughly where the coil used to be. While I plumbed it into circuit I drained the tank. When I was going to test it, I put ~10L back in the tank - didnt pick it up. Added the other 10L, picked it up fine. Could it just be a priming issue? Difficult to find space lower down thats not close to the exhaust. Have headlight relay stuff in the pocket below/beside the windscreen washer bottle....
Suggestions ? Thanks.

EDIT: my Model has a reserve of 12L, so not picking up with ~10L in the tank makes sense. Apparently the earlier 3500 models only had a 6L reserve. Next is to plan to replace the Oring in the reserve tap, which leaked a bit when I first tried it.
 
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It would make no sense if it were purely speed related. Presumably at 60 mph on the flat, fuel demand wouldn't be high anyway. I had for years problems I assumed were fuel, turned out to be a weak spark.

To me it sounds like you have another problem. No electric pump should stop working "against fuel vapourisation" as they should always purge vapour easily- they just speed up. After all a mechanical set-up "should" cope despite not having the ability to speed up.

Are you sure you are getting good water flow through the "tower"? Do you have crud in the fuel lines? Do you have a leak anywhere in the fuel line where it could suck air?
 
Last summer I thought I had a fuel starvation issue. It was pointed out to me that my reserve tap wasn't fully returned. Doh!
 
Mine played up today - only done ~50k since instal. Did 20k yesterday, no problem. today did 25km, Paused for lunch, got 200m and it died. No fuel in filter, nothing coming out of deliver pipe. Blew back, think I heard bubbles. Despite having ~ 1/2 tank, pulled reserve. Lowered end of inlet pipe as far as possible - fuel. Fitted to pump, still nothing in filter. Undid outlet from tank, powered pump, got fuel. Did another ~5km, died again. Same solution with pipes, got home. Thinking now to mount pump lower, and blow compressed air back down feed pipe, try again....
 
Tested today. Pump is now on same level as bottom of washer reservoir. Tank ~ half full. Car on level ground, idling, pump pulses a couple of times, pause, pulse....pause, pulse. When parked nose up on a steepish slope, idling, after a couple of minutes the pump starts pulsing continuously, no pauses. Visible fuel in filter 5-8mm deep. No sign engine was short of fuel, no hesitations etc. Ran OK for 1/2 hour.
?????
 
It does sound like the pump has issues and it's flow is marginal and relies on having no air in the lines, this is seen by getting a continuous flow with a nose up attitude.
I recently had an issue with a Facet solid state cube pump that had gradually been reluctant to pull up fuel from the tank, the pump was mounted level with the bottom of the tank and has to pull the fuel up the tube inside the tank and over the top and down to the pump. Having been fine for years during the last months I have had to pressurise the tank with an airline in order to get the pump to pull up the fuel.
Finally it would not prime at all.
Having nothing to lose, as it was going in the bin I stripped it. Inside was a nylon piston non return valve and on taking this apart I found a shred of hard PTFE tape that had gotten into the pump from the screw on pre filter. It's removal cured the problem.

So .... Do check the functionality of any non return valves in the pump. Secondly, any in line fuel filters with barbs at each end rarely keep totally full of fuel, they always have air in them, so may trick you into thinking there is a problem.
At the end of the day, if the breathers are clear, the lines are clean, the reserve fuel tap is positively either open, or on reserve and not in between, there is no crud in the res tap, no crud in the carb needle valves then it is all down to the pump.
Have you put a pressure gauge on the fuel line after the pump ?
Have you pumped fuel into a vessel from the pump and timed to see what the gph figure is ?
Try another temporary pump if the car fails to proceed again.
 
Next test is to use only the reserve line in case there is a difference. The res tap lever strokes fully from one extreme to the other. Only check on the valves I can do is to check that each only passes air in one direction - might be hard to detect anything less than a gross failure? Worth trying though. Can blow through the LHS tank breather pipes in both directions. Dont have a pressure gauge with an appropriate range to test here. Will try the delivery rate test. If there are restrictions in the long pipes to the tank (crud deposits from standing) it will be hard to prove...?
 
Tested flow rate - car nose down maybe 2-3 Degrees. Tried main, reserve, tank cap open and closed. Pretty consistent results - 1.4L/min=84L/hr. Spec is 125L/hr....Outlet was at ~ same level as carb connection.
Have been told that some NZ assembled cars, with AC, had a fuel pipe reroute implemented to avoid vapour lock - anybody know any detail of this please?
 
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84 lph = 18.5gph so you should be fine with that as long as it is consistently delivered.

You mention vapour lock. Does the interconnecting carb pipe loop low between the carbs and rest near the inlet manifold ? It can be swivelled so the loop is horizontal instead of down, keeping it away from the heat.
I am sure someone has already mentioned to check if the carb tower coolant bleed to the radiator is free and flowing well.
 
Have been told that some NZ assembled cars, with AC, had a fuel pipe reroute implemented to avoid vapour lock - anybody know any detail of this please?

Probably the same as the UK and NADA ones; push pump, moved to the back of the car.
 
Push pump sounds like the best bet then. Down side is loss of reserve facility, unless I complicate things by trying to keep it by fitting a tap back at the tank. Might not be worth it.... Dont think I have seen any actual vapour lock , but might rotate the interconnector anyway - cant hurt.
The Huco listed for tank location shows a higher delivery pressure - 4.3 vs 2.2 psi for the engine located pump - is this going to require a pressure regulator? Anybody with experience of this model - 13300? The pressure listed for a Facet tank located pump sounds like it will need a regulator.
The carb tower hose is good, and the fitting is clear.
Should I test delivery rate with the car nose up on the slope? Should it deliver the same as on the level?
 
When running HIF6 they would barely tolerate 3 psi, so with 4.3 psi I would think you are well into regulator territory.
A working pump should not be affected by gradient.

Facet cube pumps do come in different flow rates, although that information is sometimes hard to pin down. For the Rover I found a 'big' one and regulated it down, but I don't run SUs any more, but a 4 bbl.
 
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After a 75 minute run yesterday, just recirculating fuel, planned to run it up to temp today to check heat affecting the pump. Dead as a maggot from turn on. +12V going in, nothing. Opening it up.
 
Now suspect my pump problem was a bad earth. Some days I should just stay in bed. Then the bad running was due to plugs 5 & 7 not connected. Giving up on pump until I get my wipers all fixed. Brain needs a rest. Have a Facet cube waiting in the wings.
 
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