Electric Fuel Pump

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SquareRoot

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WTF?
Bought from my local parts store. Edelbrock chooses to make these pumps in China. Spoke to their tech line here in SoCal and the guy said they're having nothing but trouble with these Chinese pumps. He recommended I just return it to Autozone.
They really stood behind this one.
Fair enough. In this case I'll give you that. My apologies for generalizing. I had the same issue with Amazon selling Aeromotive regulators that were cheap Chinese impostures.
 

Bextreme04

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walbro fuel pumps.
not chineseum
i been running an external Walbro fuel pump for my fi big block for close to 18 yrs before it crapped out....and it wasn't the pumps fault, i got too far out in the bush and ended up running my tanks almost dry.
of course i replaced it with another Walbro pump and expect to get just as long service
walbro has been having some quality control issues in the last few years. I thought I had heard they had moved some production to china and people were having issues with DOA pumps and early failures. I used to use them exclusively in high performance stuff in the early 2000's, but on my square I just went with a factory EP381. You don't really have a choice on using factory stuff if you are running high horsepower, but a factory TBI EFI pump or high pressure EP381 will support up to about 500hp.
 

Bextreme04

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Eric, I don't know what you do for a living but if you told me you were an certified accountant with lots of experience and we were discussing taxes I would expect that would have a great deal to do with the conversation and I'd also think you knew what you were doing.
You assume to know more about my issue than I do, without really knowing anything about my issue at all. I'm asking for others experience with electric fuel pumps, not for an on line diagnosis from a guy in a different state with a completely different environment, I didn't think it was necessary and apparently the two other responders didn't feel it was necessary to quiz me either.
I suppose I could have given a lengthy explanation about triple digit ambient temperatures here in the desert, which you likely never experience and fuel boiling and evap problems like 90% of the nation has never dealt with, break downs, tow-ins, relocating and insulating steel fuel lines when inner frame rail temps near exhaust reach almost 200 degrees, etc., etc., etc. These are all common problems here in my environment.....which is not Oregon.
But, I thought it was much more expedient to just ask for the specific info I wanted.
Well, I guess I'll just dip out of this whole thread, since you obviously know everything and don't need any help.

But just to address your personal attacks about no one EVER being able to know about your issues.

I grew up in Lancaster and spent my entire teens building and racing cars at LACR and Willow Springs. I then left SoCal when I joined the Army as an M1 mechanic. Spent 38 months in Iraq primarily as a mechanic working on everything from HMMWVs, RAZRs, Tanks, MRAPS, you name it. Then, when I got out I went to work for Oshkosh defense as a contractor working with the marines in Afghanistan to train and assist them with vehicle maintenance. After contracting, I decided that my body probably wasn't going to hold out very well if I kept doing mechanic stuff, so I moved to Arizona and went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on the G.I.Bill and got my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Airbreathing and Rocket Propulsion. I moved to Oregon 5 years ago because I spent my entire life in dry, hot, dusty, B.S. environments and I had the opportunity to use my degree to work in a milder wet and green environment.

All of that said, since apparently you need a resume to think anyone has anything useful to say.

We need more details to give you any meaningful answer.
What problem are you trying to solve with an electric pump?
What kind of carburetor(if any) are you running?
What is your fuel system now?

All of this matters to the answer. If you have a quadrajet, you can probably get away with just running a holley or walbro low pressure pump and no return line. It probably won't solve a problem with vapor lock though and the pump will probably start cavitating if it's mounted on a frame rail and will go out fairly quick because you will still be creating a low pressure point between the tank and the pump and the entire fuel tank and everything else are going to 1,000 degrees(obviously an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like) from the environment in summer.

If you are trying to solve vapor lock, then you probably just need a return line. Any mechanical or electric pump with a return line would solve that. If you have a return line and in the middle of summer it is STILL getting so hot that you are getting vapor lock, you could use an 87' sending unit with a TBI pump on it and just let it act as a lift pump to the mechanical pump with an adjustable regulator. Then if the electric pump fails, you would still have a functional mechanical pump that will let it limp home.

All of these would benefit from a high quality adjustable fuel pressure regulator and return line, especially if you don't have the original Q-jet on it. The holley and edelbrock carbs are notorious for the needle and seat not being able to handle the factory mechanical pump pressures.

Good luck
 

Grit dog

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I am an ASE certified tech with a list of certifications as long as my arm, GM heavy line, but thanks for your helpful reply.
Then why are you asking US? Lol

And to answer your question, those little peanut pumps whether they say Edelbrock on them or not, are not a good solution (although knock on wood I have one running that’s lasted a while…)
I could go further about my opinion on how to get the most life out of them but don’t want to step on your toes….

Although a battle of wits between an ASE with certs as long as his arm vs an actual rocket scientist and tank mechanic should yield a TON of good info for the rest of us dummies…so please carry on!
 

Rumbledawg

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walbro has been having some quality control issues in the last few years. I thought I had heard they had moved some production to china and people were having issues with DOA pumps and early failures. I used to use them exclusively in high performance stuff in the early 2000's, but on my square I just went with a factory EP381. You don't really have a choice on using factory stuff if you are running high horsepower, but a factory TBI EFI pump or high pressure EP381 will support up to about 500hp.
don't know where your buying your walbro pumps from (amazon?) but every walbro i have ever bought has been made right here.
as to quality issues, maybe some people aren't paying attention to flow......
and the walbro pump came standard on my pro-flo system, and after 18 yrs, you don't need to convince me about reliabilty. i just changed my pump in 2021, and it too was made here. never seen a chinese walbro, except for the crappy knock-offs on amazon.
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Wesley0620

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I bought a new GM Performance 350 for my 86 Silverado and it didn't have the provision for a mechanical fuel pump and I went through several pumps in the first year but I bought a Carter P4070 and installed on the frame rail and it's now been over 3 years the Holley pump I installed was REALLY noisy and worked about 3 months before leaving me on the side of the road
 

Christian Nelson

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Well, I do'nt claim any certifications, or any superior knowledge. However, every time vapor lock happened to me back in the day, I'd put a "T" fitting on the carb inlet, and a smaller line coming back to the return line to the tank. It acted like it's own pressure regulator of sorts, and always had fresh fuel flowing to the carb. Another trick was a phenolic, or whatver material it was carb spacer, 1 or 2 inches under the carb helped as well. That usually solved any issues. This was something used in the desert in El Paso Texas.
Again, I am no expert, y'all can bake me and my stupid answers all ya want, but that did seem to work with plain old mechanical fuel pumps...
 

potent rodent

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christian now thats being a mechanic instead of a parts changer
 

Grit dog

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Well, I do'nt claim any certifications, or any superior knowledge. However, every time vapor lock happened to me back in the day, I'd put a "T" fitting on the carb inlet, and a smaller line coming back to the return line to the tank. It acted like it's own pressure regulator of sorts, and always had fresh fuel flowing to the carb. Another trick was a phenolic, or whatver material it was carb spacer, 1 or 2 inches under the carb helped as well. That usually solved any issues. This was something used in the desert in El Paso Texas.
Again, I am no expert, y'all can bake me and my stupid answers all ya want, but that did seem to work with plain old mechanical fuel pumps...
Yup carb spacer worked well on my old Impala.
Never thought of the ad hoc return line though. That’s ingenious!
 

Ricko1966

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Well, I do'nt claim any certifications, or any superior knowledge. However, every time vapor lock happened to me back in the day, I'd put a "T" fitting on the carb inlet, and a smaller line coming back to the return line to the tank. It acted like it's own pressure regulator of sorts, and always had fresh fuel flowing to the carb. Another trick was a phenolic, or whatver material it was carb spacer, 1 or 2 inches under the carb helped as well. That usually solved any issues. This was something used in the desert in El Paso Texas.
Again, I am no expert, y'all can bake me and my stupid answers all ya want, but that did seem to work with plain old mechanical fuel pumps...
This will truly make it a bypass regulator.
 

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