Fuel Pump- Mechanical or Electric

[Tyler Green]

Rebuilding the fuel system in my c20-454 and looking for the pros and cons or mechanical or electrical fuel pump. Has electrical on it currently but didn't know if I should take it back to mechanical. Thanks for the help.

 

[yevgenievich]

More of a preference. I like electric if vehicle sits for long periods of time as it will fill up the fuel bowl without cranking. But mechanical is simpler and no fpr needed

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I don’t like electric where mechanical can be used. They can’t handle sitting forever because of internal degradation, but I’ve seen a pump sit for nine months to a year since last start, and they worked fine. I wouldn’t make a habit of that, though.

 

[fussfeld]

If i was starting from scratch AND the engine has the provision for a mechanical pump, i'd probably run mechanical.

However, if an electric pump is already in place and it has been working well, i'd likely stick with it even if the engine can take a mechanical pump.


What electric pump do you have on it now?

 

[fussfeld]

P.S.
There's ways to run a mechanical pump on 87 and later engines:

1) Many machine shops have the program in their c+c(?) machines to drill a hole for the fuel pump pushrod.

2) You can run a belt driven pump (this is using a conventional mechanical pump that would normally bolt to the engine). This is from the marine world.

But this is a whole nother can of worms....

 

[fussfeld]

P.P.S.

My Setup:

You must be registered for see images attach

No hole for pushrod.

 

[Obwonkonobe]

P.P.S.

My Setup:

You must be registered for see images attach

No hole for pushrod.

Dude hook that AC up!

Also, I always like to run a mechanical for simplicity, but il keep one of those cheap little electric ones in the truck for when the mechanical goes out 30 miles away from the shop. Ask me what made me start doing that..

 

[Tyler Green]

Thanks for the replies. I don’t have a picture of what is on there right now but will post one later this week when I get back out to work on it.