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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Fuel pump, poor delivery?

Since I changed from twin 1.1/4" S.U.s to an HIF44 I've had no problems, until last week. I've been in the Cotswolds for a four day break and I was driving up a hill called "Fish Hill" on the A44 near Broadway. It's a long 1 in 10 (10%) winding hill and I was flat in 3rd for about 10 seconds when the engine started fluttering as if starved of fuel. As I back off a little it came back to full throttle again and didn't repeat the problem. I'm wondering if the fuel pump is not up to the job of supplying the bigger carb when on prolonged full throttle at high revs? The pump is a solid state direct replacement for the standard S.U. pump, but obviously without the troublesome points.
Should I be looking at upgrading to a "beefier" pump?
Engine is 1098 overbored 40 thou.(1133cc).
Thanks in advance for any input.

Bernie.
b higginson

Hi Bernie
If you were going up fish hill in 3rd that might be your problem, try second lol, thats one hell of a hill!
Seriously, how much fuel did you have left ? and has it happened since ?
Rob Newt

i think your tank was only 1/4 full
think about what kind of angle you where dricing and where the outlet is on the tank........

going up hill with a near empty tank is a reverse job!
Onno Könemann

Bernie. Rob has a good point about how much fuel you had in the tank at the time of the incident. I would assume that, on a winding hill, the fuel was sloshing around the tank some. As to the capability of the fuel pump, David DuBois has some specific pressures and volumes listed on his website. But, considering that the standard SU fuel pump was fine on the MGB having the 175 Zenith-Stromberg carb, I would think it should also be fine with your HIF-44 unless there is some problem in the lines or the pick up tube in the tank. Some have found that their pick up tube had broken within the tank causing problems. Might be worth checking.

Les
Les Bengtson

what Rob asks

Fish Hill is "Monster" and if the tank is less than half full I've known the pickup inside the tank to be exposed to air instead of fuel and start to pump bubbles for a while

ten seconds at full chat could well drive you into starvation mode

The pick up is quite high on the front/side of the tank and if you have the dreaded "wrong olive type" connection it's easy to fail to fuel
Bill 1

Thanks chaps. It could be that there was not enough fuel in the tank to pick up properly. I honestly can't remember how much I had in. It was pulling really well until that point and as I said , it recovered when i backed off, so maybe it was just a temporary pick up problem.
Yeah Rob and Bill, it is a monster hill! Even scarier going down. That last right hander near the escape road before it levels out is a killer. Get that wrong and you're in the hedge!
Thanks again.

Bernie.
b higginson

This thread was discussed between 20/09/2010 and 21/09/2010

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