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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Fuel pump filter

I want to install a fuel filter before the pump. Is it OK / legal (Ontario) to use rubber hose for connections like this under the car? Any suggestions as to a suitable type or make?
Art Pearse

This is the sort I fitted before my fuel pump http://tinyurl.com/34g9n3v it works well and keeps all the crud out of the system, but obviosly can't comment on the legality in Ontario. If you fit a glass filter like that, make sure it can't shake against anything hard, how do I know...?
Lindsay Sampford

Do you have SU pump?
Not a good idea to fit a filter before the pump.
Any resistance before the pump will keep the points in the closed position and burn out the pump.
It may work for a while when the filter is clean, but one day it will leave you stopped on the side of the road.

Mick
M F Anderson

Mick is absolutely correct, except that it doesn't burn up the pump, it is far more insidious than that. A clogged filter on the inlet side of a SU pump does cause the pump to stall in a current on condition, which in turn will cause the internal swamping resistor to burn out if power is left on for any period of time (such as during troubleshooting). Since the swamping resistor is internal in the coil housing, there is no way of telling if it has burned out. What happens, since the the swamping resistor is part of the arc suppression circuit, is that the points will burn prematurely - worse, when the points are replaced, the new points will burn in a short period of time. To see what a good and a burned swamping resistor looks like, see the article, SU Fuel Pumps Facts and Myths in the SU Fuel Pump Articles section of my web site at: http://homepages.donobi.net/sufuelpumps/ Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Art, I was presuming that you had a fuel pump with no built-in filter. As Mick and David say, adding a filter before an SU pump, which has a built-in filter, is not good and also un-neccessary. Mine is an after-market pump with no built-in filter, so I HAD to fit an in-line filter in front of it to stop bits of crud getting to the pump valves and stopping the pump from pumping.
Lindsay Sampford

Thanks all. I have an SU pump, but it is the later MGB type for some reason. There are filter screens inside the pump but not easy to get at. If I put a big enough filter in line and check it often, should be OK? The tank is fairly clean.
Art Pearse

Art - The pumps are not affected by rust particles. Anything small enough to pass through the internal filter will either pass right through and can be caught by a filter on the outlet side of the pump. Believe me, I have restored hundreds of SU fuel pump and I have only seen one that was stopped by rust and that was because the owner didn't follow up on my comments that he had a sever rust problem in his tank. Put a filter on the inlet side if that is what you want to do, but be aware that there is more of a chance that the pump will be damaged from that filter clogging than there is of its being damaged by rust particles. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

OK Dave, I take your advice - less work for me!
Art Pearse

"...less work for me!"
Shoot Art, if I had known that was all it would take, I could have eliminated all that extra verbiage ;-) Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

No Dave, the less work was a bonus!
Art
Art Pearse


Re SU PUMP REPAIR etc

Just had mine totally rebuilt and bench tested for two days
AND a 12 month warranty FROM date of instalation!!

And options for either push fit or original screw fit all included in the rebuild

Great service and only AUD90 plus postage

Tony Oliver

http://users.tpg.com.au/revilo/

and a hellava nice ex mg man ( he runs a Jag now)
M THOMPSON

I am pleased to say that I got Tony into the SU fuel pump business. I don't even remember how we made contact, I believe that he wrote me about how to repair his own pump and it just evolved from there. Good to hear from a satisfied customer. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

This thread was discussed between 18/10/2010 and 29/10/2010

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.