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MG MGA - German Fuel Pump

This week I found another of the little surprises that my dad left on the car for me, and I thought it was interesting enough to share. I finally got around to removing the fuel pump (I waited until the body was off for easier access), and when I scraped off the 1/4" or so of dirt surrounding it, I discovered that what I had assumed was a standard SU fuel pump, was anything but. Turns out that at some point in the car's life, my dad installed a German made "Hardi" fuel pump in place of the original SU. Driving the car, I never had a clue, since it was about the same size and shape as an SU, covered with dirt, and it made the ticking sound like it was supposed to. I guess I'll be buying a new SU pump instead of sending one off for rebuild, as I had originally intended.




Del Rawlins

Here is another view showing the collection of fittings he cobbled together to adapt it to the existing MGA fuel lines. Note the use of solder, which I presume was necessary to adapt the MG fittings to the metric threads on the German pump.



Del Rawlins

Luckily, this had the same mounting bolt spacing as the original SU, and was installed using the standard mount, so at least I still have that. I just need to decide whether to buy a reproduction of the original points style pump, or one of the solid state units.
Del Rawlins

Hey, Del, don't knock our Berliner Hardi pumps! I've had one on my MGB for the past twenty years after an SU thing died after only six months. I know they've chosen a strange blue for the body but apart from that they're pretty reliable.

It's so long since I changed mine, I can't remember if I had any problems fitting it. I'm pretty sure the pipe is a standard pipe size and I used the original banjo fittings.

Has yours stopped working? If not, just paint it black! No-one will know!

Mike
Mike

Yes I thought the hardi pumps were a straight copy of the SU, I sort of thought they were made under licence?

Anyway no reason for the pipe fittings being anything other than normal, not sure why your dad felt the need to modify the fittings and not simply buy one that fitted?

Not sure what a metric pipe thread is?
Bob Turbo Midget England

They are good pumps. My MGA has been running on one for the 12 years we have owned the car and I suspect the pump has been in place a whole lot longer. Replacement parts apparently don't exist. I wouldn't have any fear of using it.
Bill Haglan

Del - As Mike and Bill state, the Hardi pump is an excellent pump and is a direct clone of the SU pump. I don't restore them for the simple reason that parts are no longer available for them (back when they were, I rebuilt a number of them). They don't have metric threads in them, all the hardware and fittings for a SU pump (BA and BSP) are usable on them. If the pump is still working reliably, I would continue to use it and if you are concerned on the pump quiting on you, consider a permanently installed backup pump, using a cheap Facet pump as detailed in the article, Backup Fuel Pump, in the SU Fuel Pump Articles section of my web site at: http://homepages.donobi.net/sufuelpumps/ Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

When I pulled the car out of storage to begin the restoration, I had to percussively activate the pump to get it to run, so I could use it to empty the fuel tank. That being the case, I'll just install a new SU when the time comes. If the threads are standard, no idea what he was thinking there. For me, DPO stands for Dad, the previous owner. I thought I had already uncovered all of his non-standard repairs, but I turned out to be wrong.

The Hardi pump probably dates back to the 60s or 70s, since he never mentioned it to me, and by the time the 80s rolled around he was generally saving all of the old parts that he took off the car, most of which I still have.

Question: How do the new production SU points type pumps compare, and am I better off spending the extra money for the solid state type? I was never really worried about fuel pump reliability before, but this Hardi pump may have lulled me into a false sense of security where MG fuel pumps are concerned. I'm not going to install a second pump or a modern type.
Del Rawlins

Del - "How do the new production SU points type pumps compare, and am I better off spending the extra money for the solid state type?"

This depends on how much you drive your car. The points style pumps are fine as long as the car is driven regularly. The alloy used for the contacts develops a film on the surface and it is the rubbing action of the contacts as they open and close, plus the current flowing through the contacts and the arcing across them when they open that keeps this film cleaned/burned off. Regular driving keep the contacts clean and operating fine. If the car is only driven a few months a year and put in hibernation the rest of the time, then you are better off with the all electronic pump that uses a Hall effect circuit in place of the points. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Thanks, sounds like electronic will be the way to go, since the MGA is really only usable about 6 months out of the year up here.
Del Rawlins

This thread was discussed between 09/09/2010 and 10/09/2010

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