September 2002 - CrisBrady.Net

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I certainly did. To drive the '02 anywhere, I would have to reach down to the driver's seat rails and flip a toggle switch. The sound of a jackhammer drilling thru a structure built of bass drums would commence from the trunk. My dogs would bolt for the next township and neighbors would hustle their children into the family safe rooms. Since I had presciently already inserted my earplugs, I would then fire up the mighty 100 horses straining to be let free on the local Pennsylvania autobahns.

To put it as Sarah Palin would say: It was loud, you betcha!

So, a loud, no-name, high pressure fuel pump. Other "features" included: because it wasn't sourced for use with carbs, it needed a fuel pressure regulator to throttle it down to 3-4 psi. Mounted high over the gastank, it would occasionally lose it's prime. What's the round bulb like thing hiding behind the strut tower? It's a boat bilge hand pump. Lost the prime? No problem, get back there in the trunk and start pumping. You can drop the health club membership and save some money! Also included was a toggle switch below the driver's seat to turn it on and off. And of course, no intertial switch to kill the pump in case of collision. And the wiring sucked, a personal pet peve. Clean and tidy wiring is something I require on the racecar, and it's needed here also.

Not an optimal solution. But we're going to fix that. Stay tuned.

Step 1: acquire a fuel pump suited for the job. This is a Pierburg small pump, rated for carbs, OEM for some early Porsches. I wrapped it in closed-cell foam to further isolate any noise. I plan to mount it outside the trunk, under the car where the tii fuel pump is located.

Here's the fuel lines in the trunk

Yes, that's a plastic line carrying the fuel though the passenger compartment. No worries there, it's a "special" bmw plastic line that's supposed to collapse inwards in case of fire. At least that's the word from the BMW Safety Council, and we know large impersonal organizations never lie to us right? I'm talking to you, Mr. United States Treasury! Me, I'm only planning on catching on fire in my racecar where I have a fire suspression system. Don't worry kids, I have been practicing (see MidOhio vid)

Next we take the feed from the tank and route it through a couple of holes in the cabin to the area where we are going to mount the pump. We need two holes for the fuel lines and a small one for the wiring. Make sure we use some grommets to prevent fraying of the lines. Also radius the lines in a nice smooth curve. Pay attention, this will become important later.

Mounted under the car. This is the first version. I've since then changed the fuel filter to a clear type and fabbed a bracket for it. But you're an intelligent reader, I'm sure you can imagine that.

Another view, it's really not in the way of the trailing arm. Plenty of clearance.

And for what I thought was the last part of this install, mounting a inertial kill switch. This is one from a mid 90's Ford Mustang I bought off ebay. This gets wired into the hot lead to the pump. There's a big ball bearing inside the switch. The theory is, when you get hit hard, or even rolled on your roof from a crash, the ball bearing will trip the switch and shut down the electric fuel pump. Pretty much standard issue on any modern car with an electric fuel pump, but something that seems to be forgotten when enthusiasts covert to electric pumps. I'm mounting mine on the trunk wall where the monster pump used to live. Easy to get to and close to the pump. As part of this install, I rewired the pump to a hot lead from up front that's live when the ignition key is on. Imagine that - when I turn the key, the pump starts working! Maybe I should patent that idea. I bet I could make millions like the guy who invented the intermittent wipers.

So done at last, right? I turn the key and don't hear anything. Hmmm, oh yeah, I don't need those earplugs anymore. Ah, there we are, a small hum, yeah that's music to my ears!

Wait a few seconds to pressurize the line, and Vroom! it fires right up. Oh ye reader of little faith, you expected something bad didn't you? (psst! just wait a minute). So once again, it's off to the local beer store - maybe some nice RedHook Black Porter. I'll be right back.

Fast forward to the next weekend. I've been bouncing around town, keeping the beer stocks in line, bopping off to the Vietnamese resturant for lunch, etc. This weekend is the annual Mason Dixon road rally put on by local car guy Jon Walton. Packs of interesting cars roaming over 120 miles of the backroads of PA and Maryland. Lambos, Ferraris, Porsche 911's, 356's, lots of Bimmers, etc. I'd thought I join the fun this year. Car felt strong, pulling to redline on the way down to the start of the rally. Just a hint of pinging to my ears, need to do some hill runs to adjust that out.

It's my turn to be set off on the course. The directions are written using mile markers to the next turn. That promised to be a problem since my odometer is in Kilometers... But getting lost turned out to be the least of my worries. About 10 miles in the car started stumbling. Forsooth Godfrey! What's this tomfoolery? (Sorry, was channeling Ole English car guy there for a minute) in reality it was "WTF?!?" Slower and slower I went, giving the throttle any welly would bog it down. I turned off the route and made my way home at 10-20 mph on the back roads.

There followed a week of frustration, troubleshooting with no real resolution. It was maddenly intermittent. I could drive round and round my development for 30 minutes and nothing. 5 minutes into a trip the next day and it'll be back. The next day gone again. Finally I reproduced it and rolled into my driveway. Popping off the fuel lines to the carb, I ran the key for 30 seconds. Aha! only about 1/10th the amount it should have been. Now we know for sure it's fuel. I swapped out the new fuel pump with another and no improvement. Another day, another stumble. This time I left it idling and pulled the backseat out. My keen powers of observation noticed (after 5 minutes) the fuel line heading to the pump was kinked. Remember that smooth radius earlier? I told you there would be a test. Problem solved (I thought). The car ran good for several days and then we're back to the same old, same old. At this time I made brilliant observation #2. Even though the fuel line was nicely radiused, it was still kinking. The new fuel line was 5/16ths generic fuel line from PepBoys. The original line, and here's the kicker, was much stiffer and less flexible. It seems my new pump was powerful enough to collapse the fuel line at the apex of the radius. There I'd be, rolling along with my hat backwards, styling in my '02, nodding to the hot college women (Hey Babe! Looking good!), when cosmic rays would strike, and the hose would collapse, letting just enough fuel to get through so I could become a rolling chicane sneaking back to the garage.

The solution? I replaced the generic fuel hose with stiffer fuel injection hose and I've been styling ever since. The next weekend, I went out and finished the rally course. Just 3 weeks late. The moral: Old vintage cars are a pain in the ass. There's a reason why automotive technoloy has been advancing. If you're looking for me, I'll be in the garage putting in an I-Drive into the '02. It's a BMW part no? Should fit, I've got a hammer...