Mickey nobody is calling you stupid or anyone who has a fuel system set up like this. Its just something based on what you have said that you don't yet understand. One of the things many of us are here for is to learn and pick up new ideas. I have been hot rodding for 28 years and I am still always learning new stuff. Technology keeps changing what is the best way to do things. Manufacturers went from mechanical engine driven pumps to electric pumps due to efficiencies. In this case almost across the board ie saved power, fuel economy, probably even manufacturing costs. Electric pumps are gravity fed, its a fact that can be looked up and verified. I am no guru but will try to do my best to explain as there are
many hot rodders & g-body forum readers who don't understand this very well.
Electric fuel pumps are designed to push fuel (somebody may have a design to the contrary but this is the norm) and do not pull fuel into themselves well. Having to pull fuel in can cavitate them and cause premature wear and heat as well as excessive noise. Original designs and how manufacturers use them is to be submersed in fuel where fuel pushes itself in(caused by the pressure created by gravity)which also cools and lubricates them. When hot rodders & racers pushed passed the capabilities of common manufacturer mechanical pumps and looked for solutions electric pumps became a viable solution. Not only could they in conjunction with a mechanical pump or on their own surpass the limits of the common manufacturer mechanical pump but also because they could save engine power due to takeing less engine power to provide the extra electrical or alternator power than it did to power both the alternator plus the mechanical pump.
When said racers went to convert their old style mechanical pump cars to work with an electric pump they didn't have baffled tanks with an in tank hanger, ready made electrical hook up, ground, etc to mount and run it. So they made due. The electrical pump didn't have to be submerged especially if it could still use gravity by being below the fuel and did not have to fight launch inertia. (by being behind the tank) Also air cooling or rather heat disapation was generally sufficient especially if their was a steady flow of fuel flowing through it. This is also why not dead heading them into the carb and instead haveing a return style regulator so that the pump can continuesly freely pump fuel & be cooled/lubricated by it helped it have a normal wear/life expectancy. All these drawbacks are acceptable in a drag car that should never be rear ended, or run through a ditch. Excessive noise & a short pump life are also acceptable. Lastly where the manufacturer is not responsible to the consumer for it. In fact still today if you have an old 60/70s car you still have to sump the tank or buy a cell to do it right. I think this is partly because consumers are satisfied only because they don't think it through and or know their is a better solution. They just apply follow the herd mentality and do what racer hot rodders before them have done. Fortunately for us. . g-body hot rodders some of our cars (GN/Ttype/4.3 tbi Montes) came with in-tank electrical pump set ups and the after market sells baffled tanks & in tank hangers. (search ebay for a GN tank) Also
http://www.racetronix.com and maybe others sell "plug n play" in tank electrical pumps & wireing harnesses. So now we have quiet safe cost effective and all around better setups than converted setups useing out of tank electrics with a sump or cell.
Note some people think in-tank electrics are only for high pressure fuel injection cars. This is not true. Fuel pressure should be controlled by your fuel pressure regulator. In the case of a carberated car you use a return style regulator such as the Mallory 4309 as seen on Summit or Jegs sites. The pump pumps fuel to the regulator which regulates how much and at what pressure fuel goes to the carb while the unused fuel just keeps on going and returns to the tank. Its quiet, safe, more reliable (like a new car) with a continuous supply of cold fresh fuel. A benefit anyone who has experienced vapor lock with a carberated car can appreciate. Anyway hope this was helpful to someone.
What about all the cars before they became fuel injected, were they "gravity feed"?? :shock: No, they were fed by an engine or block mounted manual fuel pump.
mickey-d :lol:
