How to Choose the Right Fuel Pump for Your Classic Car

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You might not think it is that big of a deal, but if you choose the wrong fuel pump for your application, you just may be out of gas half way down the track-even with a full tank. Know what your application is. Are you building a stock motor? Are you building a race motor? Are you building a streetable dragger?

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1

Know that most old Chevies, Gords and Dodges come with a manual fuel pump, which is mounted on the side of the block. The good old trusty manual pump is great if you are building an engine for your street rod.

Step2

Consider that if you beefed the motor up just a bit, it will still be enough. One favorite is the Holly pump. You can look at the difference between all of the Holly in-line pumps for carbs here: http://www.holley.com/types/Electric%20Pumps%20-%20Carbureted.asp.

Step3

Know that if you are running small block on the high side of mild with a 650cfm to an 850cfm carb, the Holly blue pump will provide plenty of gas action for you. If you are running a strong small block with anything much bigger than an 850 double pumper, you may want to upgrade to the Holly Red pump.

Step4

Be aware that a good pump for the big block with a 750cfm carb is the Holly blue pump. A high horsepower big block--especially if it is fed with a dominator will run on the blue pump, but it may leave something to be desired out on the track. You will want to go with the red pump for the larger, higher horsepower applications.

Step5

Consider that if you do not want to go electric, but want something better than the stock pump, Holly does make a mechanical pump. If you go with the electric fuel pump, you will need to be sure to get a fuel pump block off plate to block the hole where the old fuel pump was.

Step6

When you run nitrous on a big block Chevy, you leave the manual pump on as insurance. If you are running nitrous and you run out of gas--either from a pump or relay malfunction or you literally run out of gas with the nitrous going through the engine, life can get very exciting for your engine.

Tips & Warnings

If you are purchasing all of your parts before you start, make sure you know what set up you are going to be using for your engine.
Too small a fuel pump for your application could result in a blown motor.

Resources

Holley

Comments

cherdons said

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on 9/10/2008 If it's an early 2nd gen, on the rear half of the car - here is a pic of the subframe (if you can even call it that): http://www.nastyz28.com/tech/chassis.jpg

You'll need a good drill for drilling into the frame, but that's were we normally mount them. I know you have to watch the height. Just looked for a pic of my hubby welding the rear of a 71 or 72 camaro together to make a poor man's posi for some guy (yah, he requested it) - and I know he had an external pump, but I could not see it in the picture, so it was forward of the gas tank somewhere. Also, there is no reason you can't mount it in the engine compartment, if there is enough room - we don't like doing that though, because the pumps prefer the cooler air outside. We did mount on cheapie fuel pump on an old dodge caravan (was an 86 or something like that) right on the fender well. Worked forever.