Chrome rocker cover no breather

[Mercmancdi]

What’s involved it fitting a chrome rocker cover with no breather to a 1098 one with breather pipe to air intake.

[philthehill]

My advice is to get a chrome rocker cover with breather which can be connected to the air cleaner.
The 'A' Series needs all the crankcase breathing it can get.
Here is a chrome rocker cover with the breather outlet boss that can be used to fit a breather pipe.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196499457676 ... R5qsgbiZZA

[geoberni]

What’s involved it fitting a chrome rocker cover with no breather to a 1098 one with breather pipe to air intake.

Why would you want to? Fit one without a breather that is, but equally what's wrong with a green one...

[myoldjalopy]

Bling!

[oliver90owner]

Bling is not really an improvement.

I once fitted a ‘blingy’ alloy cover on a Ford engine. That lasted only a couple of weeks as it ‘sludged-up’ alarmingly. Never bling over efficiency, since then, for me. I spent my money on improvements, not decorations - although that cover was purchased as part of several other bits, including a set of Dunlop alloy rims, which stayed with me for several years.

[Mercmancdi]

Just experimenting to see what’s what. Not exactly planned anything ,( It’s a bit of curiosity and we know it killed the cat.) I’m just too glad today to get that fuel pump moved from bulk head and that racket out of the cabin ,
It’s like a new car . Soon ready for laying all new soundproof & fire proof flooring over interior then carpets.
Just the grease nipple , gearbox and brake fluid bungs bit of a pain to work out best way to proper fit carpets and leave access to them and keep it tidy.
Cheers appreciate all opinions.

[geoberni]

I’m just too glad today to get that fuel pump moved from bulk head and that racket out of the cabin ,

I don't recall you mentioning a fuel pump noise issue before.
If the fuel pump is too noisy, IMHO, it' either needs servicing or it's not the right pump....

[Mercmancdi]

It’s been like that kinda tapping since I got it. It’s a after market , I have a spare original pump here but need to check it out to see if it works , I should be able test it some way I assume by earthing and power to see if it makes any noise .

[philthehill]

The minor SU electric fuel pump should not be overly noisy. In some ways the regular ticking is a comfort in that you know the pump is working. Rapid ticking usually means that you are out of fuel
Just rebuilt a Minor SU fuel pump AUA66 and it was very easy to do especially if you follow the instructions in the BMC Minor workshop manual.
The overhaul kit is part number EPK700.
Make sure that you clean the points of the pump before fitting otherwise the pump may not work.
Make sure also that the repair kit diaphragm is ethanol resistant.
I replaced the plastic spacers under the diaphragm with the brass spacers that came with the kit as the plastic spacers were not declared ethanol resistant.
To test - just attach a lead to the power supply spade terminal and a lead to the earth screw and then the ends of the leads to the battery terminals and see what happens. I tried the pump using the positive battery terminal for earth as the pump repair kit was supplied with a new internal lead which had a in line capacitor and with no instruction supplied with the kit I thought it prudent to use the original polarity.
It all worked as it should.

[Mercmancdi]

That’s fantastic bit of information as I know nothing about the old fuel pumps. Great amount of information I will definitely be using. I think I need to get one of those manuals I have a Haynes but it’s not great I find anyhow maybe I am not good at understanding the way they explain things ( touch of dyslexia I’m afraid does not help ). Thanks again.

[geoberni]

I replaced the plastic spacers under the diaphragm with the brass spacers that came with the kit as the plastic spacers were not declared ethanol resistant.
To test - just attach a lead to the power supply spade terminal and a lead to the earth screw and then the ends of the leads to the battery terminals and see what happens. I tried the pump using the positive battery terminal for earth as the pump repair kit was supplied with a new internal lead which had a in line capacitor and with no instruction supplied with the kit I thought it prudent to use the original polarity.
It all worked as it should.

The spacer thing story is quite interesting. I rang up SU last year, after they had revamped their website, because I noticed some errors in Pump descriptions.
While I was chatting with the 'engineer' who was double checking my observations and agreeing fully with them, I asked about why they had gone back to the brass discs from the white plastic/nylon; they originally had used the brass discs back in the beginning.
He said the change from brass to the white clip had probably been a cost saver thing years ago. They'd tried 2 designs of the white plastic, a single piece and a set of 5x 'Figure 8 Shape', but neither had done the job as well as the brass discs, so they had gone full circle and back to brass...

I don't know what they use for their latest semiconductor arc suppressor, but they do list it as Dual Polarity. Their instructions are a bit lacking for anyone who doesn't know the basics of the pump well.

[philthehill]

Geoberni
Many thanks for the information regarding the plastic spacers.
The plastic spacers I removed were the figure of 8 type.
Whilst not coming into direct contact with the fuel as they are the right side of the diaphragm I thought it prudent to change the figure of eight spacers to the round brass ones.

[geoberni]

It’s been like that kinda tapping since I got it. It’s a after market , I have a spare original pump here but need to check it out to see if it works , I should be able test it some way I assume by earthing and power to see if it makes any noise .

If you don't know the polarity of the spare pump you have, remove the top and see if it has anything fitted across the contacts like these two...

Over the years, SU tried several 'features' to try and reduce the arching at the contact and prolong the life of the contact. Some of them made the pump polarity sensitive.

20231203_122308.jpg (1.14 MiB) Viewed 2789 times

Take the top off and if you have anything like this connected across the contacts, the simplest thing it to remove it, or post a photo on here and I can try to identify it. Some of the early devices, such as the Foil Capacitor seen on the left pump (grey metal can) can go 'bang' if they've been left for years or if connected incorrectly. Old 50's electronic tech often doesn't like being suddenly woken up

[geoberni]

Geoberni
Many thanks for the information regarding the plastic spacers.
The plastic spacers I removed were the figure of 8 type.
Whilst not coming into direct contact with the fuel as they are the right side of the diaphragm I thought it prudent to change the figure of eight spacers to the round brass ones.

I'm not surprised the pumps weren't as good using the plastic bits. The extra weight of the brass discs would assist the movement of the mechanism, in addition to keeping it all centralised.

[Mercmancdi]

This is what I have in spares hope it actually works.
Thanks.

IMG_1583.jpeg (1.76 MiB) Viewed 2757 times

This is my spare pump if it works.

IMG_1581.jpeg (2.25 MiB) Viewed 2757 times

[geoberni]

There is nothing there to make it polarity sensitive.
If it doesn't work, it'll hopefully just need the contacts cleaning and/or setting again.

If it doesn't 'chatter' with power applied, gently tease the contact points to see if you can coax it back to life. if that works, then clean and re-gap.

If you have to replace the contacts, it does require what amounts to almost a full strip down, in which case it's worth taking apart before deciding on whether to get a full overhaul kit or just the parts you need.

[Mercmancdi]

Thanks what sort of gap is correct

[geoberni]

Thanks what sort of gap is correct

All details on the SU Fuel Pump website: https://sucarb.co.uk/technical-electric ... reassembly

[Mercmancdi]

Thank you