Morris Minor Owners Club

As a follow on from the "What happened to Mirium thread",

Finally I got round to looking at Miriums fuel pump.

Turns out it's not an SU at all but a German Erzatz replacment by a company called Hardi.

It had by this time stopped working even when stationary. So I bought another Erzatz one from a local shop, in fact also a Hardi and fitted that. Goes like a train now

Looking at the old one .. when i took the cap off the end. Black soot everywhere. At some point there must have been some serious arcing in there. Is there any point in cleaning this one off to use as a spare ?

It had by this time stopped working even when stationary. So I bought another Erzatz one from a local shop, in fact also a Hardi and fitted that. Goes like a train now

I strongly recommend that you buy an SU as a spare as the Hardi pumps are a complete liability and I've never known anyone have one without breaking down (includng me!! Cam had to come and rescue me).
You'd be better off to fit the spare SU and not use the Hardi, but worst case if you have the SU in the boot and some tools then you'll be able to change over at the roadside.

You should be able to get a second hand SU for £10 to £15 (eg e-bay or any of the guys on here breaking a car) and if the points look fairly worn, then new points are approx £10 from the moggy specialists.

the Hardi pumps are a complete liability

There`s a few in my branch that would agree with that remark Ray.

and there's 3 ppl on here also broken down due to a Hardi pump.
I don't know how long they do last as tmy car came with it (so did Salty Monk's) so they might be ok for a few years, but I'd not want to take the risk.

Mine also had signs of some arcing & although it still worked as the points were fine it had a tendency to get stuck - the SU is much better, bigger & not really any more expensive.

Ray & I thought that perhaps the Hardi is a "fit any car" replacement and is actually a pusher pump rather than a Minor's puller type, I would think it will be ok for a while as ours lasted about 6 months & the guy I bought the car from wasn't the sort of guy who would buy anything new or if it didn't need it so I guess it would have been on for some time... Kevin knows someone who went through 2 or 3 in a fairly short space of time though I think...

Kevin knows someone who went through 2 or 3 in a fairly short space of time though I think...

Yes one of our branch members last spring and summer to say they were cheesed off was to put it mildly and as they do not do any work on their car it was only when they came to a branch meeting with the car playing up for the 3rd time that the problem was diagnosed.

It sounds like the german fuel pumps aren't so 'hardi' after all then / groan.