That B.M.C. 1100 fuel pump: A cure

Sir,

In the November 1964 issue of Motor Sport I have come across a letter of Mr. J. T. Jones, who was wondering about what was happening to B.M.C. 1100 fuel pumps in countries with rough roads. Well, living in such a place and having managed to cure the trouble once and for all, I thought that my experience would be of interest to you and your readers.

The car in question was a l.h.d. Morris 1100 bought in England by a friend of mine in 1963. The first time it was brought over here it gave the customary troubles, i.e., broken indicator switch, burned-out wiper motor, stiff gear-change, etc. Now, you may know that although the main Turkish roads are all right, the lesser ones are pretty bad for cars with low ground clearance. Also about 50% of all the streets in Istanbul are of the Belgian pavé type with granite blocks of about 8 in. x 6 in. x 4 in. average size. The car was backed over a loose one of those, which promptly tore off the petrol pump. Repairs were done and the car was used like that for a while; but after traversing a lot of muddy roads last spring, the pump finally expired and no amount of fiddling could make it go.

At this stage it was crystal clear to me that drastic modifications were called for, and I promptly set out to work. The following can be attempted by any reasonably do-it-yourself-minded owner of any 1100. First of all the old fuel pump was completely removed and the mounting holes in the boot floor blocked up. Then a 6-in, length of rubber petrol pipe, of a type fitted to Ford Taunus cars, with an inside diameter of slightly less than 1/4-in., was used to bridge the gap between the two open ends of the petrol pipes. Also the leads to the pump were cut off and taped over, out of the way. Then a completely standard, low-pressure type of S.U. fuel pump was obtained and bolted to a square piece of 1/16-in. thick mild steel plate. This plate was then bent to shape, so that when offered up to the empty space on the left side of the engine bulkhead (operator facing the engine. This of course is for a l.h.d. car; for a r.h.d. vehicle the empty space will be on the right), so that the pump is horizontal. The plate is then screwed to the bulkhead by means of four self-tapping screws. After this, two unions with about 6 in. of 1/4-in. copper pipe soldered on, were attached to the connection outlets. Then more rubber petrol pipes were used to connect the pump to the main petrol pipe and carburetter float chamber. Two wires were then used to connect the pump to the existing wiring system, one running from the fuse box to the front terminal (taking care to use the proper feed so that the pump is only energised when the ignition is on! This is no joke, as I have seen people wiring things so that the ignition is turned on when the brake pedal is pressed!), the other from a suitable earthing place to the pump earth terminal, this completing the installation.

This has proved reliable so far and has not caused any vapour locks, even in our hot climate. The beauty of this system is that even if the pump does give trouble it is very easily reached, and as far as I’m concerned it is the most important point to look for from a servicing viewpoint.

Dogbn Karaosman, D.L.C. – Kiziltoprak, Istanbul.