At 05:05 PM 2/23/2001 -0000, paul.hunt1@virgin.net wrote:
>Since the pickup is at a fixed point above the bottom of the tank
irrespective of fuel level it cannot draw dirt and crud in unless said dirt
and crud is floating *on top* of the fuel.
Actually it can. Any time the fuel is sloshing around, which is most of
the time the car is in motion, some of the sediment will be be kept in
suspension and continuously sloshed up against the fuel pickup tube.
Clogging of a pickup screen is much more prevalent when the tank is near
empty, because that's when you have the highest concentration of trash in
the liquid.
Lots of earlier production cars do not have a screen on the fuel pickup
tube, so whatever crap gets slurped up with the fuel passes into the fuel
line, through the fuel pump, and on into the carburetor. You can reduce
clogging problems considerably if you have a fuel filter somewhere in the
line. SU fuel pumps can have a problem with a slightly clogged filter in
the line before the pump, but some aftermarket punps demand a pre filter.
If the filter gets clogged you have to change it. If it gets clogged again
in an unreasonably short time it's time to clean out the fuel tank.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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