A Mostly British Obsession

New Fuel Pump for Reg the MGB

1963 MGB up for a fuel pump swap

The work on the shop is coming to a close, though it’s nowhere near “done”. However, I have too many other projects backed up, such as getting Reg the 1963 MGB back on the road after the fuel pump packed in last fall. Here I have the MGB on stands, ready to dive underneath and remove the offending component.

SU Fuel Pump on MGB

Here’s the old pump still in the car. On the MGB the pump is located just inboard of the right rear wheel, under the car. Not the best environment for a piece of electrical gear, but they generally last surprisingly well, all things considered. The fasteners came right off without a struggle–this car impresses me every time I work on it. I removed the battery to facilitate removing the power wire, but it’s not really necessary.

Old and New SU Fuel Pumps

The old pump is on the left, the replacement on the right. Early MGBs use the same pump as the MGA–but only through 1964. Looking at the old pump, the “BMC factory” (there were quite a few, actually) hasn’t existed since 1969–BMC disappeared into British Leyland at that time. I suspect this pump has been in the car for awhile.

The new pump went in without a struggle, and Reg is back on the road! Well, he would be, other than the weather is horrible at the moment. But we’re now ready for the next clear day.

Burned Points on old SU Pump

In case you’re unfamiliar with the SU pump and wonder why they go bad, the photo shows why: the points get burned, accumulate carbon, and eventually fuse shut. It’s very rare for any other component to fail. You could put a new set of points in this pump (which I will be doing) and it will keep going indefinitely. With points that are in better condition than this, you can even file them flat and re-gap them to bring the pump back to life, but these are just too far gone.

2 Comments

  1. joe

    Have a 67 MGB that won’t start or run. A mg mechanic tuned it up and put a 12volt neg. ground battery in it.The car quit and has little if any spark at the points. I changed it to pos. ground, no differance, also the fuel pump was replaced and won’t run with pos. ground. can I just reverse the wires ?

  2. john

    Where are the points located for the fuel pump on a 1972 MG MGB?

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