Kevin’s Car Wasn’t Pumping

To follow up on my blog about publisher Kevin Isaacson's (we call him "IKE") blue '76 MGB that wouldn't start, I got my butt up there on Wednesday, crawled under the car and tinkered a bit. Now, I'm no mechanic and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, which explains why I was looking for spark at the plugs when I didn't have the rotor in!!!! (Oh my!) But then it dawned on me that the S.U. fuel pump wasn't "tick-tick-ticking" when I turned the key. Ah hah! Bad electric fuel pump.

While I can find the fuel pump on a T Series MG, I had no idea where it was hidden on a "B." I knew that thing sticking out of the gas tank had bango fittings, but where were the "points." A quick cell phone call to Glenn Lennart at Glenn's MG www.glennsmg.comin Tampa, Fla. (a great shop) gave me the answer. The top of the pump sticks up inside the trunk. Unfortunately, Kevin's car had been switched to an electronic fuel pum, so we couldn't just file the points and get him going. (by the way, Glenn says electronic pumps he's dealt with have a 50 % failure rate).

We took the pump out and looked it up in the Victoria British parts catalog (www.victoriabritish.com) that we had. Then Kevin ordered a fuel pump, some copper sealing washers and a repair manual for MGBs (so we'll know where things are next time.) When the fuel pump is in, we'll blog back and let you know whether the new pump gets the car going. Then we have some sprucing up to do so Kevin will have a reliable ride.