The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi I rebuilt the su carb on my Dolomite 1300 1980 with a kit that I bought from SU Carbs. I put an inline filter between the fuel pump and the carb and put a new bit of fuel line between the filter and carb. The car would not start after the carb was refitted.
I checked the float chamber and there was only a drip of fuel in it. I checked that there was no blockages between the float chamber and the jet.
I removed the fuel pump and tried to rebuild it using a kit but most of the parts in the kit did not fit my pump because apparently with my car being a later one the pump is different. So I changed only a couple of the washers. The suction in the pump seemed ok when I moved the lever. I put the pump back in but she is still not starting and there is no petrol in the filter.
Is there anything that I should be looking at here rather than the pump?

You've probably missed the cam that the fuel pump lever acts upon. It's a common problem, the pump has to be offered up to and kept square to the block whilst the bolts are tightened. Some swap out the bolts for studs and nuts to assist...

is the filter the right way round? sometimes they have a direction arrow

Hi thanks. Its studs and nuts that is on my car. I found it difficult to manoeuvre the pump when I was replacing it after I had pushed it onto the studs.
Hi thanks. Yes the filter is the correct way round with the arrow pointing towards the carb.
I also checked that there is petrol in the tank.

ok, as Alun said it will no doubt be the fuel pump then

Hi thanks. Should I get a new pump then or should I take it out and try and refit it to try and get it in the correct position? Let me know if you have any special tips on fitting the pump please.

I don't think its that easy to get the pump on an ohv car wrong. On slant engined cars it is very easy to get the pump lever on the wrong side of the cam.

You can try it if you put your finger or a suitable screwdriver in the hole and feel for the pump cam as you turn the engine over.

If your pump worked before its likely to work again. Just connect it to the fuel pipes and work it by hand - see what happens.

Or you can try the pump from a local can with a short length of hose. If it pumps fuel up to the carb then you know its fine and your problem is the fuel line. Either a leaky joiner or a blockage.

I suspect you have a perished rubber section in your fuel line with a pin hole that is letting your pump suck air. Fill the float chamber from a can and it should start fine..

Jonners

Hi thanks that's great advice. I will give it a go.

I recently had a problem getting a 1500 pump to suck petrol from the tank when the petrol line was dry. Once I sucked petrol up to the pump and then reconnected this connection it worked fine. I have since been told that a hand pump to prime the petrol line is a common item that breakdown vans carry.

Richard the old one wrote:I recently had a problem getting a 1500 pump to suck petrol from the tank when the petrol line was dry. Once I sucked petrol up to the pump and then reconnected this connection it worked fine. I have since been told that a hand pump to prime the petrol line is a common item that breakdown vans carry.

I have to do this with the project Satin Black Toledo if it's not started for a couple of weeks. I've replaced the tank and all the flexible fuel pipes from back to front and have a good quality filter in the correct position below the pump. Leave it a couple of days, it's fine, starts first time, leave it a couple of weeks and it won't go till I have primed the system. Once it's in regular use, it won't matter I don't think, but at the moment, with it only being run every other blue moon, its a bit of a PITA!

Steve

What I would do here is pour some petrol into the carb by either removing the float chamber top or by using a plastic syringe to put some through the normal pipe connection. Chances are it will start straight up and the extra pull/push of the pump at the higher rpm will sort itself out.

Tony

I used to get a similar problem on some vintage wedding cars I owned. I fitted electric pumps in the end, it gets the fuel there without flatting the battery. I had one where I used to take the filter bowl off fill it with fuel, put it back and fire it up, the speed of the engine would pull the fuel through after that.

dailysprinter wrote:I used to get a similar problem on some vintage wedding cars I owned. I fitted electric pumps in the end, it gets the fuel there without flatting the battery. I had one where I used to take the filter bowl off fill it with fuel, put it back and fire it up, the speed of the engine would pull the fuel through after that.

I went the same route on my Sprint twenty or so years ago and fitted a facet red top and added a filter king regulator later, I got fed up of the mechanical pump.

Hi thanks guys for all of the advice. I will give it a go soon and let you know how I get on.

Hi thanks for that guys I primed the fuel lines and filled the float chamber with petrol and she fired right away.