Archive > fuel-system

As a development engineer for more than 30 years, and an enthusiast for a lot longer, I have seen many fuel systems installed in race and rally cars across the land. Some of them are very good, some not so. Most will obviously work sufficiently well 95% or even 99% of the time or else the owners would presumably modify them to suit, but there may be times when ambient temperatures are high or fuel levels very low when they can be caught out. The enemy of any fuel system for the...

Any engine man these days, no matter how young or old, will have at least a pretty good idea of how electronic fuel injection works. With its speed, temperature and pressure sensors, maps and ECUs, the digital nature of the technology is well understood by many. Go back though say, 40 years and although a good many so-called engine tuners will have thought they knew about fuelling systems, when it came down to it, the complexities of the carburettor required a very special kind of...

Anyone who has ever dismantled the carburettor (remember them?) of their beloved classic is likely to have noticed, hiding somewhere in the corner at the bottom of the float chamber, a small amount of sediment. Consisting sometimes of quite large granular particles - bits of rust, dirt, sealant or other contaminants - these will have travelled from the fuel tank through some kind of coarse mesh filter past the fuel pump and into the carburettor. Finding their way past the float chamber...