We have come full circle on fuel pumps

General Discussion
21

That’s been done by manufacturers for DECADES.

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22

That $15 dollar Pontiac fuel pump bought in, say, 1961, would cost $162-205 in today’s dollars.

That $20 GM pump from 1970 would be $167-183 today.

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23

Look it up, you can still buy them for under $30. Even with a fraction of their original volume in production! It’s not strictly inflation driving pricing. Improved processes, lower labor costs and other factors come into play.

24

I was quoting today’s prices to show how different the two pumps really are.

25

Yeah I know about inflation and everything but that $20 fuel pump I bought for the 59 Pontiac in 1969 in a car that cost me $175. Now that car would sell for $30 to $40,000. Maybe should have kept it and bought a spare pump. Naw.

26

The cheap aftermarket parts came from China. I found that I could buy complete new pumps and carbs on line for less than the cost of the rebuild kits. Those days may be over what with tariffs and the domestic aftermarket parts suppliers out of business or unwilling to tool up due to uncertainty about the import future.

27

I think part of the problem of why carbs get so much hate is there are not many choices now for rebuild kits other than cheap China made kits available. Back in the 80s and even 90s you could get a good quality kit that would refresh your carburetor after 150k miles to easily get another 150k out of it.

It doesn’t so much matter anymore, now if you talk about the advantages of older technology your are deemed to be experiencing “wrong thoughts” despite backing up statements with facts

28

Any “facts” in favor of carbs, besides cost? Must be convenient to classify all those that disagree with you as unyielding idiots.

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29

I don’t want our Emergency services having to deal with a finicky carburetor when I call 911 as I have needed to do a few times in the last couple of years.

Rick you will not find anyone here who thinks you are correct so give up.

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30

Hmmm..You call 150k miles from a carb a good thing? I’ve yet to have a fuel injection system failure on vehicles well past 300k miles. Fuel injection systems are considerably more reliable then carbs - mainly because they have less moving parts. FI systems are far more efficient for better performance and gas mileage.

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31

@Old-Days-Rick

Any vehicle with a carb is going to be really old

So these older vehicles need more repairs, probably have rust, are less fuel efficient, have less safety features and most likely have a lot miles, meaning many parts are simply worn out

I agree with the others . . .

nobody’s going to say older vehicles with carbs are the better choice . . .

except you

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32

… plus, much lower emissions with FI.

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33

I lived through decades of repairing carburetors. And even when I was in the dealership, I was the “go to” person for carb repairs.

Today’s fuel injection systems are technically far superior to anything carburetors could offer.

To expand on db4690’s comment, anyone insisting older vehicles with carbs are the better choice needs to do more homework.

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34

I think that anyone insisting carburetors are better than fuel injection needs a psychiatrist!

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35

Yep, if I had one of my “dream car list” cars, the points would be replace with electronic ignition, carburetor replaced with FI throttle body. One car on my list is a Square Bird (58-60 Thunderbird)
The 352 had solid lifters, I would go with a later 390 or 428 block with hydraulic lifters, even sneak in an AOD transmission.

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