Electric or mechanical fuel pump

[Andrew]

Any opinions on electric vs mechanical fuel pump for a 500" 550 hp 6 pack??

 

[scotts74birds]

Cons: Noise, complexity, expense, lifespan, possible extra plumbing, no shut-off in the event of an accident.
Pros: Less motor drag [can only be found on a dyno, probably offset by increased alternator drag, unless its a strip car running off the batt only]
In a street car, I've never found a need for one. Hi-flow mechs available cover all sizes of motors. Maybe for nitrous or forced induction, there may be a reason, but I havent run into one yet for a carbed street car.
If anyone knows different, please tell me what I am missing.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Mechanical pumps will tent to transfer some heat into the fuel, otherwise I agree with the above post. I'm running an OEM type on my 440 and no issues so far. Another thing to consider is the fuel that fills the carb bowls has to pass through two holes that are about .090" in diameter (needle and seat), so how much pressure and flow do you really need?

 

[Don Gould]

Your fuel delivery requirements are determined by the HP the engine is capable of and how much of that HP you plan on using.
You can run about 400HP with a Mechnical pump, after that you need to consider a higher volume fuel delivery system.

 

[67 coronet]

depends on what you are trying to achive with the car.all out power,go electric,you will need it.street car with some track time,good quality mechanical.dont use stock type fuel pumps,make sure to use edelbrock or holley for much more stable fuel volume.there are mechanical pumps out there that can deliver serious numbers(billet race pumps)but those are normally used for limitted race aplications.by the numbers you mentioned in your post,i would run a good holley or edelbrock mechanical.if you run an elctric,make sure to put it as close to the tank as possible.

 

[terzmo]

I ran two six packs off mechanical pumps and had no issues...ran strong past 120

 

[70rr-brian]

Your fuel delivery requirements are determined by the HP the engine is capable of and how much of that HP you plan on using.
You can run about 400HP with a Mechnical pump, after that you need to consider a higher volume fuel delivery system.

I run 555hp on stock mechanical with no issues.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

I tried the Holley Blue Electric pump, after finding a spot to mount it and after isolating it with rubber and after making sure it had a better than great ground and after getting used to the nois it made not so bad after isolating it.

Decided it wasn't worth it (died on me once) and went with a Eddy mech pump, and it works great on my 493 no issues yet with just a few hundred miles on it.