88 Cutlass fuel system

[LWillmann]

I have an 88 Olds Cutlass Supreme Classic and I've been working on a resto-mod project on the car.

It started with an Olds 307 in the car, and I've moved to a SBC 350 bored .040 over. I'm running a Summit Stage 1 intake and Edelbrock 600cfm carb.
I'm running a serpentine belt setup from a 1988 Trans Am, and rather than run a mechanical pump I'm going to run a Holley HP150 electric pump. The pump kit includes a regulator and that regulator is returnless.

I need to set up my fuel system, and I've never planned one before.

Holley says that if I mount the fuel pump near the stock tank, but lower than the bottom of the tank that it will draw from the top without issue, someone I've talked to online who had the same pump says his burned up running in that configuration so I'm nervous about running it that way.

I know I'm going to need a fuel filter, and fuel line, it's a how to lay out the system that I'm not sure about.

I've considered two options to this point:

Cap the stock lines, sump the stock tank and run a new line to the fuel system. The fuel system would run from the tank to the filter, pump, regulater and then carb.

Or I could run an aftermarket tank (fuel cell, for example) that already has the fittings, to the filter, pump regulator, and then carb. But how do I get an aftermarket tank to give me an outlet in the stock location behind the license plate?

The car will see occasional use on the street, strip and car show. It's not a daily or anything and will essentially be a weekend / fair weather car once completed.

I'm thinking that sumping the stock tank will be the cheapest route, even after dropping it and cleaning it.

Opinions please?

 

[79wagonator]

Why not just go with a good mech pump?
That would be the cheapest route.
Unless your doing some wheelstanding launches I don't think you'd
Need a sumped tank and electric pump

 

[LWillmann]

There are a few reasons I planned for an electric pump:

I want to run nitrous on the motor.
The late 80's F-Body serpentine bracket assembly makes access to a mechanical pump tight (not impossible, but tight).
I'm going to move to fuel injection in the future, that becomes a simple fuel pump / regulator swap if I'm already plumbed and am running this pump.
I'm also going to be moving to forced induction in the future as well, and I was trying to think ahead as best I could when I planned out this build.

As I just said, I was trying to think ahead as best I could when I started this project, so I tried to get good parts that would last me a while and let me enjoy the vehicle while I saved up the money to move to the next stage.

That being said, I purchased the pump back when I first started buying parts, so I already have it, and it's set up for a carbureted vehicle. So that's probably the single biggest reason for me to use it now.

 

[SSedan64]

You could swap the stock Pickup line for a larger one and drill a hole & install an angled Return line pointed & extended away from the Pickup line.

 

[LWillmann]

You could swap the stock Pickup line for a larger one and drill a hole & install an angled Return line pointed & extended away from the Pickup line.

Like I was saying, Holley says that this pump will pull from the top of the tank if I mount it near the tank, but at or below the lowest point.

Someone I have conversed with on another forum has said that he had the same setup (drawing from the top of the tank and pump mounted low) and it burned up the pump.

This is what led me to trying to decide between sumping the stock tank or going with an aftermarket fuel cell and trying to get a filler neck that would go to the stock location behind the license plate on the car.

Also trying to decide what size fuel line to run.

This setup has an included regulator which is factory set to 7psi, and does not use a return line.

 

[1980PontiacWagon]

you could just drill a hole in the bottom of the tank and gravity feed to the pump.

And if you plan on doing some spray and forced induction down to line you'll probably need 1/2" fuel line.

 

[SSedan64]

You could swap the stock Pickup line for a larger one and drill a hole & install an angled Return line pointed & extended away from the Pickup line.

Like I was saying, Holley says that this pump will pull from the top of the tank if I mount it near the tank, but at or below the lowest point.

Someone I have conversed with on another forum has said that he had the same setup (drawing from the top of the tank and pump mounted low) and it burned up the pump.

This is what led me to trying to decide between sumping the stock tank or going with an aftermarket fuel cell and trying to get a filler neck that would go to the stock location behind the license plate on the car.

Also trying to decide what size fuel line to run.

This setup has an included regulator which is factory set to 7psi, and does not use a return line.

The Non-Return style Regulators "Dead Heads" are what burn up the Pumps. With a Return style Reg the Pump runs much cooler. As long as the Pump is lower than the Tank, it gravity/syphon feeds. A 5/8" -10 line from tank to Pump & a 1/2" -8 line from Pump to Reg & 2, 3/8" -6 lines from Reg to Carb will work great.

 

[LWillmann]

My carb is a single line Edelbrock 1406, for now. The engine isn't too radical right now, but it should handle the nitrous just fine after I swap the heads.

Thanks for recommendation on the lines, that makes perfect sense.

Should the return line be the -8 or -6?

On the car now, there are two different size fuel lines, one appears to be 1/2" and one 3/8" or it's 5/8" and 1/2" I haven't actually measured or looked that closely lately. When I went to pull the engine, I threaded two bolts into the ends to plug the hoses.

 

[SSedan64]

-6 should be fine for the Return line. Most all I've seen, the Return is smaller than the Feed line.