Vintage Ferrari Fuel Pump Upgrade



Vintage Ferraris often rely on two fuel pumps with an electric one that provides the priming of the system on cold start. This pump is also put into service in hot conditions that may experience vapor lock. Fresh cool fuel needs to be circulated in the fuel rail to keep it for boiling and affecting the performance. The irony is the original fuel pump also suffers from heat and can fail to work!

A solution I came up with to add an auxiliary fuel pump that does not involve removing the old pump or cutting any original fuel lines was these two fittings installed on the original fuel pump. These fittings replace the original banjo bolts and adds a additional nipple fitting to the fuel system so you can run a second modern fuel pump in parallel with the original equipment.

The Vintage Ferrari fuel pump is mounted near the left rear tire above the exhaust system, but adding these two fittings gives easy access to the fuel system without having to cut off the banjo fitting.

Each car is different, but I usually cut a piece of steel or aluminum to mount the extra fuel pump, and drill holes to line up with the mounting holes for the original fuel pump.

The thin plate slides between the mount and the original fuel pump and secures by tightening the mount bolts. This is a picture of the set up mounted on a 330GTC, but like I said each car is different in where you can mount the extra pump.

The beauty of this set up is if you decide to use the existing wiring, you can wire these two pumps together so when you will hear the original fuel pump clicking away as normal, but underneath there will the light swishing noise of the modern fuel pump as a backup. If the original pump fails to work, the modern fuel pump continues to provide fuel to the carburetors. I believe if a concours judge hears the loud clicking of the old fuel pump, he may not suspect you’re running a secondary one to get you home!

I partnered with Motion Products to produce these fittings for anyone who wants to make this modification. Tell them I sent you to buy the special fuel pump fittings.