uprated fuel pump advice

[AJ100hp]

Short question, seeing as a Walbro uprated fuel pump is cheaper than a standard replacement, will it have any negative effect on a standard engine set up?

Long version, i have a Fiat Panda 100hp (dont laugh...) and seeing as its mileage and age are going against it, i'm going to do a whole host of refresh work including a new fuel pump. standard units are £200 plus, whereas a universal Walbro is around the £50-£60 price point. the engine itself is pretty much stock, save for a modified inlet (there seems to be very little scope for trying to tune the ECU, best i've seen is a little over 110bhp from someone in Italy who wouldnt answer my emails when i said i was going to be local during the summer.) would fitting the Walbro cause any harm or grief to the car? its a single line system, so i guess the regulator is built into the pump/level sender unit, the standard pumps run at 3.5-4bar when new, and I've seen the standard pumps in Fiats drop off with age.

any help or guidance appreciated, any p-taking will be accepted with good humour

[GregK2]

Where are you buying from? Fakes are rife on eBay.
It's something I would personally leave alone, if it aint' broke etc. That said as someone who is a fan of preventative maintenance.
Unless they are a common failure point on the car?

[E-bmw]

If I were you I would stay stock and that is from experience for one reason only.

I bought one myself to use in my Mini Cooper S & as per your system it is a single line system with a regulator in the pump housing.

The problem is that, while the pump fits using a rubber adaptor it does not "fill" the hole the original one came out of, which doesn't sound like too much of a problem & didn't for me.

That is until I got 1/2 way down the first tank of fuel & while going round a large roundabout in a spirited fashion the car completely stone died in the middle of the busy roundabout & I nearly got collected by an asda 32 tonner.

The reason being the pump housing acts as a surge tank, but as the Walpro is slimmer it doesn't keep the fuel in the surge pot and when ever I went below 1/2 tank & went round a long right hander anything other than slowly the car died for 10 seconds.

Cue a quick stock replacement.

[AJ100hp]

perfect answesr, thanks to both of you
-yes, it was ebay so i'll steer clear, and ive seen the cars lose power and run mega lean (the ECU adapts quite well to the lack of fuel supply, to a point...)
-i'll bear the pump dimensions in mind, when i run this tank low i'll pull the pump housing out and get some measurements off it. still half decent weather for a couple of weeks before i switch to the daily for permanant winter duties

[Mignon]

I can't see the slightest reason to replace a stock pump that is still working with a non-standard one that might not. If yours is an in-tank pump with built in pressure regulator then a generic one without the correct regulator won't work at all. The ecu will have no idea what fuel pressure it is being sent.

[GreenV8S]

AJ100hp said:

i'm going to do a whole host of refresh work

It's your car, time and money but an elderly high mileage car that was inexpensive in the first place doesn't seem like a sensible candidate for 'a whole host of refresh work' unless this car has some special significance to you and you are determined to renovate it.

[stevieturbo]

Complete waste of money replacing a pump when there is nothing wrong with it.

And what sort of miles are you talking ? 3, 4, 500,000 or something ?

[madwrx]

theres a few pumps on ebay from magnetti marreli for a lot less than £200-once pump or bag filter start playing up you will get definite running problems.

[thetrickcyclist]

If it ain't bust.....is there an actual technical reason fuel pressure etc??