OK as some of you already know,
Andypdq fitted one of his modified Bosch pumps to my van after an Epic fail in Belgium (appropriate pun eh?
) resulting in an aborted European tour and the Breakdown insisting on my van being repatriated back to UK. Since fitting i've now been on a short trek around Scotland as a kind of 'shakedown' run to see how the pump performs. Each time i go off on a tour i 'neck' the tank on a fill up and take a reading off my mileometer. OK i know it's not the most scientific but it's about the only way. My van is an Autosleepers Duetto built on Mk5 Transit with the 2.5TDi engine. I assume the fuel tank to be fitted in exactly the same location as the commercial built Mk5 Transit so owners will know they are notoriously slow fillers requiring much patience to get the fuel to 'neck'. Also of course, you can never guarantee each filling station you pull on will have a perfectly flat level surface.
First fill was at 316 miles with 36.96ltrs of diesel.
Second fill at 216 miles with 36.59ltrs.
Third and final fill at 360 miles 54.36ltrs.
http://oi59.tinypic.com/szcztw.jpgI used an online fuel calculator to figure the mpg which came out at 31.92....pretty much around what i got from the Lucas Epic pump. But it should be remembered that these are quite heavy vans fitted out with solid wood interiors. Onboard fresh water tank holds 70ltrs, grey water waste tank holds 45ltrs and the toilet flush 7ltrs. Add all that to a full fuel tank of 68ltrs and the engine works pretty damned hard! However performance is
very different to the Epic pump. There is way more pulling power and for the first time since owning the van, it actually feels like it really does have a turbo! Obviously no campervan was built for blasting down the motorways and autobahns and most of my distance driving on that type of road is generally around 55 - 65mph. Country roads i will potter around at 30-40mph....less if it's somewhere nice! But there
is more power there if needed and it does come in quite quickly.
The Bosch pump is slightly more noisy than the Epic but on a long run in top gear it tends to disappear. I can get used to that in favour of better pulling power.....plus the other bonus is the Bosch pump has got rid of that stupid electronic 'fly by wire' accelerator which imo has to rank among the most ludicrous batty ideas to come from Ford. WTF were they thinking of? After all, the Transit was built as a commercial van......
not a Ferrari! Having a cabled throttle is a big 'plus' over daft electronics.