I have a 2003 Dodge Ram, 24V, 5.9L Cummins that was in January ’07 converted to run on straight vegetable oil (VO). The stock fuel system in the Cummins engine has the lift pump mounted on the fuel filter, i.e., NOT in the fuel tank. In my VO conversion system I have an MSD lift pump, (model # PN 2225, rated at 43 gph @ 40 psi, 5.4 amps [gasoline rating]) with a pressure regulator on the discharge of the MSD lift pump to regulate the VO pressure down to 6 to 9 psi, in the range that the injection pump likes to see. My MSD lift pump recently failed. I am in search of a new cost-effective lift pump to replace my failed MSD lift pump. I have to questions – (1) what would be a good readily available lift pump to use, make and model number, that is not too expensive, i.e., less than about $150 and (2) did I need to use a pressure regulator in the discharge of the MSD lift pump and will I need to use a pressure regulator in the discharge of my new lift pump?

 

I dont know how well the newer cummins work with veggie oil. The two main problems are the electronics in the injector pump and the high pressure that they inject the fuel at. It tends to polymerize the fuel and gunk things up.
If youre still dead set on running SVO on the truck, Id look into a FASS150 or so. Frybrid sells those since they yield the best results. You need more power to pump that heavier liquid.
Id imagine these huge pumps work themselves to death because theyre pumping against a pressure regulator in a lot of cases. What about pumping the fuel in a loop back into the tank and tee'ing off that loop with a pressure regulated line to feed the fuel feed switch? Youd end up doing a lot of filtering which would polish the fuel pretty well, but run through filters a bit more often.
Oh yeah, Id do oil analysis on this truck when its running veg just in case anything goes wrong.

 

As I mentioned in my ad the vehicle was converted in January of this year and has been working great on VO. If the VO is properly heated to AT LEAST 160 F it will have the same viscosity as diesel and the engine would even notice that it's "heavier."

The FASS lift pump runs in the neighborhood of $400 to $500. I'm looking to get away a bit cheaper, say a maximum of $150. Do you know of any lift pumps that will put out the required flow (not sure what that really is) and pressure (approximate 11 or 12 psi) which the injector pump likes to see?

 

You can get a holley blue or something else like that, but theyre not going to last long. I dont think the stock fuel system is made for more than 60gph. I use a holley blue to move fuel from one tank to the other, no probs so far but its not on much.
The injection pumps in the new trucks are kind of iffy with veg.. check out the forums on frybrid and see what folks say.

 

You can pick up a Walbro and change at http://tinyurl.com/25me6l. And yes, you will need a bypass pressure regulator.

 

Recently converted my 2003 Ram to run on veg using a Golden Fuel System Kit and have been very pleased with the results. This particular kit uses a MASTER/AIRTEX (E8153) pump in-line with the original stock lift pump on the filter housing when running on veg. The GFS system is setup with a "T" tap loop back to the veg tank...so when running on veg with a new veg & stock diesel filter...I get 22psi max on the digital fuel pressure guage which drops lower as I step on the pedal. When running on Diesel, the digital meter max's out at 9psi and again the psi's drop as I step on the gas - I'm no expert on the subject, but have been told by those that are...the extra 14psi from the veg "helper" pump will not harm the IP ... dirt, water and/or running an IP dry or nearly dry surely will!

Great thing about using something like the helper pump mentioned above, its inexpensive enough to purchase a duplicate and carry it as a spare. If a more expensive pump fails, I'll have to remove it just the same as I would a less expensive pump but have the additional hassle of sending the expensive pump back in for the warranty and wait for a replacement. Having a capable yet affordable spare makes so much more sense ... imho