I wouldn't worry about a little tape and foam on the outside of your fuel
pump at all.
minor factor, external cooling by air flow, I think.
I seriously doubt a bit of tape on the outside of it will matter at all.

hey, if you have an infrared temp gun like you should have for general
diagnostic purposes ..
take some temp readings on the outside of the fuel pump ...
be interesting to see how hot it gets during the summer with highway
driving.

Scott
turbovans

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark" <mbrush@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 12:45 PM
Subject: new fuel pump taped up

>I saw some earlier posts that recommended against putting tape around a new
> fuel pump.  Here's what I did - when I pulled out the old pump - I saw
> that
> there was some type of metal ring inside the bracket.  The old ring was
> badly corroded and barely there.  I put a thin strip of foam tape around
> the
> middle of the fuel pump (where the clamp holds it) and covered the foam
> with
> black electrical tape.  Figured that would give it some cushion or
> dampening
> while it sits in the bracket.  Then I saw the posts that the pump cools in
> two ways - one by the fuel running through it - the other by the air
> running
> over it.  Is a little foam and some electrical tape a no, no?  Or should I
> just leave it and chalk it up to experimentation :-)  zip strips were used
> too (that bracket was worn out!)
>
> Mark
>
> --
> Mark
> 1990 Westy (2.1 - manual)