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Walbro FRB-28

Matt Bachand

Matt Bachand

Depends on the 6.5
Messages
5,330
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26
Location
Worcester, MA
Speaking with the walbro guy about my faulty pump, I asked him what pump he recommends, I said I want 10psi, max 14psi.

He said if I can wait a few weeks to hold out for the FRB-28. He says its the highest PSI and flow rate out of production parts available. Coming out in a few weeks. I asked if he can share any details. I'll let you guys know.

He also told me If I send him my pump he will rebuild it or replace it.

Top notch customer service there.
 
Matt,
Well, I’m sorry it was you and not your buddy! Anyway, I will rebuild it and send the pump with a flow curve of its performance. As for the FRB-28, we are setting up to run a build to demonstrate capability from a statistical sample, from which we will establish the spec. I am hoping for 50 gph (open flow) and about 13 to 15 psi for deadhead pressure.
 
FRB-5 is more like 7-9 psi max pressure. Sounds like the FRB-28 would hold higher pressure and flow quite a bit more.

I wouldn't say the FRB-5 is not as good, the question is what do you want for fuel pressure? Given that the FRB-5 does such a good job of holding 6-8 psi and only drops to 4 or 5 psi under load I'm not sure more is needed. More and higher always sounds better but the IP is designed to work well with 5 psi, I don't know what gains will be had with the higher pressure.
 
mmm, as long as the FRB-5 is able to provide 4~5 PSI at WOT, I wonder if it's worth time and money to go higher.

If the IP is not starving, everything will be rite.

Old men say, when it's not broken, don't fix it.
My dad was used to say, when you have something good in hands, keep in mind that if you look for better, you can get worse or disappointements.

my.02
 
But the FRB-5 is supposed to deadhead at 10-12psi. Its nowehre close to that. I was deadheading at 6. Now when I had a clog I had a gauge on my water drain, and the IP could suck hard enough to draw a vacuum of 7.

Most average FRB-5'ers aren't getting anywhere near 10psi.

Just a new option when buying a walbro, get teh 5-6 FRB-5, or maybe working pressure of the FRB-28 may be closer to 10, which is desired by me. I like the thought of the IP opening up and fuel getting jammed in there.

It has been discussed by diesel-pro I think that max PSI should be limited to 14 being safe.

Acesneights was feeding his 15 for a short while with that badboy raptor of his.

The less work IP has to do the better.
 
matuva said:
mmm, as long as the FRB-5 is able to provide 4~5 PSI at WOT, I wonder if it's worth time and money to go higher.

If the IP is not starving, everything will be rite.

Old men say, when it's not broken, don't fix it.
My dad was used to say, when you have something good in hands, keep in mind that if you look for better, you can get worse or disappointements.

my.02
Click to expand...

My Walbro wasn't good in my hands... It's in a little UPS box as we speak making a journey to the Walbro headquarters to get rebuilt and flow-specced by the head of the pump division himself :) Also included was the broken spring... The guys real cool, he never gets to hear any customer feedback so I've been comunicating with him quite a bit, and telling him the average results of teh FRB-5's coming off the line, even though they are stamped at 10psi and advertised at 10-12 deadhead pressure.
 
matuva said:
Matt, do you have any idea of how looks this FRB-28 ?
same fittings and sizes than a FRB-5 ? Flow on fail too ?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming its the similar body as FRB-5 just built to higher specs. There are very very little moving parts inside a walbro FRB which is a good thing which means very little to fail. He said 'production' parts, so doesn't sound like a complete re-design.

It seems they like this '3 piece' design, where there are only 3 moving parts. One being a pressure spring, one being the actualy recipricating plunger (pumps) and a black retainer button, which must release the electromagnetic pulse, causing the spring to rebound, releasing the button, causing it to pulse again and so on.

Everything inside is epoxy sealed, and its just an electromagnetic design, taking barely any amperage, and as long as the pressure spring doesn't break, i don't see what ever could go wrong besides the pump plunger or housing to wear, causing pressure loss until failure.

I guess we'll know more in a few weeks.

Don't get me wrong, i was happy with my FRB-5 even though it was within 1/2 of spec. Its a great pump design for sure.

I can't imagine the FRB-28 being much more, if any for a more productive pump. It may be a marine class, meaning its salt rating is 1000 vs 100hours resistant, like the other FRB-20+'s seem to be. So it may be a tad more due to that, but For no reason other than to help push/pull heavy/cold diesel I'd like a little more pressure.

I know the veg heads would love more pressure too.

I'm guessing its a combination of different plunger, and spring, allowing more pressure/flow, in the same case. Just a hunch.
 
Sounds good, and although at the IP I only get 5psi from the FRB5 the pressure prior to my factory filter manager is about 10psi. And that is also after the 12 micron pre-LP filter/water separator. So I think the FRB5 does what it says, but we have some restrictions and the pump itself is deadheading at 10-12psi, but the post filter manager pressure is less. I have a gauge pre filter manager that sits at 10psi at idle and when check at the IP its about 5-6psi. Thats with a brand new filter too.
 
buddy said:
Sounds good, and although at the IP I only get 5psi from the FRB5 the pressure prior to my factory filter manager is about 10psi. And that is also after the 12 micron pre-LP filter/water separator. So I think the FRB5 does what it says, but we have some restrictions and the pump itself is deadheading at 10-12psi, but the post filter manager pressure is less. I have a gauge pre filter manager that sits at 10psi at idle and when check at the IP its about 5-6psi. Thats with a brand new filter too.
Click to expand...

Good Info Buddy.

So to give the IP the desired IMO 7psi, ( FASS/AirDog regulates their 6.5 at 8psi also, not sure if their flow/psi can 'push' through a flt/mgr better than other pumps) we have alot of room to go up before we even come close to over pressuring it.

The added flow volume is a plus also as all you envolope pushers have reported running the 45 GPH dry.

I'm going to run my FRB-5 once it comes back to me for the winter, but next year I'll be getting this FRB28 and using my FRB5 for a miscelaneous xfer pump to keep around the house. Nice thing about these Walbro's is that they are cheap.
 
Matt Bachand said:
My Walbro wasn't good in my hands... It's in a little UPS box as we speak making a journey to the Walbro headquarters to get rebuilt and flow-specced by the head of the pump division himself :) Also included was the broken spring... The guys real cool, he never gets to hear any customer feedback so I've been comunicating with him quite a bit, and telling him the average results of teh FRB-5's coming off the line, even though they are stamped at 10psi and advertised at 10-12 deadhead pressure.
Click to expand...

Well, the guy at Walbro received my pump, rebuilt it, admitted the low endness was a little unstable and NEXT DAY AIR mialed it back!!

He also included a fixed frequency FRC/EX pump (not sure what that is) that he put a stiffer spring in, he said I may like it.

Looking at this 'custom' pump, same body as FRB-5, but ground wire doesn't go to the body. He scratched off one of the factory (C) of the FRC, and etched in EX instead. Pump factory is stamped 5psi. He also put his initials and the date.

Well, I hooked up this custom pump, and fired it up. Pressure before IP was right at 7 with no fluctuation what-so-ever.

I hooked up my handheld gauge at the water drain and it pegged 10 so fast and hard, that I e-mailed him to ask what pressure it dead-headed at.

When driving it never drops below 5, and on a hard highway pull 10psi boost, I could get it to hit 3psi before IP.

Havn't received reply yet on deadhead pressure. If the flt-mgr is taking up so much psi, a 15psi pump with a racor and fltmgr would be more like 10psi maybe at the IP.

Perhaps FTB will bring this up some more at IP.

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for when I chose the Walbro.

FWIW, once the FRB-28 is out, I wouldn't even bother with the FRB-5 anymore. I would just get the 28.

Now I have a backup FRB-5, and the fixed frequency pump that he 'tossed in'.

I'll end up using the FRB-5 as a means to xfer heating fuel into my house tank now.

That is some good ol' USA service my friends. This is a company that is worthy of supporting.

I asked him some more follow-ups about the FRB-28, body size, changes, whats different, etc, but hasn't responded.

Also of note, when I UPS'ed my pump to him, I remember the Next day option was around 60-80 bux or so. I couldn't believe it when I saw that box sitting at my door on Tuesday.
 
Turbine Doc said:
Matt is FRB-28 still a flow on fail design so that IP can still pull fuel thru it in a "get me home" mode ?
Click to expand...

Not positive, it'll be coming out in a few weeks, but I would think so. I think its going to be the exact same body/design as the FRB-5's and other FRB/FRC pumps.

They are very simple designed, which is why they are very reliable and rated for good hours, the recipricating plunger allows fuel to pass through in the direction of its stroke, so its a perfect flow on fail.

He told me highest flow/psi of pumps with production parts is all the detail I received, so it seems like its a spring/plunger/inlet valve change (the only 3 moving parts).

As far as my 'custom' pump, I tested it before I installed with the mouth. It easily flowed forward. Also double verified with the racors prime button.
 
When driving it never drops below 5, and on a hard highway pull 10psi boost, I could get it to hit 3psi before IP.
Click to expand...

Matt, I agree a bit more pressure might be a good thing, but that sounds like the same performance I'm getting from my FRB-5. I'm generally 5-7 in normal driving, and on a hard pull 3-4 psi. So, I'm still not convinced that the FRB-28 or your custom pump really have better performance. Not trying to argue, you have a good point that a bit more pressure would be a good thing for the IP, but I think the steadier pressure and higher volume that the FRB-5 gives over the stock filter does the job.

I don't know if this is a good analogy or not, but here goes ..... everyone agrees that a 4" exhaust gives much better performance than stock, but that doesn't mean a 5" exhaust will give you much more than the 4".
 
Well Wlabro is smart for having customer service like that. When someone comes on here and needs a new pump they are going to get the Walbro recommendation from everyone. I know who I'm going to go with next year when I get a new fuel pump. If the customer service is even half that good for the majority of us, that is still better than alot of companies out there.
 
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