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KO ENGINEERING’S RASP PUMP SYSTEM.

This is the latest innovative product available for the dodge diesel. It is going to cause a lot of waves as guys have invested a lot of money on electric fuel systems including our own dealers.

Quite frankly I don’t give a damn about causing waves because I have personally had to pay for & replace 4 VP 44 pumps and 5 lift pumps on our own personal dodge in a 2 ½ year period. That is a lot of money. So when I had the opportunity to get involved in this mechanical fuel pump system took it.

I am not going to lie to anyone. I got paid to test this system but I made it clear that if the system did not work I would not endorse it without refunding anything to them. As most of you already know my racecar is finished so they aren’t getting a nickel back.
DTT is first and foremost a transmission shop but I was fed up with our lack of options and I like this fuel system.

This system was first brought to my attention over a year and an half ago. After many trips back to the drawing board KO ENGINEERING came back 8 months ago with their RASP system & I conditionally agreed to test it for them> I warned them up front that ONLY if I liked the system and believed in it would I would endorse if.

This is how it went. The first version of the system they gave me I did not like. Sent them back to the drawing board. The second system, it was good but not great. The third system was sweet but could still be better.

What KO now refers to as their RASP FUEL SYSTEM I am willing to endorse. It is simple, there are no parts to wear out and the pump is easy to install.

Mounting brackets for the pump: This is a 2-part system that bolts on to your engine oil pan. It is CNC machined from 6061 aluminium, it is sweet. The drive hub bolts directly on to your harmonic balancer, you don’t have to worry about alignments on the pump because it is already engineered in the two part mounting system. You also do not have to worry about angles. Don’t have to worry about alignment or centering of the drive hub on the harmonic balancer as that is also engineered into the design of the actual drive hub. Just un do the four bolts on your harmonic balancer, bolt on your drive hub and you are ready for the pulleys & belt. At this point you are now ready for the plumbing.

Plumbing: The plumbing can be a little bit of a challenge for the average consumer and I told KO that. Having said that they decided with the many variables / preferences involved with plumbing and the different systems already on various trucks it was not practical to supply a plumbing kit with the pump. They would leave that to the individual installer to customize.

I have been bombarded with questions from guys curious about the system and will try and answer a few questions as follows. :

What is the warranty on this system? Fair question.
There really are not any wearable parts on this system other than the belt. There is a 5-year warranty on the system other than the belt. KO suggests you change it every 50,000 miles or carry a spare. When you get your pump kit, it comes with one spare belt.

What happens if a belt breaks? : Actually nothing really happens other than an LED light comes on in the cab of the truck telling you the belt broke. At that point the rasp system automatically switches you back to your electric fuel system via a pressure switch. That is another part of the system that is really sweet. The RASP system runs parallel to whatever electric fuel system you are already running.

What does a parallel fuel system mean?
For those of you unfamiliar with this terminology, what happens is that you actually have 2 fuel systems in your truck? The original electric fuel system you are already running, and the KO RASP system. They run side by side. & linked to each other via a Hobbs pressure switch.

Why is the Hobbs switch significant: Because anytime the pressure drops below 8 PSI the electric fuel pump automatically kicks in.

So what happens if my belt breaks and my Hobbs switch malfunctions? That is one of the questions asked by a few. Now while this scenario is really a long shot, should it happen , all you have to do is simply bypass the Hobbs with a little piece of wire and you are back on the road again.

What kind of pressures does the RASP system run? I have spoken to a lot of people that have been advising KO ENGINEERING on what the pressures should be. The answer from Bosch & Cummins is 14 PSI. You do not want to exceed this for the best life on your VP 44 pump. (a lot of you already know that on the Dodge Rams if you try to run 20 –25 PSI at an idle with the electric fuel pumps, starting the vehicle becomes tough as you would have already hydraulic the VP 44 pump. In turn shortening the life of the VP 44 pump.

Pressure setting on the RASP system: 12-14 PSI. While you can turn it up, I strongly recommend you do not do that, as YOU WILL shorten the life your VP 44.

If I turn the pressure up on KO’S RASP fuel pump system against KO Engineering’s advise will it effect the warranty on the pump system? no it will not. (for testing purposes we did turn the pump up to 55 PSI, the only thing we succeeded in doing was destroy the VP 44 pump.)
Electric fuel pumps run higher pressures at an idle to maintain pressures at wide-open throttle. Most of you guys running fuel pressure gauges already know this, as soon as you start stomping on your accelerator you watch the fuel gauge and start panicking if the pressures start to drop.
The R.A.S.P fuel system is the exact opposite. The higher the engine RPMS the more pump volume is available. No more having to worry about getting on the go pedal.

How is the pressure controlled on the R.A.S.P system?
It uses a bypass valve, which is controlled by a spring. Anything above 14 PSI simply gets returned back to the tank.

There are no wearable parts in the bypass system unlike a fuel regulator . It simply uses a spring and a valve.

How does this system affect changing your fuel filter: Changing your fuel filter is childs play, as the KO RASP fuel pump is not involved when you change the fuel filter, your electric fuel pump does all the work, same as always. Whatever procedures you previously used to change your fuel filter prior to installation of the RASP system remains the same. One of the hardest things with the mechanical fuel pump was changing your fuel filter. However with the RASP system running parallel with your electric fuel pump system KO made changing the fuel filter a breeze.

If you guys have more questions: ASK, as always I will be blunt with my answers.

In conclusion I would like to point these things out to you guys; the system is ultra quiet, you don’t hear it compared to the electric fuel pump, which is annoying. The pump itself has straight cut gears so no pump crescents to wear out, no impellers to wear out. No thrust in the system so the body is not going to wear out VS the thrust in the electric fuel pumps causing pump bodies and impellers to wear out. The gears are stainless steel so even if water was run through it, it doesn’t matter.

Bottom line is, I like it , and I don’t have to carry spare pumps. Some guys are out there looking for holes or flaws in the system. Good luck to you; it was mine & others involved in the testing phases to find the flaws. As far as this pump system is concerned, you won’t find anything others & myself have not found and changed in the last 8 months. The one thing we all looked at as being the weak link was the belt. But no matter what the belt held up. The original version the alignment sucked so bad that the belt was in there cockeyed and still it held up. Some of the test trucks and people we used in the R&D facility you may recognize, as they are known to be punishers on their equipment. Guys like Opie, Idaho CTD, Strick 9.

Is this the best system available for your dodges today? Absolutely without a doubt yes it is. No matter how some may try to slice it and dice it, bottom line is , electric fuel pumps are designed to be gravity fed and they always have thrust, bushings to wear out and the mechanical fuel pump uses the Cummins motor. As long as that motor is cranking over that fuel system is going to deliver.

And a final note for guys like Edward who is bashing DTT/me & this system on every site that will let them. Not even your personal vendettas against me or DTT can change the fact that this is a good fuel system that will succeed no matter what on its own merit because it is such a simple system. They came to me because I have 10 years of experience with mechanical fuel systems in the drag racing world, and in the drag racing world everyone knows, if you have an electric fuel pump, carry a spare. Dodge owners are not any different. I realize some of you guys including my dealers are upset with me for not saying anything before now. KO wanted all their testing completed and they trusted me not to reverse engineer and steal this from them..


Bill Kondolay