[DeTomaso] npc fuel-line cleaning question

[Christopher Kimball]

Hi folks,
My son has as 1991 Mini with a 1275 motor and a regular carb.  I'm guessing it has a regular, mechanical fuel pump, too.
The gas tank got rusty, and while it is out of the car getting de-rusted, a mechanic friend of mine said I should get some carb leaner and clean out the "tubes."  I gathered he meant the pipe going between the gas tank in the trunk and the carb in the engine compartment.
I went to the store and got a spray can of carb cleaner, put a bucket in the trunk with the gas line going into it to catch the flow,  and hooked the spray can to the hose that I disconnected from the carb at the front of the car.
I sealed the end of the hose in the engine compartment to the spray can with duct tape and pushed the button.  Sure enough, all kinds of brown, rusty-looking fluid flowed into the bucket in the trunk, demonstrating there was gunk in the system.
Here's my question, though.  I got to thinking about it, and not being much of a mechanic, I began to wonder if I might have damaged the fuel pump.  Is it OK to flow carb cleaner backward through the system?  I'd hate to get the whole thing reassembled only to find that by spraying the carb cleaner through the fuel pump in the opposite direction of its normal flow I had somehow messed something up.
Or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks for your help!
Chris 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
   Hi folks,
   My son has as 1991 Mini with a 1275 motor and a regular carb.  I'm
   guessing it has a regular, mechanical fuel pump, too.
   The gas tank got rusty, and while it is out of the car getting
   de-rusted, a mechanic friend of mine said I should get some carb leaner
   and clean out the "tubes."  I gathered he meant the pipe going between
   the gas tank in the trunk and the carb in the engine compartment.
   I went to the store and got a spray can of carb cleaner, put a bucket
   in the trunk with the gas line going into it to catch the flow,  and
   hooked the spray can to the hose that I disconnected from the carb at
   the front of the car.
   I sealed the end of the hose in the engine compartment to the spray can
   with duct tape and pushed the button.  Sure enough, all kinds of brown,
   rusty-looking fluid flowed into the bucket in the trunk, demonstrating
   there was gunk in the system.
   Here's my question, though.  I got to thinking about it, and not being
   much of a mechanic, I began to wonder if I might have damaged the fuel
   pump.  Is it OK to flow carb cleaner backward through the system?  I'd
   hate to get the whole thing reassembled only to find that by spraying
   the carb cleaner through the fuel pump in the opposite direction of its
   normal flow I had somehow messed something up.
   Or am I just being paranoid?
   Thanks for your help!
   Chris