Thought it was about time to post an update on this adventure... and the thread was not to full conclusion, not one bit. LMAO.
My objectives have changed since I bought this car... the overall plan is still make it reliable before I add power, but after putting 300 miles on it, power is actually not that big of a deal... another 50 hp might be nice, but really don't care it's not a V8 or Turbo. I now have a fat set of swaybars and a set of SFC's waiting for the day I get up the motivation to install it. With the
hurst shifter and the big swaybars it's already quite fun on slow switchbacks which I am blessed to have a ready source of locally.
But that's not the point of this post. So I changed out the fuel pump and put a gigantic 340 lph pump in the car and it ran great for several months, was just hampered by a summer that rained every other day last year. Now it's not raining much this summer but I've got the gas tank out of the car for a 4th time. I can replace a pump in 2 hrs now by the way... without cutting any sheet metal.
First thing I have learned is that any
suspension work is FAR worse than replacing a fuel pump. So many people complain about the fuel pump job and so many people have cut their original sheet metal just to get straight to it, but this is not a bad job. You drive it til empty if you have that luxury, or you support the tank with jacks, unbolt the straps, lower the driver side so that you can get to the fuel sender... pop that off and throw a line in to drain the tank... I pump it out, you can siphon... whatever you got. Then you can pull it off of the neck grommet which has surely ripped by now. When you do this job you need to get a fuel sender, fuel pump, fuel pump Hanger, filler neck grommet... probably two new clips for the fuel lines. Replace everything! And save yourself from my trouble.
So I did the first fuel pump swap as above and the car ran great for a few months. Then it started to not start sometimes... fuel pump would not prime, car would not run that day. A couple days later it would run fine and wouldn't strand me... but it was less than reassuring. The old pump was definitely bad so that was not a problem. But I also never liked the butt splice connections I made on the pump, so I half dropped the tank just so I could look at the connection to the pump... still no problem there, so I bolted it back up and tried to run the pump directly... no go. An hour on the internet suggested I might be stressing out that pump by sending 300 lph straight back to the tank on the return line, so I went and bought a 155 lph pump thinking I might have killed the big one... but motivated to change it regardless... so a couple weeks later I dropped the tank a second time to swap that out... bolted it all up... didn't run... got pissed off and just reattached the tank and let it sit another two weeks. I might add that I confirmed that the fuel pump relay was fine, and it was sending 12v to the fuel tank harness at all the right times.
Then the neighbor comes over to help me because I'm sick of doing this job myself (he's also a mechanic) and so we drop it, we check all the continuity, start reconnecting everything, double checking everything as we go, and the pump starts running again we high five each other and bolt it all up, hit the starter, and the car is running again... we chalk it up to corrosion somewhere, maybe a loose connection... now I am starting to trust this car. I drive it 120 miles the next week like it's a cheap alternative to commute (daily driver gets 23 mpg), and then I go out one morning to go to work.... no prime.
No start. AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGG (Picture Charlton Heston on the beach by the half submerged statue of liberty on his knees cursing the heavens)
Fast forward to today, three weeks later. I pulled the tank out a 4th time, I tore it all apart. Pulled out the fuel pump and tested continuity on everything. There is nothing from the positive pin to the fuel pump... wiggled it a little, got a faint beep... poked around a bit more... right in the pin there is an insulator to shield it from the metal plate, and there is a joint there, and it is busted. I hit the pump with 12 volts directly... runs beautifully... So I have now ordered a new fuel pump hanger and a third fuel tank filler neck grommet... those things are single use apparently. Hopefully by end of next weekend I'll have finally got this thing reliable. It never leaks oil and it never overheats... the engine is otherwise bulletproof.
So...
2 Fuel Pumps
2 Fuel Pump Relays
1 Fuel Sender
2 Fuel Pump connectors
3 Filler Neck Grommets
1 Fuel Pump Hanger
1 Partial fuel tank drop
4 Complete Fuel tank drops
Several Beers
And... I'm still pretty sure I beat taking it to a shop by a good $400.
Never give up on your dreams! lol
