Frankenvette

Replaced the mechanical fuel pump, and man what a pain in the a!@. No matter which angle of approach, I could not reach the upper 2 bolts with my hands or tools. Took about 45 minutes and a sore back to get it installed. I had coated the gasket with high tach gasket sealer which is now coating everything around the fuel pump. Anyone have a tip for installing if I ever have to do this again...which I hope I don't.


[Modified by Frankenvette, 9:09 AM 9/15/2003]

The Dude

Try rotating the engine so the fuel pump eccentric on the front of the camshaft is on the "low" side. (Meaning at the point at which it isn't pushing the pushrod out.) This gives you a little more clearance.

You've probably heard this before but it's the only PITA fuel pump tip I have for you.

bertmeister

Just replaced mine on an 81. What a pain in the butt. Remove the right front tire, and the fuel pump bolts are accessable from the fender well with a long extension. As The Dude mentioned, make sure the pushrod is into the engine as far as possible. I don't know if the earlier blocks had it, but on mine there is a bolt on the front of the block which can be removed. Then install about a 2 inch bolt to hold the push rod up out of the way. Just remember to remove the longer bolt before startup. This is my first Vette and I found it helpful to do a search on this site before doing any maintenance to the car. Volumes of good info here. :cheers:

71coupe

I don't like it either - that's why I went with an electric pump at the tank.

catfishgeez

Replaced mine last year. That pushrod had me going for an hour. Finally got it to stay up long enuf for me to get the pump on. You are right. It hurts the back.

Smokehouse69

The trick is to pull your right front wheel and go in over the A-Arm, there is a straight shot right to the bolts that way. I learned this the hard way I spent 30 minutes under the car trying to get the bolts in, finally I crawled out from under the car and just happened to look over hub, (I had the front wheel off at the time.) And to my surprise I could see and get to both bolts with almost no effort.

Carl in LA

during my rebuild one of the last things I did was install the fuel pump. I applied lots of Mr. Gasket to the gasket and then started tightening up - the last bolt - I twisted off the head of the bolt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Been 3000 miles so far and no leaks. But that sure is going to be a pain when I have to drill out that bolt stuck in the block with no head on it!

cardo0

:iagree: Ditto that Carl. The smaller ¼-20 bolt snapped on mine and I was using a torque wrench. Just before 100% torque (think about 10 ft-lbs) the worst possible thing happened. And next step was to break the easy out in that nice hard to reach area. :mad Thanks to Harbor Freight I picked up a 90* drill attachment for my smallish air drill – only $20 – that saved me. Between that bolt and the easyout broken in the water pump stud I ended up with a bag full of used/broken drill bits – lots a carbide and cobalt bits. Keep’em for a reminder until I get this project back on the road again. :lolg:
I guess the lesson here is use High grade bolts in critical areas.

Frankenvette

So I guess its not just me who had a difficult time with the fuel pump. Getting the pump rod to stay was not a problem for me. I used grease on the shaft after freezing the rod in the freezer for an hour....one of my vette reso books said to freeze it. Rod stayed put the entire time. It was reaching the two upper bolts that was the problem. Glad to know to remove the front right tire for access. Funny thing is I thought this was going to be an easy project...oh yea, I'm working on a vette...no such thing as an easy project!

Fevre

Def a PITA, there is a tapped hole in front of the block that leads directly in line with the rod so you can use a long bolt to hold to rod up in place while installing the pump. Have used the grease method too.

Ganey

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=175838

Remove rt. ft. tire & use long extensions.

:cool:

It helps to take a look & think before starting. Have always done it like that on Corvette & posted it many times.

KenSny

Just my $.02 on the bolt/screw breaking comments.....

I always use a thread chaser or a bottom tap to cleanup the threads in the hole before installing new bolts or reinstalling the old ones. If I'm reinstalling the old ones then I will use a wire brush on the bolt threads and clean them off to see what kind of condition they are in before deciding if I need to replace them. ESPECIALLY if you are dealing with small sizes. These are the easiest to cross thread and strip anyhow. Plus it's a waste of time using a torque wrench on bolts that have crud in the threads, or are damaged, since your readings will be wrong!

My69

A small job that found to be a big PIA. :smash:

stingry

:iagree:

I had a similar experience with old and new bolts. If the fit is noticeably tight then run the wire brush over the bolt. Likewise with a tap and the threads. Especially if it has not been removed for a while. You break the rust and create filings of metal in there when you remove the old bolt. There may also be old loctite in there. Once you have cleaned the threads out blow out the hole with air to make sure it is clean.

When replacing a fuel pump coat the pushrod in grease or vaseline. This makes it stick up in the hole while you get the pump bolted on.



[Modified by stingry, 7:47 PM 9/16/2003]