Another update with no real progress.
I pulled the tank down again last night and swapped out my 'bad' MSD pump for my neighbor's 'good' pump. I got everything put back together and it *still* won't prime. WTF?! I'm really starting to get frustrated with this now. I have two pumps, neither of which will suck fuel from the tank. I'm really stumped at this point and getting discouraged.
Do I buy another MSD pump @ $92? The first one quit, but why? I hate to blindly spend money on problems trying to fix them (but not *knowing* that it will), but it is also the cheapest pump available, by far. The next step up is probably a Holley pump for $160.
The fuel system is functionally identical to what I had, only I've moved the fuel pump to what is supposed to be a better location -- it's lower in relation to the fuel tank, and it's no longer near the tailpipes. (I doubt this had much effect). If I pull the inlet hose from where it connects to the tank, fuel pours out. If anything, it should work *better*, as I have a real gravity feed to the pump -- or at worst, less gravity to work against than before.
Chevelle winter projects
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TireSmoker
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Maybe you could do a temporary set up that has the pump directly behind the tank and below the fuel. If it doesn't work then you know it has to be the pump.
Somewhere someone has to have prior experience with this pump - you need to locate these people to see if anyone has a recommendation on which pump to get.
Somewhere someone has to have prior experience with this pump - you need to locate these people to see if anyone has a recommendation on which pump to get.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
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ttamrettus
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Dave check this out.
http://www.racepumps.com/Trouble%20Shooting.htm#prime
I will also be emailing you a word document with stuff.
http://www.racepumps.com/Trouble%20Shooting.htm#prime
I will also be emailing you a word document with stuff.
Matt Sutter
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Here are a couple pics which should show you everything.
Obviously the hose looks long. I had first used it without the filter on the pump. It also isn't routed behind the gas tank strap, which it will be when done.
If you look to the left, you'll see the filter, which is connected to the pump by a 3-4" piece of hose.
This was the best shot I could get. You're seeing the filter more than anything, but you can see the pump mounted back there, inside the frame rail, and while not lower than the fuel tank, I can't believe the positioning is causing any problems. I've seen countless other pics on the web and in magazines with guys mounting them here. Anywhere else besides here and where it used to be, and I think it would be dangerously exposed to road debris. (or too far from the tank)
-Dave
Obviously the hose looks long. I had first used it without the filter on the pump. It also isn't routed behind the gas tank strap, which it will be when done.
If you look to the left, you'll see the filter, which is connected to the pump by a 3-4" piece of hose.
This was the best shot I could get. You're seeing the filter more than anything, but you can see the pump mounted back there, inside the frame rail, and while not lower than the fuel tank, I can't believe the positioning is causing any problems. I've seen countless other pics on the web and in magazines with guys mounting them here. Anywhere else besides here and where it used to be, and I think it would be dangerously exposed to road debris. (or too far from the tank)
-Dave
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It Runs! and leaks.
Well, the fuel pump debacle seems to be over for now. After adding more fuel to the tank, it finally primed and seems to be working well now. Even after adding more fuel, it took an unusuallly long time to get the pump primed. Probably almost 30-35 seconds of pump time. (the pump prime in most OEM & other EFIs is 2 seconds)
So I have the car running again. But while it was warming up in the driveway on Wednesday, I saw a drip of water come from what looked like between the dirver's side head and block. It'd drip about once every 5-10 seconds. If I didn't see it, I wouldn't suspect a thing. I don't see or smell anything odd coming from the tailpipes. I'm going to inspect it much closer on Sunday. I haven't re-torqued the heads yet. Could that fix it? I will have to remove the rockers and headers to re-torque. If that doesn't work, I'll have to pull the head.
Despite the small leak, I've driven the car a couple times around the side streets. It really needs a lot of re-tuning. I have my laptop setup for datalogging once I'm ready to drive the car for 30-40 minutes.
-Dave
So I have the car running again. But while it was warming up in the driveway on Wednesday, I saw a drip of water come from what looked like between the dirver's side head and block. It'd drip about once every 5-10 seconds. If I didn't see it, I wouldn't suspect a thing. I don't see or smell anything odd coming from the tailpipes. I'm going to inspect it much closer on Sunday. I haven't re-torqued the heads yet. Could that fix it? I will have to remove the rockers and headers to re-torque. If that doesn't work, I'll have to pull the head.
Despite the small leak, I've driven the car a couple times around the side streets. It really needs a lot of re-tuning. I have my laptop setup for datalogging once I'm ready to drive the car for 30-40 minutes.
-Dave
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I had talked to my friend Matt, who used to work for Cometic Gasket, the company who made my head gaskets. I told him about my leak and the plan to re-torque the heads, hoping to fix the leak. He told me the Multi Layer Steel (MLS) gaskets they make are designed to eliminiate the need for re-torquing. It turns out he was right. I got a slight turn from 1 of 17 head bolts on the driver's side head, and it wasn't n. On Andy's suggestion, I decided to just do one head.
The verdict: It still leaks, and I've confirmed the passenger side has a similar leak as well. So, it looks like I gotta tear both heads off.
I guess no one said it would be easy.
-Dave
The verdict: It still leaks, and I've confirmed the passenger side has a similar leak as well. So, it looks like I gotta tear both heads off.
I guess no one said it would be easy.
-Dave
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I suppose an update is long over-due.
After discovering the water leaking from between the heads and block on both sides, I pulled both heads off. The Cometic gaskets I was using are MLS - Multi-Layer Steel. They are really good gaskets, but the thing I was not told before installing them was that you really needed to have a truly flat (ie-- decked) surface. I had that with the new heads, but not on the block. Apparently just a typical gasket scraping is not enough. So, I went out and got a conventional set of Fel Pro gaskets.
I got the driver's side cylinder head re-installed and torqued down. However, I didn't know that the end of my throttle cable (just a wire) had gotten pinched in there during installation. I had pulled both heads off and had put this first head back on and by this time it was late at night. It was a little demoralizing. Another week went by before I tore it back apart, and when I did, there was a minor amount of damage to the surface of the head from having that cable in there.
So I took both heads to the machine shop. Even though only one head was damaged, I knew that they'd need to machine both heads. They had to take .004" out to get rid of the indentation from the cable. I went to assemble it again this past Sunday, but had mis-placed some of the washers for the head bolts. I searched high and low but couldn't find them. I eventually found them later that day, but I had other commitments by that time. I'm gonna take another stab at it this weekend.
It's kinda sad, as this is only the 2nd summer since 1990 that I haven't had it on the dragstrip (the other was 2000). I think I might still make it yet this year, but with the living room and kitchen remodeling, the Corvette, my bike, Linda, etc, I've just had other priorities.
-Dave
After discovering the water leaking from between the heads and block on both sides, I pulled both heads off. The Cometic gaskets I was using are MLS - Multi-Layer Steel. They are really good gaskets, but the thing I was not told before installing them was that you really needed to have a truly flat (ie-- decked) surface. I had that with the new heads, but not on the block. Apparently just a typical gasket scraping is not enough. So, I went out and got a conventional set of Fel Pro gaskets.
I got the driver's side cylinder head re-installed and torqued down. However, I didn't know that the end of my throttle cable (just a wire) had gotten pinched in there during installation. I had pulled both heads off and had put this first head back on and by this time it was late at night. It was a little demoralizing. Another week went by before I tore it back apart, and when I did, there was a minor amount of damage to the surface of the head from having that cable in there.
So I took both heads to the machine shop. Even though only one head was damaged, I knew that they'd need to machine both heads. They had to take .004" out to get rid of the indentation from the cable. I went to assemble it again this past Sunday, but had mis-placed some of the washers for the head bolts. I searched high and low but couldn't find them. I eventually found them later that day, but I had other commitments by that time. I'm gonna take another stab at it this weekend.
It's kinda sad, as this is only the 2nd summer since 1990 that I haven't had it on the dragstrip (the other was 2000). I think I might still make it yet this year, but with the living room and kitchen remodeling, the Corvette, my bike, Linda, etc, I've just had other priorities.
-Dave
The mysterious "Linda"
I was wondering the same thing. Notice how he slipped it in amongst all the other excuses. Now we really understand the lack of progress on the heads.
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Update: It rumbled to life tonight, albeit for only a few seconds and wouldn't restart. It was 11pm, so I'm pleased with the progress I made today. I'll try to sort out the details in the morning and get it starting reliably.
Two steps forward, one step back -- as I filled the cooling system, after replacing what I thought was a leaky lower radiator hose, I disoovered it's the water pump itself that is leaking. Grrr..
-Dave
Two steps forward, one step back -- as I filled the cooling system, after replacing what I thought was a leaky lower radiator hose, I disoovered it's the water pump itself that is leaking. Grrr..
-Dave
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Linda is the girl I've been going out with the past few months. We met on Yahoo in May and have spent many weekends together since then. These pics aren't really the greatest -- they were taken after several hours on my motorcycle when we went camping at Tar Hollow State Park a couple weeks ago. The first was taken at The Pub in Athens, OH. (OU campus). The second was at my old neighbor's house, also in Athens.
