shakedown067
Sinister C4
Nice find!
-
Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.
427 engine (part 2) - RHS block
- Thread starter Rich Z
- Start date
So after dinner tonight, Connie says she's going to bake a cake and shooed me off to the garage. I figured I might as well put that driver side half shaft in, as everything is as clean as it's going to get there, and the paint on the caliper bracket has been dried for a good week. So I started putting things together. Temporarily mounted the knuckle in place loosely on the control arms then installed the hub into it. Fortunately remembering to put the emergency brake bracket in place this time. 
The reason I mounted the knuckle loosely as it is impossible to get to that lower hub mounting bolt with the knuckle installed on the lower ball joint. You would think those engineers could have figured out a way to simply rotate those mounting bolts 45 degrees or so, so this wouldn't be a problem. :banghead:
So with the hub installed with the bolts torqued down I bolted the knuckle to the lower ball joint and torqued that down. Now I have been at this spot before on the other side, and my game plan had been then to first put the half shaft end into the differential and then manhandled the other end into the hub. But try as I might, I just could NOT get that to go. So this time I figured I would try the reverse: Put the shaft end into the hub, and then manhandle the other end into the differential. But again, try as I might, I just could not get that other end into the differential. It's like the new shaft is longer than the old one by about two inches. I haven't measured it, but I would be surprised if that is the case. Well, no, maybe not surprised at all. But what puzzles me is that I was able to get the old shaft OUT of the differential with the other end still in the hub. So why can't I install the darn thing that way? :thinkin:
So I pulled the half shaft out completely and left it at that for tomorrow. I'll just have to pull that knuckle off of the ball joint again and then mount the shaft into both the differential and the hub before tightening down that ball joint nut. Like I did on the passenger side, I'll just have to tighten the bolt based on the number of grunts I make tightening it. Two grunts about equals 52 ft./lbs, I think.
The new rear rotors should be shipped out tomorrow, and the guys at ANplumbing say "they are on it" concerning my order. Maybe if I get that half shaft back in without any other issues, I may try out that HPTuners trick to drain the fuel tanks. I figure I could drain the tank to where the low fuel warning comes on. Certainly don't want to burn out the pumps by running the tanks completely dry. I'm planning on pulling the fuel line going from the stock pump to the input of the Aeromotive pump (a -06 AN line) and just use that line to drain the fuel into the tanks. That would be what I think is the simplest way to do this now.
Maybe with any luck I'll have that fuel pump out and on it's way to be modified by the weekend. Supposed to be a two week turn around on the pump mod, so in the meantime I can get the rest of the fuel system fixed up the way it should be.
The reason I mounted the knuckle loosely as it is impossible to get to that lower hub mounting bolt with the knuckle installed on the lower ball joint. You would think those engineers could have figured out a way to simply rotate those mounting bolts 45 degrees or so, so this wouldn't be a problem. :banghead:So with the hub installed with the bolts torqued down I bolted the knuckle to the lower ball joint and torqued that down. Now I have been at this spot before on the other side, and my game plan had been then to first put the half shaft end into the differential and then manhandled the other end into the hub. But try as I might, I just could NOT get that to go. So this time I figured I would try the reverse: Put the shaft end into the hub, and then manhandle the other end into the differential. But again, try as I might, I just could not get that other end into the differential. It's like the new shaft is longer than the old one by about two inches. I haven't measured it, but I would be surprised if that is the case. Well, no, maybe not surprised at all. But what puzzles me is that I was able to get the old shaft OUT of the differential with the other end still in the hub. So why can't I install the darn thing that way? :thinkin:
So I pulled the half shaft out completely and left it at that for tomorrow. I'll just have to pull that knuckle off of the ball joint again and then mount the shaft into both the differential and the hub before tightening down that ball joint nut. Like I did on the passenger side, I'll just have to tighten the bolt based on the number of grunts I make tightening it. Two grunts about equals 52 ft./lbs, I think.
The new rear rotors should be shipped out tomorrow, and the guys at ANplumbing say "they are on it" concerning my order. Maybe if I get that half shaft back in without any other issues, I may try out that HPTuners trick to drain the fuel tanks. I figure I could drain the tank to where the low fuel warning comes on. Certainly don't want to burn out the pumps by running the tanks completely dry. I'm planning on pulling the fuel line going from the stock pump to the input of the Aeromotive pump (a -06 AN line) and just use that line to drain the fuel into the tanks. That would be what I think is the simplest way to do this now.
Maybe with any luck I'll have that fuel pump out and on it's way to be modified by the weekend. Supposed to be a two week turn around on the pump mod, so in the meantime I can get the rest of the fuel system fixed up the way it should be.
navy2kcoupe
!ereH nI depparT m'I pleH
Rich, lots of good info in this thread. Both good stuff (what TO do), as well as bad stuff
(what NOT to do). This whole thread should be required reading for anyone who is
interested in doing mods to their vette! I'm always astounded by what you find and
what you are doing to correct the problems. Too bad more "mechanics" don't do it
your way! Thanks for the thread, and keep on posting to it. :thumbsup:
Andy Anderson :wavey:
(what NOT to do). This whole thread should be required reading for anyone who is
interested in doing mods to their vette! I'm always astounded by what you find and
what you are doing to correct the problems. Too bad more "mechanics" don't do it
your way! Thanks for the thread, and keep on posting to it. :thumbsup:
Andy Anderson :wavey:
The more I learn about this stuff, the more I just shake my head over the people I chose to work on my car. Especially this fuel system stuff. So much was wrong with it that it is actually a miracle that the engine didn't run extremely lean while Aaron had it on the dyno and just blew the hell up. The stock fuel pump trying to feed that Aeromotive pump through a -06 fuel line SHOULD have just choked up because not enough fuel could have been provided to the Aeromotive pump in that manner. Quite honestly, I am SERIOUSLY doubting those dyno run figures I got from Aaron. From what I am seeing, I don't believe that there is any way that stock fuel pump could have provided enough fuel for a 700 rwhp run. So what does 700 rwhp equate to at the crank? 825 horsepower or so? On a stock fuel pump? :crazy9: I doubt that, unless the Aeromotive could PULL more gasoline through that stock pump than the stock pump was designed to push OUT of the gas tank.
Aaron HAD to have seen the fuel system, as he replaced that Aeromotive pump once while the car was there. He didn't notice that -06 line feeding the Aeromotive pump and question that? Wouldn't a major part of engaging in a tune of a fairly high powered engine be to make certain that the fuel supply was adequate? How COULD it have been considered to be adequate?
Well, I guess in a way this kind of explains why after the car was supposedly mostly done, every time I asked Aaron to tell me when he was going to put the car on the dyno, to let me know so I could drive up there to get video, he NEVER did tell me. I would always hear that he just ran the car on the dyno yesterday, or the day before, and now Jim had gone back home. So maybe next week when Jim comes back I can video a dyno run.... When I was supposed to pick up the car, he refused to run it on the dyno again for me claiming he was AFRAID to do so. Yeah, no sheet.....
Aaron HAD to have seen the fuel system, as he replaced that Aeromotive pump once while the car was there. He didn't notice that -06 line feeding the Aeromotive pump and question that? Wouldn't a major part of engaging in a tune of a fairly high powered engine be to make certain that the fuel supply was adequate? How COULD it have been considered to be adequate?
Well, I guess in a way this kind of explains why after the car was supposedly mostly done, every time I asked Aaron to tell me when he was going to put the car on the dyno, to let me know so I could drive up there to get video, he NEVER did tell me. I would always hear that he just ran the car on the dyno yesterday, or the day before, and now Jim had gone back home. So maybe next week when Jim comes back I can video a dyno run....
When I was supposed to pick up the car, he refused to run it on the dyno again for me claiming he was AFRAID to do so. Yeah, no sheet.....
ironhorse
Road Warrior
Well, I do have to admit that I am completely baffled at why he thought I wouldn't notice this stuff. :shrug01:
Anyway, I spent the day working on the car. Got the half shaft installed on the driver side, so now both new ones are in. The replacement rotors are supposed to show up on Friday, so maybe over the weekend I'll have the rear end stuff all done. Well not completely, as I'm going to hold off replacing those brake lines till I have the front wheel hubs and brakes replaced. That way I can bleed all four calipers at the same time.
I also checked on the steel tube brake lines and was making sure they were out of the way of any moving parts or rubbing and banging against anything. I decided to slip some convoluted tubing over them all as that will protect them pretty well.
I was looking over the engine compartment from underneath looking at all the wiring and fuel lines running real close to the headers, and decided to run some high temp convoluted tubing I bought over them to protect them. The stuff is kind of gaudy looking, being bright chrome looking, but supposedly they protect the insides from temps up to 1,000 degrees F. I didn't like the main fuel line running up to the passenger side fuel rail running directly over top the header on that side, as that would likely heat up the gasoline running through it. So I ran the convoluted tubing as far up towards the fuel rail as I could, then ran the rest of the tubing into the tunnel plate. It was only a 3 foot section, but that should do the job. Plus it keeps that positive battery cable running to the starter from rubbing against that braided fuel line. I also have a complete tunnel plate insulating mat that I'm going to try to figure out how to install later on. It looks like it works by adhesive, so I'm not sure how long that will hold up. So I may have to also remove some of the tunnel plate bolts to put them THROUGH that mat to help hold it in place. Over on the driver's side there were some wires and connectors too close to the headers for my comfort, so I covered them up as best I could as well. I didn't do anything with the return fuel line going to and from the fuel regulator, as I figured I would be replumbing that stuff pretty soon anyway.
While I was under there, I cut any restraints on the fuel line that I'm going to use to drain the fuel tanks. Might get to that tomorrow. I'm going to have to feed that fuel line back over the differential when I disconnect it from the Aeromotive pump, so hopefully it won't be spewing gasoline all over the place when I pull it off. Might need to have something on standby to plug that hose quickly if that is the case.
Oh yeah, I found a section of old rubber fuel line just laying up in the tunnel plate, with the ends hanging out and tucked out of the way, so I just pulled that out of there completely. No sense keeping any junk in there that's not being used.
Doesn't really sound like a lot, but I feel good about what I accomplished today.
shakedown067
Sinister C4
Looking GOOD! Sounds like you now know much more than the people that have worked on the car.
Yeah, that's kind of been my mantra lately while I jump into this stuff. I certainly can't do things much worse than the supposed experts. And I don't even have to put up with hearing myself lie about the things I'm really NOT doing all along the way.
shakedown067
Sinister C4
True, and you no longer have to wait on someone to tell you when they aren't going to get the car back to you...it's all up to you (and your new suppliers)! Is it too late to incorporate CorvetteFlorida.com so you can write the car off as a HUGE marketing loss?
Well, draining the gas tanks isn't going as well as I had hoped.
I pulled off the -6 fuel line going into the input of the Aeromotive pump, as this is the line coming from the output of the stock in-tank fuel pump. At least it is supposed to be based on how I assume the plumbing is hooked up. For reference, this fuel line comes off of the bottom tube on the stock fuel pump.
Anyway, I hooked up HPTuners, stuck the hose end into the 5 gallon gas can and turned on the fuel pump via HPTuners. I didn't know what to expect, so I had Connie help me by holding the hose in place in case the gasoline would come out under pressure. Heck, we could hear the pump running, but the gasoline was just coming out at a dribble. We let it run that way, maybe for a half hour, and in that time it looks like just barely a gallon has come out. I thought perhaps there was a vacuum being created in the gastank, so I took off the gas cap, but that didn't make any difference at all. I took a video of what I have now, and as you can see, virtually NOTHING is coming out of that hose, and it actually sounds like the pump is sucking air.
Rather that run the risk of burning up the pump, I just shut it down. So that's where I am right now. This didn't go even CLOSE to how I had thought it would go. What the heck am I doing wrong? Why isn't that pump pulling gasoline out of my gastanks like I think it should?
I pulled off the -6 fuel line going into the input of the Aeromotive pump, as this is the line coming from the output of the stock in-tank fuel pump. At least it is supposed to be based on how I assume the plumbing is hooked up. For reference, this fuel line comes off of the bottom tube on the stock fuel pump.
Anyway, I hooked up HPTuners, stuck the hose end into the 5 gallon gas can and turned on the fuel pump via HPTuners. I didn't know what to expect, so I had Connie help me by holding the hose in place in case the gasoline would come out under pressure. Heck, we could hear the pump running, but the gasoline was just coming out at a dribble. We let it run that way, maybe for a half hour, and in that time it looks like just barely a gallon has come out. I thought perhaps there was a vacuum being created in the gastank, so I took off the gas cap, but that didn't make any difference at all. I took a video of what I have now, and as you can see, virtually NOTHING is coming out of that hose, and it actually sounds like the pump is sucking air.
Rather that run the risk of burning up the pump, I just shut it down. So that's where I am right now. This didn't go even CLOSE to how I had thought it would go. What the heck am I doing wrong? Why isn't that pump pulling gasoline out of my gastanks like I think it should?
Well, today I figured I would hook the Aeromotive pump back up and see if that would pull gasoline out of the tanks, but no go. Dammit. Still just drips of gasoline going into the gas can. What the heck am I doing wrong? Power is going to both pumps and I simply dropped a fuel line down from the output of the Aeromotive pump into a gas can. I opened up the gas cap in case there was a vacuum in the tanks. What am I overlooking?
I don't want to find out after dropping down the gas tank and cracking open the fuel pump mounting that I overlooked some really stupid minor little thing to make the EASY way work. Heck, with the stock fuel pump apparently dead, I couldn't even run the car to burn up the gasoline if I wanted to do it that way.
But on the plus side, at least I have a 2002 model that doesn't require pulling the fuel tank (and dropping the cradle, I've read) in order to get the fuel pump out. Of course, I don't know how LONG that fuel pump is that goes into the back of the fuel tank, and whether I'm going to have problems getting it around the lower control arm. Not THAT would piss me off to have to take apart that suspension again after just putting it back together.
In any event, Connie is going out to visit her sister tomorrow, so this gets put off till Sunday at the earliest. I don't want to tackle the fuel tank thing alone in case I need another hand or two. No, this just couldn't be done the EASY way, now could it?
Looks like it was a good thing I picked up one of the bad boys when Amazon had them at a good price.
Going to come in handy with the fuel tank, I guess.
Well the replacement rotors came in today and look fine, so maybe I'll fiddle with that stuff tomorrow.
I don't want to find out after dropping down the gas tank and cracking open the fuel pump mounting that I overlooked some really stupid minor little thing to make the EASY way work. Heck, with the stock fuel pump apparently dead, I couldn't even run the car to burn up the gasoline if I wanted to do it that way.
But on the plus side, at least I have a 2002 model that doesn't require pulling the fuel tank (and dropping the cradle, I've read) in order to get the fuel pump out. Of course, I don't know how LONG that fuel pump is that goes into the back of the fuel tank, and whether I'm going to have problems getting it around the lower control arm. Not THAT would piss me off to have to take apart that suspension again after just putting it back together.
In any event, Connie is going out to visit her sister tomorrow, so this gets put off till Sunday at the earliest. I don't want to tackle the fuel tank thing alone in case I need another hand or two. No, this just couldn't be done the EASY way, now could it?
Looks like it was a good thing I picked up one of the bad boys when Amazon had them at a good price.
Going to come in handy with the fuel tank, I guess.
Well the replacement rotors came in today and look fine, so maybe I'll fiddle with that stuff tomorrow.
OK, I'm confused..................
Just for giggles, I hooked the fuel plumbing back the way it was when I brought it home. Stock pump feeding the Aeromotive external pump, and from there going to the fuel rails. I wanted to see what would happen when I tried to start the car, not really expecting much, as I thought for certain that the stock fuel pump had given up the ghost.
I turned the key and watched the fuel pressure gauge, and was surprised that it even got to 20 psi. Took a little while, since all the fuel lines were pretty much emptied. And I was VERY surprised to see the pressure continue to climb, albeit slowly. Just for chuckles I tried to start the engine. Cranked over but obviously the fuel rails just weren't able to deliver fuel to the injectors. Then I got a "REDUCED ENGINE MODE" on the DIC. (Mike, yeah, I thought of you at that moment..) Then "SERVICE ABS" and "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL" messages started rotating through the DIC as well. Aw hell.... Now I did it. I turned the key off a couple of times since the stock pump was only running for two second intervals and I figured maybe that would help speed up building the fuel pressure. Well eventually the car started and surprisingly enough continued to run with the fuel pressure right up close to 60 psi (probably 58, as it is supposed to be). The error messages all went away, and the car was idling smoothly. I'm thinking that maybe putting in new rear hubs with the new sensors might have confused the system momentarily causing those ABS errors. And probably the low fuel pressure triggered the reduced power mode. So I just let it idle for a while. Revved it up slightly and fuel pressure didn't waver. So I just let it run until it stopped spitting water out of the tail pipes and shut it down quite perplexed.
So, obviously I was doing something wrong trying to drain the fuel tanks like I was doing. But what? Why couldn't the stock fuel pump by itself pump out the fuel when I put the outlet hose into a catch can? Why wouldn't the Aeromotive pump do any better drawing through that stock pump? What in the world am I missing here? Obviously I am missing something important about this.
But in any event, I'm not going to have to drop down that fuel tank and worry about it cracking at the top where the filler hose and crossover hose connects. I bought a small fuel filter that replaces the 90 degree -8AN fitting on the output side of the Aeromotive pump, so tomorrow I'm slapping that guy in there and will just run the engine till it drains the fuel tanks that way. I'll just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't over heat, and will shut it down when it looks as close to being empty as it can get. I'll probably do it in stages to give the pumps a chance to cool down inbetween runs, though, as it may take a while.
Anyway, this is just crazy stuff. I doubt those fuel pumps work by magic, but they certainly weren't following any logic I tried to apply to make them do what I wanted them to do.
Just for giggles, I hooked the fuel plumbing back the way it was when I brought it home. Stock pump feeding the Aeromotive external pump, and from there going to the fuel rails. I wanted to see what would happen when I tried to start the car, not really expecting much, as I thought for certain that the stock fuel pump had given up the ghost.
I turned the key and watched the fuel pressure gauge, and was surprised that it even got to 20 psi. Took a little while, since all the fuel lines were pretty much emptied. And I was VERY surprised to see the pressure continue to climb, albeit slowly. Just for chuckles I tried to start the engine. Cranked over but obviously the fuel rails just weren't able to deliver fuel to the injectors. Then I got a "REDUCED ENGINE MODE" on the DIC. (Mike, yeah, I thought of you at that moment..) Then "SERVICE ABS" and "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL" messages started rotating through the DIC as well. Aw hell.... Now I did it. I turned the key off a couple of times since the stock pump was only running for two second intervals and I figured maybe that would help speed up building the fuel pressure. Well eventually the car started and surprisingly enough continued to run with the fuel pressure right up close to 60 psi (probably 58, as it is supposed to be). The error messages all went away, and the car was idling smoothly. I'm thinking that maybe putting in new rear hubs with the new sensors might have confused the system momentarily causing those ABS errors. And probably the low fuel pressure triggered the reduced power mode. So I just let it idle for a while. Revved it up slightly and fuel pressure didn't waver. So I just let it run until it stopped spitting water out of the tail pipes and shut it down quite perplexed.
So, obviously I was doing something wrong trying to drain the fuel tanks like I was doing. But what? Why couldn't the stock fuel pump by itself pump out the fuel when I put the outlet hose into a catch can? Why wouldn't the Aeromotive pump do any better drawing through that stock pump? What in the world am I missing here? Obviously I am missing something important about this.
But in any event, I'm not going to have to drop down that fuel tank and worry about it cracking at the top where the filler hose and crossover hose connects. I bought a small fuel filter that replaces the 90 degree -8AN fitting on the output side of the Aeromotive pump, so tomorrow I'm slapping that guy in there and will just run the engine till it drains the fuel tanks that way. I'll just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't over heat, and will shut it down when it looks as close to being empty as it can get. I'll probably do it in stages to give the pumps a chance to cool down inbetween runs, though, as it may take a while.
Anyway, this is just crazy stuff. I doubt those fuel pumps work by magic, but they certainly weren't following any logic I tried to apply to make them do what I wanted them to do.
No one seems to know why I can't drain the fuel tanks using the fuel pump. So heck, maybe it IS all done by magic..... :shrug01:
Another thing I discovered that seems kind of insane has to do with the special wrenches they sell for AN fittings. Now these sound kind of handy as they are made of aluminum, rather wide at the jaws so they get a lot of surface area at work against the fitting, are short handled so you don't tend to apply too much torque against the fittings and distort them, and are coated so as to greatly reduce the marring of the fittings that can happen if you use your regular old crescent wrench. Sounds great, eh? But what they DON'T tell you is that if you order the wrong kind of set, you really need to have TWO sets to do anything with them.
Look at this set:
Looks nice, doesn't it? But wait a minute, you want to loosen or tighten up that AN fitting on the hose you are working on and grab the correctly sized wrench for the job. Hmm... Well darn. Look at that....
How the heck are you going to do THAT with only one wrench? Well, quite bluntly, you CAN'T. You either need TWO AN wrench sets to have TWO of each size, or else you can buy a set that seems to have thought this through properly....
How did I figure out this? Well, GUESS......... I had to buy an extra -8 wrench since that was the size I plan on having to work with the most.
Oh yeah, try to get a set that has two different angles on the ends as well, as that will come in REAL handy if you are in tight quarters trying to work on a fitting. Sometimes a straight ended wrench just won't cut it, but one at a 60 or 90 degree angle will make all the difference.
Another thing I discovered that seems kind of insane has to do with the special wrenches they sell for AN fittings. Now these sound kind of handy as they are made of aluminum, rather wide at the jaws so they get a lot of surface area at work against the fitting, are short handled so you don't tend to apply too much torque against the fittings and distort them, and are coated so as to greatly reduce the marring of the fittings that can happen if you use your regular old crescent wrench. Sounds great, eh? But what they DON'T tell you is that if you order the wrong kind of set, you really need to have TWO sets to do anything with them.
Look at this set:
Looks nice, doesn't it? But wait a minute, you want to loosen or tighten up that AN fitting on the hose you are working on and grab the correctly sized wrench for the job. Hmm... Well darn. Look at that....
How the heck are you going to do THAT with only one wrench? Well, quite bluntly, you CAN'T. You either need TWO AN wrench sets to have TWO of each size, or else you can buy a set that seems to have thought this through properly....
How did I figure out this? Well, GUESS.........
I had to buy an extra -8 wrench since that was the size I plan on having to work with the most.Oh yeah, try to get a set that has two different angles on the ends as well, as that will come in REAL handy if you are in tight quarters trying to work on a fitting. Sometimes a straight ended wrench just won't cut it, but one at a 60 or 90 degree angle will make all the difference.
Beats me. The fitting on the other side of the Aeromotive pump looked fine. And from what I recall trying to relocate that crossover line at the front of the fuel rails, they were OK as well.
I sent these pics to the guy that the fuel injectors came from (Jon at FuelInjectorConnection.com) and he asked me to send those injectors to him for inspection, free of charge. A clogged fuel injector can cause a lean cylinder which would be VERY bad news under boost.
I guess I've got to learn how to take out and install fuel injectors now... :ack2:
Well, everything I tried to do to drain the fuel tanks using the internal and/or external Aeromotive pump failed. I checked the service manual and they make it sound simple enough.
This is all on page 6-955 of the 2002 service manual, btw..
Man, that sounds SO easy, doesn't it? I had a hand operated pump sitting in a cabinet so I broke that out and hooked it up to that pipe they indicated. Worked the plunger like mad and all I got was a few dribbles of gasoline. Beats the heck out of me what I am doing wrong, but this just isn't doing the job.
So I put the inline fuel filter on the outlet of the Aeromotive pump, and after finally getting the fuel pressure high enough (seemed to take longer today than yesterday), I just let the car run for about an hour to burn up some of the gasoline in the tanks. Honestly, this was probably the first time I ever cursed the relative fuel efficiency of these Corvette engines. After an hour, the gas gauge didn't move much at all. I kept tabs on the coolant temperature, and it never got above 190 degrees. At that point the fans kicked in and dropped the temp down to 185. At one point I did get into the car and revved it up just a little but, but heard some exhaust popping and let off of it. And the engine died, of course. Seems to have a lot of trouble maintaining idle after coming off of throttle movements. But hopefully a decent tune will take care of that.
Anyway, it's going to take several stretches of running the car at idle to burn off the remaining gasoline. Which brings a question to mind that maybe someone can answer for me. When the gas gauge says "half full" what exactly does that mean in relation to how much gasoline is actually in each of the two tanks? Is one tank empty or mostly so, or are both tanks actually half empty together? In other words, does one tank empty before the other, or do they both empty at an equal rate while the engine is running?
Oh, during that hour of running the car, I got kind of bored. So I broke out the video camera and just walked around the car taking various angles of video. So if you want, you can get bored right along with me..... :hehehe:
And another btw.... I bought one of those handy dandy fuel line disconnect tools and this was the first time I ever tried to use it....
Darn if I could figure out how to make it work. I finally was able to get that fuel line off of the tube coming from the fuel pump, but seems to me I didn't use the tool at all. Just squeezed on that plastic piece coming out of the end and tugging on the fitting with a decent helping of curse words, of course. How is that thing SUPPOSED to work?
- First three steps are the usual about getting the car prepared for the procedure.
- Attach a length of flexible fuel hose to an air operated pump device. (Now what in the world are they talking about here?)
- More stuff about positioning a drain container and putting shop towels to sop up spilled gasoline....
- Disconnect the fuel feed rear pipe (#4 in the diagram which is the lowest of the three tubes - which is the one I have been using).....
- Attach the flexible fuel hose from the pump device to the fuel feed pipe nipple (#5 in the diagram) using a screw type clamp.
- Drain the left fuel tank until no fuel comes out.
This is all on page 6-955 of the 2002 service manual, btw..
Man, that sounds SO easy, doesn't it? I had a hand operated pump sitting in a cabinet so I broke that out and hooked it up to that pipe they indicated. Worked the plunger like mad and all I got was a few dribbles of gasoline. Beats the heck out of me what I am doing wrong, but this just isn't doing the job.
So I put the inline fuel filter on the outlet of the Aeromotive pump, and after finally getting the fuel pressure high enough (seemed to take longer today than yesterday), I just let the car run for about an hour to burn up some of the gasoline in the tanks. Honestly, this was probably the first time I ever cursed the relative fuel efficiency of these Corvette engines. After an hour, the gas gauge didn't move much at all. I kept tabs on the coolant temperature, and it never got above 190 degrees. At that point the fans kicked in and dropped the temp down to 185. At one point I did get into the car and revved it up just a little but, but heard some exhaust popping and let off of it. And the engine died, of course. Seems to have a lot of trouble maintaining idle after coming off of throttle movements. But hopefully a decent tune will take care of that.
Anyway, it's going to take several stretches of running the car at idle to burn off the remaining gasoline. Which brings a question to mind that maybe someone can answer for me. When the gas gauge says "half full" what exactly does that mean in relation to how much gasoline is actually in each of the two tanks? Is one tank empty or mostly so, or are both tanks actually half empty together? In other words, does one tank empty before the other, or do they both empty at an equal rate while the engine is running?
Oh, during that hour of running the car, I got kind of bored. So I broke out the video camera and just walked around the car taking various angles of video. So if you want, you can get bored right along with me..... :hehehe:
And another btw.... I bought one of those handy dandy fuel line disconnect tools and this was the first time I ever tried to use it....
Darn if I could figure out how to make it work. I finally was able to get that fuel line off of the tube coming from the fuel pump, but seems to me I didn't use the tool at all. Just squeezed on that plastic piece coming out of the end and tugging on the fitting with a decent helping of curse words, of course. How is that thing SUPPOSED to work?
Oh yeah, I had my other camera over in the garage as well. Here's a pic of that fuel filter I installed on the Aeromotive pump.
And I forgot to mention that I installed the brake stuff on the rear of the car earlier in the day, so the rear end stuff is now done. Half shafts are in, and new rotors and pads are in. Oh yeah, I've still got to put those braided brake lines in. Still got the fronts to do, but I'll have time to do them while waiting on the modded fuel pump to get done when I get that out of the car. But here's a few pics of how those new rotors look.
And I forgot to mention that I installed the brake stuff on the rear of the car earlier in the day, so the rear end stuff is now done. Half shafts are in, and new rotors and pads are in. Oh yeah, I've still got to put those braided brake lines in. Still got the fronts to do, but I'll have time to do them while waiting on the modded fuel pump to get done when I get that out of the car. But here's a few pics of how those new rotors look.
Rich427
'69 Vert/'01 Vert/'04 Z16
Rich,
Why not just get a cheap hand siphon pump and pump the gas out from the filler opening?
Back in the days when I was still in Maryland, and before I decided to heat my garage, I used to use a kerosene heater to take the chill off in the garage. I used a battery operated hand held siphon pump to pump the kerosene out of the can and into the heater. They were not terribly expensive and moved the kerosene pretty quickly. Here is a link to one I found that was like the one I used. Pretty cheap to eliminate the aggravation that you are going through.
http://www.heartlandamerica.com/browse/item.asp?PIN=48043&DL=GAW1&SC=WIG20001&
I am sure if you went to a Northern Tool or Harbor Freight store in your area, you could find something to siphon the gas out from the filler opening.
Good luck.
Rich
Why not just get a cheap hand siphon pump and pump the gas out from the filler opening?
Back in the days when I was still in Maryland, and before I decided to heat my garage, I used to use a kerosene heater to take the chill off in the garage. I used a battery operated hand held siphon pump to pump the kerosene out of the can and into the heater. They were not terribly expensive and moved the kerosene pretty quickly. Here is a link to one I found that was like the one I used. Pretty cheap to eliminate the aggravation that you are going through.
http://www.heartlandamerica.com/browse/item.asp?PIN=48043&DL=GAW1&SC=WIG20001&
I am sure if you went to a Northern Tool or Harbor Freight store in your area, you could find something to siphon the gas out from the filler opening.
Good luck.
Rich