Pre-Fourth Fuel Line Fun

First off, let's be clear: at no point was this going to happen. I had plenty of experience the previous day with charring some potentially delicious baby back ribs to jerky and ash, and I wished to have no further experiences with excessive burnination. Excessive burnination is super bad, kiddies.

Ever since our misfiring/dying-out-when-hot issues (that's what she said) at the race, we've been hot on the trail of what could be wrong with the car, and to that end, with parts in hand, we decided to tackle the fuel system today.

When I pulled up, Duffy and Bob were already well on their way, under the car. I ran up excitedly with my toolbox with the "Craftsman" sticker still on it, and said, "Ok guys! What can I do!" Almost in unison, they both said, "Pump out the fuel tank." I @whee'd in excitement and slid under the car as fast as I could.

After a few times switching off between the three off us due to cramped hands, we finally got the fuel out to pull the tank off, and after a few taps of our trusty fully-grounded hydrospanner, we were able to remove and expose the fuel pump apparatus. While I took pictures, Duffy made the inside of the fuel tank sparkling clean and free of detritus.

After juggling around the pulsator and the fuel strainer thingy, we were able to assemble everything together and stuffed it back inside the fuel tank. Putting the fuel tank on took a little more time than what we had expected, and involved raising the car a bit more, but in the end, all the parts fit back into place without any leftover nuts and bolts, so that was successful.

With the fuel tank back in place, we now focused on putting on a new fuel pump and inspecting the fuel lines, return, sender, and vapor pipe. The quick-connects had a substantial amount of corrosion on them, and as such, might have been quick to connect but were a pain in the a$$ to disconnect. Additionally, Duffy spotted that a portion of the vapor pipe tubing had been damaged, and so a decision at this point was made to make some trips to our local parts store for some supplies. Unfortunately, it appears as though at least some of these tubing was different from what was on the car originally, so, after a few consults with the car and the book, it became obvious that we were going to have to special order the parts, after we find them. We took a break for dinner with Mrs. and Baby Duffy, and Bob and I began in earnest the search for the 'unrepairable' tubing. (yes, the tubing was clearly marked 'unrepairable,' but that did not deter us one bit!)

So, accomplishments for the day:

• new Fuel Pump / install
  
• new Fuel Filter / install
• Fuel line check / identification of trouble spots
• Purchase of a long funnel / vuvuzela

Next on the list is finding and obtaining the fuel line parts, most likely online. Specifically, this is what we are trying to do:

• The fuel vapor pipe is broken. We need to replace it, but we are trying to find the part number for this, and it's not found in our LFAPS (local friendly auto parts shop). The repair manual says that the pipe can be either metal (not aluminum or copper) or nylon, and we certainly have a nylon one.
• Fuel sender is cracked and old, we certainly need a new one, but it's a pistol to remove. Did the manual really say 'quick connect?' Ha. Maybe if you are Magnus Vermagnusson.
• We are trying to replace our fuel return line, and while certainly the OD is different, the ID seems to be the same, which is either going to be 3/8" or 5/16". Again, issues with the quick connect.
  

See ya next time!