A little background: I blew out transmission #3 in my 88 V6 Camaro a few years back and opted at that time to really tear into the car and do a full interior and body update and possibly an engine swap. So the car sat not running for 2-3 years before I decided to go ahead and replace the transmission and keep it a V6. After the tranny swap, I tried to start it up but could not get it to fire. It would start briefly with starting fluid and die about 10 seconds later. Further investigation revealed that the fuel pump was not running and at that time I decided to give the car to a family friend who is 15 with the understanding that we would work on the car together to get it running and restored/modified and it would become his first car.

We proceeded to drop the fuel tank and pull the fuel pump which had definitely seen better days. We put in a new pump and screen, I had already replaced the fuel filter in my attempt to eliminate everything but the fuel pump. The tank is now back in, has a couple gallons of new gas in it, and the pump primes and runs when cranking, but the car will still not start. With starting fluid it will still fire up but quickly dies. We've left the rear axel off until we confirm that the repair was successful in case we need to get back into the tank. I've tried everything I can think of but can't seem to find what's keeping this thing from coming back to life. Here's the list of what we've tried/found if anyone thinks they can weigh in:

Sorry for the long post, I'm just kicking myself that we haven't been able to get this figured out. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

lack of a pressure reading would make me think of some sort of restriction in the fuel line, another thought is are you positive you got the correct pump and not a pump for a tbi car?

 

Maybe take a look at the fuel pressure regulator.

 

It looked identical to the one we took out. This is the first fuel pump replacement I've done, so I can't say I'd specifically know what to look for. I'll see if we still have the box to confirm the part number.

 

disconnect fuel line at fillter and check with priming pump, do the same at fuel rail, use something to collect fuel and make sure car isnt hot.

 

Ok, so I was able to get in a little bit of wrench time today and found the following:

Attached the hose for the fuel gauge to the rear of the fuel rail. Jumped the fuel pump relay and was able to get a consistent and strong flow of fuel. Put the gauge back on and still a zero reading, looks like I have a faulty gauge. I'm assuming since I have good flow at the fuel rail, I don't need to worry about checking at the filter or where the fuel line comes into the engine bay, correct?

Pulled the upper plenum and directly tested all the injectors, they are all between 16.2 and 16.4 ohms.

Disconnected the fuel lines at the fuel block and noticed that fuel came out at the fitting for the return line. Thinking there might be a blockage, I blew some air through the line and quite a bit of fuel came out. From previous testing, we could not get any fuel to appear at the return line where it connects to the line that runs under the car, but it looks like some fuel has made it's way into that line. I also disconnected the fitting for the cold start injector at the fuel rail and that looks like it's getting fuel as well.

I tried to then pull the fuel rail, but could not get it to come out. The Chilton manual I have just says to remove the plenum, disconnect the wiring and fuel lines, remove the fuel rail bolts and pull it from the intake manifold. I just saw the two bolts on top and after taking those out could get a little lateral movement, but could not get it to lift or pull out. Am I missing a step, or do I just need to pull and/or pry it out? The manual also says to remove it and the regulator as an assembly and not to try and remove the regulator with the fuel rail installed. It looks like it's just a series of torx bolts that are holding it on top, does anyone have any recommendations on whether I should try and pull it now or get the whole fuel rail out?

Seems like it my be down to the pressure regulator or clogged injectors, but it's still a head scratcher as far as I can see, anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!