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painted the rear and freshened up the outside of the tank, also go the pump installed and tank back up in place.
I've done this a few times now, still can't figure out why an able bodied person would cut a hole to fix a problem.
pics of the old pump/sender to come, its nasty
I've cut the access hole. It's a lot of work to do it right, and requires a lot of careful work. I fashioned a cover plate to close up the hole when I was done. I did a very neat, professional job. The idea was to make it easy to replace the pump if it ever fails again. You mentioned "able-bodied". I'm old and slow, so the idea of not having to crawl under the car appealed to me.
The whole job took a great deal of time and effort. After considering it, given that the pumps seem to have a pretty low failure rate, I'm inclined to try dropping the tank if I ever have to do this job on my other cars.
You mentioned "able-bodied". I'm old and slow, so the idea of not having to crawl under the car appealed to me.
I completely understand when your body doesn't repair itself like it use to. my father is nearing 60 years old, he use to help me fix the Camaro when I was a teen, now I am the one fixing his vehicles for him, if he does the repairs it would take a week for his body to recover.
Originally Posted by ternandes
The whole job took a great deal of time and effort. After considering it, given that the pumps seem to have a pretty low failure rate, I'm inclined to try dropping the tank if I ever have to do this job on my other cars.
it is definitely not as bad of a job that people make it out to seem, I've done it three times now and have yet to run into a problem
the first time I fought the tank for a while to get it out, its definitely like one of those brain teaser puzzles where the answer is very simple but it takes forever to figure out, trick is to let the passenger side drop then rotate the tank while swinging it over the rear axel, the tank will basically fall out at that point.
update, blew out all of the hard lines, the rubber lines connecting tank to body lines and the fuel filter have been replaced. put 5 gallons of gas in the tank and the fuel pump primes like it is supposed to.
but alas the motor is not starting, it will run on starting fluid, so I will be checking fuel pressure as soon as I find my gauge
I also checked the resistance on all of the injectors, all of them ohm to 16.1-16.3 cold, obviously I cant check them hot yet
I have a feeling I am going to be chasing down this gremlin for a little while
update, blew out all of the hard lines, the rubber lines connecting tank to body lines and the fuel filter have been replaced. put 5 gallons of gas in the tank and the fuel pump primes like it is supposed to.
but alas the motor is not starting, it will run on starting fluid, so I will be checking fuel pressure as soon as I find my gauge
I also checked the resistance on all of the injectors, all of them ohm to 16.1-16.3 cold, obviously I cant check them hot yet
I have a feeling I am going to be chasing down this gremlin for a little while
FYI I am probably the same age as your Dad... and with the same limitations.
hot resistance is obviously not a factor here, as the engine won't start and they are within spec cold.
have you verified that fuel is flowing during the prime sequence?
hot resistance is obviously not a factor here, as the engine won't start and they are within spec cold.
this is good news, I would at least like to get the car started before determining if it needs new injectors. although i have an uneasy feeling that the injectors are clogged after seeing what the tank and old sending unit looked like
Originally Posted by ternandes
have you verified that fuel is flowing during the prime sequence?
I will be verifying this tonight, I know it primes but I have no idea if fuel is getting to the rail
Originally Posted by ternandes
Have you checked the injector fuses?
fuses check out fine
I am going to find my fuel pressure gauge tonight and continue testing, i know i have spark for sure, at least good enough to run on starting fluid for a few seconds
If you didn't try to start it before you cleaned out the tank and lines, your odds are better that the injectors are OK. However, if they are original injectors you might do well to replace them with Bosch IIIs at some point.
If you didn't try to start it before you cleaned out the tank and lines, your odds are better that the injectors are OK. However, if they are original injectors you might do well to replace them with Bosch IIIs at some point.
I went out and found my fuel pressure gauge. Pressure is spot on where it should be when the pump primes and holds strong until I relieve the pressure.
Either the injectors are not getting the signal to fire or they are clogged. I will check for power at the injectors some time today
Will be ordering some Bosch IIIs from southbay probably some time after Christmas I feel with the condition of the motor I am better off with new injectors either way.
Tags died in 2010, but it could have been sitting as long as 2008
i had thought the tank didn't have any gas in it, but after dropping it i found it had about 8 gallons of gas, and the stench was horrid
this is the main reason i believe the injectors are more than likely clogged, my wife's uncle did attempt to get the car started to drive on the trailer
Had to have some kind of blockage somewhere, I had pressure at the rails but the Schrader valve would only let out a little fuel.
Tonight I went out and verified 12 volts on every injector and verified pulse on both banks.
Hooked my pressure gauge up one more time for the hell of it, still showed above 40 psi but this time when I hit the relief it shot fuel out with force.
Once I saw this I tried turning it over again and it fired up like it never had a problem
The best part is I swapped in one of my old coolant sensors I had laying around and adjusted the TPS, these were my only two verified codes that would set after running on starting fluid. So far I have no check engine lights after letting the car run a few minutes
Now that it runs I can get the cooling system in order and let the motor warm up for the first time in years
Had to have some kind of blockage somewhere, I had pressure at the rails but the Schrader valve would only let out a little fuel.
Tonight I went out and verified 12 volts on every injector and verified pulse on both banks.
Hooked my pressure gauge up one more time for the hell of it, still showed above 40 psi but this time when I hit the relief it shot fuel out with force.
Once I saw this I tried turning it over again and it fired up like it never had a problem
The best part is I swapped in one of my old coolant sensors I had laying around and adjusted the TPS, these were my only two verified codes that would set after running on starting fluid. So far I have no check engine lights after letting the car run a few minutes
Now that it runs I can get the cooling system in order and let the motor warm up for the first time in years
I will post the video of it running tomorrow
Awesome! And good find on that hood with the blisters! 50 bucks seems super cheap for that. My camaro is a 91, but I ended up getting louvers on mine. I initially wanted blisters to keep it age authentic, but I like the look of the louvers a little better. Plus, I bought rear window louvers and they aren't the proper age either..
Awesome! And good find on that hood with the blisters! 50 bucks seems super cheap for that hood with the blisters!
i was thinking the same thing, it was originally listed for $100, its got some damage that was repaired with what looks like half an inch of bondo, ive got a stud welder so ill get it done with minimal body filler applied, other than that damage its a pretty straight hood from what i can tell. i will be bolting it up soon but i'll wait to put my louvers on until after the car is ready to be painted.
I pulled the tank on my red bird, and my fuel pump looks as bad as yours did... inside of the tank is a cruddy mess.
I must say that you are correct. Dropping the tank is not all that much of a job, but in my case, I had to drop the rear all the way to the floor with the car jacked up pretty high. I had to disconnect the brake line to get it down low enough... and you know what that means. The steel line broke right off.
Your instructions worked perfectly once I got the rear end all the way down.
I pulled the tank on my red bird, and my fuel pump looks as bad as yours did... inside of the tank is a cruddy mess.
I must say that you are correct. Dropping the tank is not all that much of a job, but in my case, I had to drop the rear all the way to the floor with the car jacked up pretty high. I had to disconnect the brake line to get it down low enough... and you know what that means. The steel line broke right off.
Your instructions worked perfectly once I got the rear end all the way down.
i couldn't let the Iroc run for long periods of time due to the fact the coolant hose that runs from the TB to the intake was rotted, i ended up ordering the bypass hose to run from the intake to the diverter valve, should be here in the coming days so i can get some coolant flow
been waiting for the hose to come in, got a call yesterday from the part store, closest store with the hose i need is in new York and it will take 3-5 days(not including weekends) to get to the store for me to pick it up.
so in the mean time i am going over other little things, including checking the gauges, while cranking the temp gauge spikes and gets stuck, i thought it was like my RS where if i tap on the cluster it will drop back down(it gets stuck behind the bezel). but this isn't the case with the IROC, it gets stuck on the lip of the gauge itself even with the bezel off
on top of that the tach isnt working, it spikes while cranking and if i physically move the needle back it drops all the way to 0 and stays there
while the bezel is out, it will be painted gold like the wheels and emblems
i was so hyped up to find a hood with blisters for $50 i didn't bother to actually look it over. the hood is an standard flat style hood that somebody cut holes into and mounted the 91-92 blisters to it
i went out today to swap hoods on the car and figured i would go ahead and pull the blisters off since i have louvers for the hood, when i actually took a good look at it i realized the blisters had strips of metal holding them in, i figured maybe the factory held them in differently for 91-92 but then i realized that they weren't uniform, definitely home made.
so i pulled one blister off and here is what i saw
i guess $50 for two good blisters with zero broken tabs isn't a bad deal
still hunting for a good used iroc hood, but i may sell the blisters to offset the price of buying a brand new hood
just personally i don't like the blisters on an IROC, i think they fit great on the 91-92 cars with the high rise and aero gfx.
for now the hood will go on the car as its better than having a big rust hole the current hood has, but i will still be on the look out for a real z28 hood
false alarm, i should have figured with as crusty as everything is on this car that the coolant diverter valve would break. the same thing happened on my RS years ago. i will pick one of those up and continue on the journey of saving this Iroc
false alarm, i should have figured with as crusty as everything is on this car that the coolant diverter valve would break. the same thing happened on my RS years ago. i will pick one of those up and continue on the journey of saving this Iroc
If you're talking about the heater control valve, I've lost count of how many I've had to replace. I finally eliminated it.
If you're talking about the heater control valve, I've lost count of how many I've had to replace. I finally eliminated it.
that's exactly what i'm talking about, i should have figured but oh well, it lead me to also realize the coolant hose that runs from it to the hard line on the frame rail needs replacing also
on a bright note without going into a huge back story(this is a car forum and not a blog after all) Over the past couple of days I have learned a lot about my Dad's life experiences and gained a greater respect for the man.
My Mom has already expressed that my brother and I will be in charge of downsizing my dad's car hoard, she wants me to take anything usable and put them in the Camaro's as these were the cars that bonded us over the past few years. My Brother is getting my dads Ford Granada wagon which i will help fix up for him and we will use anything we can on it as well.
while we are all sad, we are also very happy that after all these years, my dads possessions will be used as intended. he always put his wants on the back burner and focused on the rest of the family even if he had already purchased something. he never took the opportunities to fulfill his dreams as ours were more important to him. we now get to live out these dreams for him.
with all of this said i will be back, and i will have updates on the cars in the near future. thank you all for sticking with me on the journey of my cars.
I am sorry for your loss. People search for the right words, but there aren't any. Just know that we all wish we could find the right words.
The greatest gift that your father gave you was himself. If you pass this on to your children, he will smile from heaven, and look forward to the day when you will be together again.
I am sorry for your loss. People search for the right words, but there aren't any. Just know that we all wish we could find the right words.
The greatest gift that your father gave you was himself. If you pass this on to your children, he will smile from heaven, and look forward to the day when you will be together again.
God's peace be with you, my brother.
Thanks again Tim.
Well I was able to order a new heater control valve
and it came in today, currently getting hit with a ton of snow so install will be sometime after the snow stops lol
mini update, in my quest to grow my knowledge of auto repair i had taken on the task of welding in new body panels on my cousin's truck.
i did not own a welder, so he purchased the crappiest HF unit he could(90 amp). it is a great little welder if you just want to use it around the house. I've also gotten decent with burning in the panels with it. but i was tired of dealing with burn through's and knew i didn't want to go near either of the camaro's with it.
so last night the opportunity arose to purchase an L-tec Mig 130. i paid a grand total of $40, it needs a little TLC but it feeds wire. the biggest issue being the nozzle of the gun is not present. even if i need to buy a new gun it was still a deal and a half. so now i am comfortable with doing the panel replacement for the firewall, cowl, and small floor section of the Iroc.
This is a great thread. We all know how life gets in the way of progress sometimes.
I too am from Md and trying to restore a 89 IROC. My car is black and I want to change to red. Can you or anyone tell me if GM used the same exterior red body color under the hood and engine compartment?
I think most cars didn't receive the "gloss" paint but I'm trying to figure that out.
I can't say for sure on all makes/models/years, but here's what the engine compartment of my '88 T/A looks like. Excepts for the AC Delco replacement battery and alternator, it's all original under there.
It is certainly the same color. And I'm sure the factory sprayed it all at once. But the underhood paint is not as glossy as the exterior.
Personal taste here...but I could live with a red car with a black engine compartment, but not a black car with a red compartment.
Yep. As a matter of fact, my red bird came from the factory originally in grey. The engine compartment matched the body color. When I had the color changed at the body shop, they went to great lengths to hide the original color, but left the engine compartment grey. It looks excellent that way.
i was able to order a good amount of parts for the iroc
new flywheel, new clutch kit, new trans mount and a bunch of other small parts and gaskets that cost a few bucks on rock auto(i figured if i was paying nearly $30 in shipping i might as well get my moneys worth)
the clutch and flywheel should be here today and i will jump on getting it installed. hopefully if all goes well the car will move under its own power after years of sitting
It is certainly the same color. And I'm sure the factory sprayed it all at once. But the underhood paint is not as glossy as the exterior.
Personal taste here...but I could live with a red car with a black engine compartment, but not a black car with a red compartment.
. The body color is all sprayed at once to insure uniformity. The engine bay is not clear coated, it just gets overspray from when the fenders are cleared.
I had inherited my dads 1996 F150(originally my Mom's fathers truck purchased new) a lot of time and money has gone into bringing that truck back to life and to be useable again, still not at 100% but its getting there.
with that said I got tired of watching the Iroc sit with all the new goodies waiting to be installed so I built up my motivation again and got it done......kinda
the new flywheel and clutch are installed, I ended up breaking a bolt off when torqueing the pressure plate bolts, luckily its only a few extra minutes to pull the flywheel back out and get the bolt out. had to order a new set of bolts which I probably should have purchased in the first place. everything else went back in smoothly. only thing left to make it drivable is locating where I put the torque arm mount bolts or buy new ones and fill the transmission.
did i mention how disheartening rust is when you see it. the floor has holes in a few places and the rocker area where the fenders bolt is gone on both sides......good thing i bought that cheap welder eh?
i will update with any pics i took when i find time to upload them.
Just discovered this thread today and I'm glad I did, excellent work so far! I can relate to the disheartening rust discoveries, my car seems to always surprise me with new spots. If you just dive in and get them taken care of quickly, it helps keep your motivation up instead of always knowing that it's another issue you need to tackle. Either way, I think everyone's looking forward to some new updates!
10-14-2015, 06:43 PM
glad to hear it, sucks on the brake line though 
