So the fuel pump on my Camaro stopped working the other day. The two places I asked at were charging about $500 to get it replaced. The car also needs new tires, so I'm lookin at around $1000 to start driving it again. Anyone know some place in the area that'll do it for cheaper? Or is this a lost cause? The car is kind of a piece of junk so I'm not really sure it's worth it to fix...

Auto V8 RS '91

 

That's an interesting philosophical question. The type and condition of an automobile most often reflects the kind of person driving it. "Junk" cars can be restored, made nice to look at and pleasant to drive. ThirdGens in particular have pretty body lines and are reasonably cost-effective to fix and maintain in good condition. Your decision comes down to a personal choice of whether or not you want to continue driving the Camaro for the cost of tires and a fuel pump replacement. Cars not in drivable condition don't fetch much price, so just ask yourself where you can buy decent car for around $700-1,000, which is what I estimate is the cost to repair your car and buy new tires. Eventually all cars need all their parts replaced. Early cars, like ThirdGens are a lot cheaper to overhaul than newer cars. However, if your car is literally falling apart, you might be better off junking it and buying something else.

 

you can get used tires cheap, around here they charge ~$150 for all 4 mounted. the fuel pump with strainer should be about $85. If the car is junk you shouldnt feel so bad about cutting a fuel pump access door.

 

Don't cut a fuel pump access door unless you are going to weld in a tube frame around it to reinforce the body. Cutting an access door to do an "easy fuel pump change without reinforcing the body is a good way to turn decent Third Gen into junk.

 

I totally disagree with this. The area over the fuel pump is not a stressed area of the chassis, all of the suspension mounting areas are ahead of it, and in stock form this area is very thin and of a low grade of mild steel.

I inherited a car that had already been hacked, but increased the size of the hole dramatically and put in a stainless panel that was twice as thick, with about 1.5inches of overlap per side, with 18 screws zig-zagged to prevent a stress line. The stock mild-steel body panels were incredibly easy to drill through, the access panel I had to do in a drill press with a new drill bit, it's much tougher material. Thus, IF YOU DO IT RIGHT, an area with very limited stresses on it is now about 3 times as strong, and I can now replace a fuel pump in about an hour. The emphasis here is on doing it right. Just like anything else, if you do a crappy job, you'll have to do it over again.

TA

 

What he said ^^ regardless I dont have the huevos to cut back there, I feel more comfortable dropping the tank and have done so. But anyway he said his car was a piece of junk so it shouldnt matter whether he hacks it or not unless he plans to hang onto it.

 

I'm sorry but I have to agree with Russ on this one.
By the time you are done you will wish you had never attemped that operation.
It's so easy to cross the hoses (some people know why) and all those clamps to get them back together.....yuk!!!!

Just do it right and be done with it.

My $.02

 

Duck, how did you do the screws for the panel? If you use sheet metal screws, you may have a strong stainless steel panel held in place by sheet metal screws into thin sheet metal. I can see where it would work if the perimeter around the hole was reinforced and proper machine nuts welded in, but unless you were building the car from a bare shell, it would probably be more work than just doing it right to start with. I'm not sure that area isn't stressed. On a unit body, the entire body except the dorrs and front fenders/hood seem to be stressed. I think that is why our cars are so susceptible to cracks in the roof behind the doors.

 

Thanks for the advice. I ended up getting it fixed. I'm just a kid so I don't have the tools or the knowhow to do much anything to the car myself. The car is pretty decent, and some day I'd like to really fix it up. I'm in college, maybe I should take a shop class.

 

I replaced the fuel pump in my 4th gen recently using the access panel method. It worked out great. I went on a 2,000+ mile roadtrip immediately after and I have been taking this thing to the strip and driving it incredibly aggressively with no adverse effects... It is definitely not an area of the body that receives undue stresses as the cutout area was indeed thin sheet metal. I used an even thinner piece of aluminum to cover it up along with a 1" wide piece of foam weatherstripping (for that little ridge) and some 3M double-sided foam tape. If I ever have to replace it again it will only require Goo-Gone and some more double-sided foam tape:



In 3rd gens for all I know, the pump may be closer to the front of the car... I also noticed when I was installing sound deadener that the area above the transmission tunnel/gas tank was thin sheet metal and didn't really have anything directly behind it (could tell from the "knock" test). I really doubt that area is subjected to extreme flex except when it is in a collision, and if it's bad enough to wrinkle that area then I suggest you worry about the gas tank rupturing first.

What I don't have the huevos for is a t-top conversion. Now THAT scares me.