Managed to break the fuel pump rod on the LG4 today, I couldn't believe that a 1/2 inch steel(or pot metal) rod could break trying to twist it out of the block. So, can the rod hole be reached if you take off the timing chain cover or will I have to pull the cam to reach it? I've checked my 87 shop manual and it doesn't have squat to say about this rod between the mechanical fuel pump and the cam.
And I thought I was about 15 minutes from driving around the block changing out the fuel pump( was replacing the rod with a new one).
Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

It should just fall out of the block. If bolt in the front of the block is not holding it in.

What do you mean it broke? Thats nearly impossible.

 

Nope, nothing is impossible. I bought the new replacement rod before I attempted to get the old one out. It only came out about 1 inch before I tried different pliers trying to get it to come out farther. Nothing worked until I put some vise grips on the end and stareted twisting it. With about four inches exposed, the rod snapped in half. I'm pretty big but I just can't believe this thing broke. Anyway, the other half is still stuck in the bore.

 

i have never ever had such as that happen.. ussually i have problems with the things falling out when i take the pump off...

I think that you may have a problem other than a weak rod, might have been bent, in which case you would want to check out why.. either way i do not think it is a very good thing

 

If the rod is broken and will not fall out, you will need to pull the cam, then try to get some sort of drift into the pump push rod area to coax it along.

 

defiantely going to have to pull the cam to pull the fuel pump rod. although with so many miles on tap and the price of gasket kits, a new timing chain, etc etc. might just make more sense to stab in a different motor if it's going to be too much of a hassle, rather than lifting the motor up to drop the oil pan, to pull off the timing chain cover, to pull out the timing chain, and pull the intake to pull the lifters, then pull the cam....see where I'm going with this? Tons of work for old faithful. Surprised the rod didn't just fall out though, something must have bent it, possibly did the fuel pump become seized or really really hard to operate? typically you can squeeze them with your hand to see how little they travel back and forth. I'd definately love to see some pics if you had a digital camera and didn't have to involve film processing.

 

Couldn't get it to start up, kept running down the battery. Replaced the coil, distributor cap and rotor, wires and plugs, still couldn't get it to start. Checked for gas at the carb and didn't see any squirting while operating the butterflies on the electronic Q-jet. Pulled the carb filter, didn't look wet. Pulled the metal line off the fuel pump, cranked it and got nothing, decided to replace the fuel pump, hoses, rod and filter.
Of course, I wasn't counting on rod breaking in block. I've had toothpicks with more strength than this rod. Maybe the rod had already failed before I tried to get it out. I did blow air into the gas lines from the front of the car to clear any obstructions back to the tank-blowing the larger line expelled gas from the smaller line but not vice versa. So, it seemed like gas was coming to the fuel pump.
I'll look at it again this morning, swapping engines was not high on my list but may get moved up rapidly.
Anybody got a good streetable 383 for around 500 bucks? Just dreaming.

Thanks everybody.

 

It sounds like you have the fuel pump rod retaining bolt holding the rod in. If it is tight you will not get any fuel to the carb.

 

if you wanted a motor on the cheap, i'd wait for swap meets where people run into financial difficulty and have to sell motors/etc cheap. I know super chevy in august is a show like that, the drag expo this year I picked up tons of parts and there was several motors with 1000s invested selling for no where near that, and I didn't even try to haggle them down since I wasn't interested. I wish you luck on the car, I just pulled that small block out of my camaro the other day to put in another one, 6 hours it took to pull it out, working basically by myself and leaving the trans in as well.