I got my 91 z28, it needs a fuel pump, I dont have stands or ramps to put the car on to drop the rear end, i know its a sin but i want to just cut the hole in the trunk area and change it from there. when i buy the pump tomorrow what do i need to ask for besides the pump? also dumb question but how do i open the trunk/ rear hatch? thanks and please just help im going to do this on saturday and sunday, thanks.... tell me everything i need to know on how to change it, i have a buddy and my brother willing to help me and they both know how to work on cars, so thanks.

 

Well, if you already have the hole cut, then it's very simple and the process doesn't take more than maybe 15 minutes. You may have to cut the fuel lines, so be ready to put some compression fitting or rubber hoses with hose clamps on there after you've cut them. Also, it's a good idea to relieve the fuel pressure before cutting on them. Just take the fuse to the pump out and take off the fuel cap and start the car for a few minutes, wait a few, then do it again. That should relieve the pressure in the tank and lines.

Get yourself a flathead screwdriver and a hammer to help remove the ring seal around the pump assembly. Be gentle with it as you won't need to beat the hell out of it, but more like chissle it a bit. The seal will probably not move by hand so just use the flathead screwdriver to get the seal moving. It will turn about 1/4 of the way before you can just pull up on it. After that you can basically just pull the assembly out. The pump is at the bottom of it. Replace it and the sleeve around it.

I'm not an expert, but I just changed mine about 2 weeks ago. Be sure to get a new strainer with the pump. The strainer is about $10 and the pump will be around $60 if you get them from Auto Zone.

 

alright thanks but i dont know if the hole is cut already, i got the diagram on where to cut just need to borrow some tin snips and find out how to get into the trunk.

do they sell compression fittings and hose clamps at autozone? what size and how many should i buy? which hoses do i cut?

 

Yes, they sell them at Auto Zone and they're pretty cheap and pretty good quality. I used them when putting new brake lines on my Camaro. Just measure the fuel line or cut a small peice off and take it with you and tell them what it's for.

Just remember to relieve the pressure before you cut the lines or you're gonna have gas everywhere and your cars interior will smell like gas for weeks. lol.

 

All right! You got the car! Congrats! To open your trunk, you will need battery power, then on the center console, between the power window switches, there is a little slide switch. If that dosent work, you will need the key. You should have two keys with the car. One has a rectangular head (Ignition key) The other should have an oval head (Doors, trunk, storage compartment on drivers side rear under hatch) You go to the back of the car and flip the liscence plate down and you will see where to put the oval key. A WORD OF CAUTION!: Your car is equipped with an electric power pull-down for the hatch. NEVER slam the hatch! NEVER drop the hatch! Always close it softly, or push down lightly, until you hear a click. The trunk pull-down mechanism is encased in a plastic gear box which is very easy to break and can be very expensive and frustrating to fix. I honestly wouldnt cut a hole in your floor. It really is the wrong way to fix this. That said, once you get the hatch open, take the rear carpet out and look to see if someone has done this already. It still isnt easy to do, even with a hole cut in the floor. My wife and I using a floor jack and two jack stands did it in a couple hours, you and two other guys can do it too.

 

tpoic has been discussed at least 4 times in the last month. tired of seeing fuel pump posts. pleeeeaaasseeeeeee do a search before posting.

 

With the hole already there it can be done in 15 minutes or less.... I finished mine that fast and it was my first time changing one... someone had already made the trap door in my car before I bought it.

 

well id rather do it the right way but i dont have the tools to take off the rear axle, and the whole rear end just for a fuel pump, i may just put in a door around the pump hole, but how do i pull up my carpet? or just cut it with a blade? will tin snips work to cut the 10x10 hole?

 

anyone?

 

Do a search in the fabrication board.

 

tin snips will cut it but id say you need to pull the carpet. just go back in your hatch and start lookin at it, youll figure out how to pull the carpet

 

not really lol, its hard i might just cut the carpet and glue a piece over it.... idk i just want the car running fast and i have to give the snips back tomorrow. how do i get the hole started anway? how do i fit the snips in there and start cutting? some help please.

 

another thing is id really rather not remove my axle, idk how to put it back on, let alone take it off. And all i have is a set of ratchets for now, could i drop the tank with just ratchets and screwdrivers?

 

Yes you can. You will also need at least 2 jackstands and a floor jack. It's really easy.

 

Its not easy doing it by your self, If your choosing to go the fuel access door, here is what mine looks like, fabbing up the door still,

Be sure to use the fuel hoses rated at least 30 sr 9

They are 60 psi hoses.

 

my car has 1/2 tank of gas still, about how many gallons is that and how high do i need the car to be up? how should i syphon the gas out? just the rear end on jack stands or the whole car?

 

think our tanks are 14 gal, so you probably have 7-8 gallons left " approx" 9lbs per gallon.

You can crack the feed line , put a length of hose on it, hotwire the fuel pump, pump it out that way.


Dont think you can syphon out the gas due to screens inside the neck.

 

Mine had a little over half a tank when I changed mine, but I have a trap door, so it didn't really matter. lol.

 

k im gonna cut a trap door cuz i dont see any bolts by the tank or anything, so what should i use to cut it that isnt too expensive?

 

If you cut the "trap door" in the car, you are compromising the rigidity of the car. I highly advise against this due to the inexperience of you working on cars. It will be easier to make the car blow up if you do something wrong. Do the job correctly and save yourself from the possibility of killing yourself! To all of you who do have the hole cut, congrats on killing the value of your car. And congrats that you didn't create a spark that would have blown you up! Do yourself a favor and go to Sears and get the correct tools for the job. It's not hard to pull the tank down. Take pictures of everything before and during disassembly so you can reference it when its going back together. You don't have to remove the axle from under the car. Just drop it down to the ground and keep the body of the car up. Don't force anything into place when you are getting it back together. Besides, it will take you just as long to cut the hole as it does to do the job correctly. Remember you are working around gas and it will ignite with a little spark. Use your head and not try to do what you would think is easier.

 

While I respect your opinion, I agree that cutting the trap door for access is a bad idea and does decrease the value of the car, in my defense the trap door was already there when I purchased the car. Went to replace the carpet in the hatch one day and there it was.

 

Fine for you because someone else did the work. Doesn't make sense to have someone do that because you have a car with it already done. Don't mean any disrespect, but doing things the red-neck way can make things worse or do harm to someone in the process.

 

I never told him to do it, he was talking about it and I said "if you've already cut the hole."

 

LOL, is it getting warm in here? Listen to birdtojag. He is an ASE certified mechanic. There are only 2 bolts holding up the fuel tank. They can be found in front of the tank, at the end of the two straps (14 mm if I remember correctly) Then you just have to unplug the electrical connector and use 2 wrenches to undo the two hard fuel lines and a pair of pliars to loosen the hose clamps. Really easy, and no trip to the hospital.
I also saw some stuff on ebay. A new fuel pump for 22.00.
Changing the head gaskets is easy, but changing your fuel pump is easier.
Did you say your car fired up for a little bit? It wouldnt fire at all, if your pump was bad. You may have bad gas. I would buy or borrow a fuel pressure gauge and check to see what kind of pressure you have.

 

ya but like 2 seconds so idk if that even counts, like literally 2 seconds then died, what else could be the problem? i dont have 100's to spend on purchasing tools to see what might be the problem.

 

how do i relieve fuel pressure? the car does not start! lol

 

Crack your fuel filter, that will relieve pressure.


Cutting a hole where the pump is does nothing to the bodys sturdyness.

You can use tin snips to cut through it


I used a dremel, cut off disk, and water spray bottle.


Once my door is installed

Ill take my 5 min fuel pump change over your 3 hr plus change

 

how do you cut the hole tho so you could start using the tin snips? could i just use a grinder or will it catch fire and blow my *** up? lol.

 

dremel a corner, you wont blow up, spray the area with a water mist bottle, if you smell gas, i wouldn't grind, I smelled no gas, so I grinded, you can keep the sparks under control with the mist of water, just dont mist your dremel.


They have busted that myth also about the gas tank blown up

 

To be honest, I would think it would take more than three hours to do the trap door and fabricate a door... I dont know about you guys, but I dont change my fuel pump that often... Maybe every 60,000 miles or so... At that rate it would take me around 30 years to wear one out, LOL. I guess I am just a purist. I do modify my cars, but to me this "Mod" is equivalent to removing the drivers door to make it easier to get in and out!! LOL. Come to think of it, it might save you 10-15 seconds every time you get in or out.... Hmmmm.... Has anyone done this mod?

 

Here's what I used when I did mine. It pretty much covers everything that you will need to do it and has plenty of pictures so you can see how it's done.
Just be careful when you cut the fuel lines.

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/tur...utes-less.html

 

Like I said before - Not a smart idea. Is doing the job with short cuts really worth all the trouble? You may be doing the fuel pump once or twice in your lifetime on these cars unless you decide to keep it until you are dead. Cutting the body just to save a few hours in the future is more of a hassle to me. It will take you longer to cut the body than to do the job right. All you really need is some sockets and wrenches. Jack stands are about $20 for a pair. And if it ran for literally 2 seconds, the fuel pump is not your issue. Check fuel pressure first. Just don't replace parts you think may be the issue unless you are absolutely sure it is the problem. Doing a little investigation WILL SAVE YOU MORE MONEY THAN IF YOU JUST THROW PARTS AT IT!!!!!! You might have a clogged fuel filter, clogged injectors or bad computer. Do yourself a favor and get a test light and use the tool loaner program at a parts store for the fuel pressure gauge. Again - DON'T JUST THROW PARTS AT IT!!!!

 

My point exactly! If it fired at all, then it has to be building fuel pressure.

 

Consider replacing the fuel filter, too.

 

thanks guys, ill go to autozone and ask to borrow a tool that will lemme check my fuel pressure, and get a fuel filter also. where is the fuel filter located? thank you guys and ya if its not the fuel pump ya, idk what else it coudl be though.

 

your forgetting disconnecting all the fuel lines off the rear, dropping the rear, dropping the drive shaft, moving the exhaust which odds are, its all welded in one piece. misc things that will break, and if you can lift a rear by yourself or install the gas tank by yourself more power to ya.

 

Have done it a few time due to fuel leaks from the tank. Not hard to do if you have a jack and an empty tank. Don't need to drop the driveshaft if you don't pull the rear completely out. Loosen or disconnect the exhaust after the cat and remove the passenger side rear control arm from the rear. That will give it clearance to come out without cutting. Thanks for mentioning the fuel lines at the rear. Don't forget to disconnect them first before the tank comes down. Use a jack to raise the rear axle assembly and put things back in the way they came out. If you have a full or partially full tank, get a friend over to help you. After that it's not really that hard to get this thing done. But like I said before, check your fuel pressure and do things that would make more sense than just throwing a fuel pump at it and hoping it works. The fuel filter is on the driver side just ahead of the rear wheel. You will see it in line with the fuel lines. Look for the part that looks like the new one you will have in your hand.

 

No offense intended, but when questions like "how do I pull up the carpet" and "how do I open the hatch", I get worried about that person wants to cut into the car.

If the car starts for 2 seconds, it ain't the pump. Check the power to the pump. Sounds like the timed start relay is working but the run power isn't.

 

Just pulled my tank out yesterday. Now I need to find a fuel pump

 

LOL, my point....

Look on ebay. I saw quite a few yesterday. OEM was around 22.00 and 255 lph were about 75.00.

 

Don't forget to get the strainer sock that goes on the end of the pump, Rich. Also, how hard was it for you to do that? Probably not as hard as most people make it out to be. I've done it a few times for various reasons. Takes me about 30-45 minutes to get it out and about 30 minutes to get it back in. Time well spent to keep my car safe.

 

Thats true. I had to take my tank back out because I put an actual "sock" on it! J/K

 

im so tired of reading people bitch at each other for cutting into their cars. ITS THEIR CAR. i think all the guy asked was "how do i cut a hole to get to my pump" not "should i cut a hole?" "whats the best way to change the pump?" im seriously sick of you guys going back and forth. its rediculous. your NOT going to change somebodys mind about how to do things. its a pointless arguement. stop wasting your time.

 

It took some time. I didn't have the air compessor around, that would have made a big differenence. Lucky for me that the tank was almost empty, which was nice.

 

You have a valid point. I look at it like this: If someone comes to me and says, "I would like to know how to set a stick of dynamite off, in my hand." the first thing I am going to tell them is that it's a mistake to do so.
After that, I might tell them.

 

well you have a valid point as well i guess haha. im not saying its right to cut a hole in your car, but if you wanna mess up your car, im not going to tell you not to. ill just tell you there is other ways to do it.

good point though, def makes sense.

 

Whatever route you chose, just be very careful. It only takes one spark to ignite gas fumes. Open the doors and do it outside. If you use a hack saw, grease the blade. Use compression fittings, not hoses, especially on the high pressure line.

 

Good point. Also, do not use a drop light around gas. It is common sense, but sometimes people get caught up in their work and forget simple safety precautions.

 

I'll try not to forget the strainer sock. lol, I'm still looking for a pump to buy.

 

it wasnt the pump, changed the relay switch and now it starts, it still overheats though, radiator wont hold antifreeze.