HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

What's the trick? I seem to need three hands to do this! The pressure on the pump arm makes it so the dang thing keeps pushing off to one side as I try to tighten the bolts. I can barely reach under there anyhow, and can't quite seem to get it. Any ideas?

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

manually turn the engine over till the pump lobe on the cam causes the actuating rod to go as inside as possible, that should reduce force on pump lever enough to allow you to bolt it down. Don't really remember mine being a problem, but then again I put it on with the engine out of the truck..

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

Thats what I did and same here... it wasn't a problem, but it was out of the truck at the time.

Guess I'll let you know soon though. Gotta replace the gasket down there so it's gotta come off again

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

Do what Ivan said...then stick a dap of grease on the pushrod and slide it in as far as possible. The grease will hold the pushrod up while you install the pump.

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

On the front side of the block there is a bolt that you can remove and place a longer bolt or a rod in to the hole to hold the fuel pump rod in place. Then you can stick the fuel pump in without having to worry about the rod moving...

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

Just don't forget to put the short one back in :rolleyes: In high school I saw a guy try 3 fuel pumps before the teacher asked him if he took the holding bolt out.

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

That's funny but so very true. :) Have never seen someone do that but heard plenty of stories...

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

i dont know if this is to late but to help out in makeing the rod stay in place i would turn the engine tell the rod was as far in as i could. like stated before then take some grease and put it on the end of the rod and put it in. the grease is thick enough to hold it in place long enough and after the engine is ran the grease just melts down to mix with the oil so no harm will come from it.

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

I ensure that the rod is able to be pushed as far up into the block as possible, by turning the motor over until the back of the lobe is against the rod end, then I use a long heavy feeler gauge (with a bend close to the outer end) to hold the rod up in place and then slide the pump arm under the rod. once under it, the pump can be aligned with the bolt holes and the bolts started.

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

ever heard of bending the fuel pump push rod doing that??? seen it happen several times...thats why i've always stuck with the grease trick

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

i have done the bolt trick many times and never had a problem at all... you would have to really bear down on the bolt to bend it i would think! youre just supposed to apply enough friction to keep it from sliding down. it is a solid piece of steel, and fairly short at that, so i find it hard to believe that it is bending

Re: HELP bolting on 350 fuel pump!!
 

I agree. As long as you don't use air tools to tighten the longer bolt you shouldn't have any problems. Just tighten enough to hold the rod snug and remember to remove it and install the shorter one afterwards. :) Unless you are ungodly strong and then just finger tight...:)