thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

hey everybody I'm in the middle of piecing together a fuel system for my 70' suburban 2wd 1/2 ton and I've been reading everybody's posts about getting an 87-91 tbi blazer/suburban fuel tank and adding a tpi pump. Well I'm going to try and make it work in my suburban so I went to the junkyard today. lo and behold they had a 90 suburban 3/4 ton 4x4. so I started taking the tank down after about 45 minutes i had the tank on the ground only to realize that the junkyard punched holes in the tank :(. After all the struggle I figured I couldn't come home empty handed so I took the sending unit/internal pump and now I'm in search of the specific capacity fuel tank it came from. I took the dimensions of the tank before i left. The tank is 35in long X 28 in wide X 12 in tall. Lastly when it comes to the TPI fuel pump I've read a lot of people saying get an 85' fuel pump, but then I think to myself the only tpi engine that year was a 305. Are all TPI pumps the same? because 87' was the first year of the 350 TPI. I just don't want to go through all this work just to put in a pump that can't support the engine.

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

you can put a vortec pump in the sending unit if you wish. I have a 96 vortec pump on a 91 sending unit running a cammed LQ9.... runs great.

Tank from advance auto 31 gallon.... they matched rock auto's price.... i think it was around $90
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...09/1009008.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...09/1009009.jpg

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

after doing some more searching I found out that I took the sending unit from a 40 gallon tank. Then I started thinking that I only really want a maximum capacity of the 31 gallon tank. So now I have the sending unit/pump for the 40 gallon tank but can I use it on the 31 gallon tank and still have the sending unit function properly?

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

I bet it will be too long, I think the 40 gallon tank is deeper but I am not sure. I think my sending unit from rock auto was about $120 shipped... dang expensive if you ask me but that was the cheapest place I could find one.

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

Maybe this will help.

DORMAN Part # 576313 {#15615624} Dimensions: 28-3/4" x 28-1/8" x 12-3/4" / Gallons: 31 / Liters: 118 / Lock Ring # LO01
31 Gallon (Only 4 Remaining)

DORMAN Part # 576349 {#15615625} Dimensions: 35" x 28-3/4" x 13-1/8" / Gallons: 40 / Liters: 151 / Lock Ring # LO01
40 Gallon

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

hypothetical situation. Say I buy a 31 gallon gas tank and use the 40 gallon sending unit I already have. and during the progress of the build i hook up the electrical connections to the sending unit with the gas gauge to see where it registers on the gas gauge. In the long run is there a way of augmenting the position of the gas gauge needle to be where it needs to be in relation to the actual gas level in the tank

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

You could bend the float tube rod to make it read correct. All you would have to do is use a ohm meter, put say 5 gal of gas in it and get the float to read 0ohm and you would have a 5 gal reserve.

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

that sounds like a good idea i might just have to do that.

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

[QUOTE=jkade;4419488]you can put a vortec pump in the sending unit if you wish. I have a 96 vortec pump on a 91 sending unit running a cammed LQ9.... runs great.



now when you say you put in a 96' vortec pump is that the one that was meant for the suburban/trucks? For some reason I thought that they were also TBI. But if your running an LQ9 then it must be providing enough pressure.

I know this forum is for LSX swaps but I'm actually installing an LT1/4L60E from a 95' camaro. Does anybody know what kind of fuel pressure this motor requires versus say a TPI motor or an LSX motor. I also know that the fuel system is supposed to have a return line and there is a fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail. What I'm scratching my head about is can I send as much fuel to the regulator as I want and will it automatically regulate it down to the factory settting? I just don't want to put on a pump and then all of a sudden have way more psi at the injectors then what was intended from the factory.

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

[quote=jiggityjoe87;4420687]The vortecs used as much pressure as the ls motors, they had what was called a spyder pack injector system (a bank of injectors under the intake with a line going to each cylinder). You LT1 calls for 45psi so I am not sure if the vortec pump will be too much for the LT1 regulator but I am almost certain that a LT1 corvette pump will fit just the same.

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

I still have the 95' camaro gas tank with in tank pump I may just take that out and see if I can adapt it to the suburban tank

Re: thinking ahead about fuel supply
 

Never hurts to try, it might work.