Dual fuel tank confusion

[Crabass]

Currently preparing to replace the fuel pumps in my '87 short fleet dual tank Silverado. Ordered two new Bosch pumps rather than the complete pump/sending unit assembly to make sure I got Bosch pumps. Some random brain cell fired and made me realize that I'd better replace the old original sending units as well to lessen the chances of having to go through this chore again anytime soon.

BTW, for anyone that might be interested, the pump/sending units are located under the cab not the bed. Pulled the bed in order to discover this, but, fortunately, need to have the bed loose anyway to paint the bed front and cab back. Still, presumptuous, sloppy planning.
My present dilemma is making sure I get the correct sending units from a quality manufacturer without having to sell the truck to pay for 'em (can't bring myself to order the wangfoo brands from A'zon). Searching several vendors I'm seeing different descriptions which has me uncertain as to exactly what were the choices and which is correct for my rig.

Specifically, the "main/auxiliary" and "driver/passenger side" designations have me confused. I know I have the 16gal "saddle" type tanks. Just not sure if that type tank came in another size, or if the "main/aux" is the same type or perhaps some forward/rearward config. Any enlightenment would be very appreciated. Fished through five pages of search results without finding the exact info I need.

[hatzie]

1987 has the motorized Pollack valve system. This system has a RH passengers side and LH Drivers side tank.
Main and AUX were only applicable to the 73-80 solenoid valve systems.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=754061

I'm with you on staying away from Wingdong parts.
Delphi should be OEM GM parts.

[Crabass]

Hatzie -- Thanks for the response and the very useful link. Ended up getting Dorman and having to order from two different sources. Not seeing a lot of Delphi in stock, and the North American mfgr I was ordering from is no longer an option for me-----had an issue with the last one I installed and found online that others were having similar issues with that brand. Have used Dorman a number of times w/o issue, so far. Seems like these days no one's quality is what it used to be, I guess time will tell. More and more it turns out the choices are buy chinese or do without.

[Desert1957]

Originally Posted by Crabass

Currently preparing to replace the fuel pumps in my '87 short fleet dual tank Silverado. Ordered two new Bosch pumps rather than the complete pump/sending unit assembly to make sure I got Bosch pumps. Some random brain cell fired and made me realize that I'd better replace the old original sending units as well to lessen the chances of having to go through this chore again anytime soon.

BTW, for anyone that might be interested, the pump/sending units are located under the cab not the bed. Pulled the bed in order to discover this, but, fortunately, need to have the bed loose anyway to paint the bed front and cab back. Still, presumptuous, sloppy planning.
My present dilemma is making sure I get the correct sending units from a quality manufacturer without having to sell the truck to pay for 'em (can't bring myself to order the wangfoo brands from A'zon). Searching several vendors I'm seeing different descriptions which has me uncertain as to exactly what were the choices and which is correct for my rig.

Specifically, the "main/auxiliary" and "driver/passenger side" designations have me confused. I know I have the 16gal "saddle" type tanks. Just not sure if that type tank came in another size, or if the "main/aux" is the same type or perhaps some forward/rearward config. Any enlightenment would be very appreciated. Fished through five pages of search results without finding the exact info I need.

Thanks for mentioning that the senders cannot be removed with the bed off. I need to upgrade my pumps , anyway to jack the rear of the cab up instead of dropping the tanks?

[sick472]

I did the dual tanks on my 85 K20 last year (or the year before) and I think it's best to pull the bed and then drop the tanks. There is a high chance you will kink the rubber lines when the tank goes back in. The first thing that gets you (without the bed removed) is that you wan to put longer rubber lines in to make it easy to attach them and when the tank goes up...there's just not much room for any extra line length. Having the bed off allows you to get to those lines with less difficulty AND inspect for kinks. You just cant see in there with the bed on. BTW, the cab would have to go UP way farther than it's worth to make that happen unless you are in the process of tearing the truck apart anyway. My 2 cents.

[Crabass]

Late addition to this thread ----- by the time I got this project back together I forgot I had started the thread.
Sick472 described the situation perfectly. With the bed off or at least shifted rearward a bit (I lifted the short bed with 2x4s and a engine hoist) the hoses (3 per side) and pigtail were accessible, but not easily. Get them disconnected and then drop the tanks. And don't forget the fill hose and rear wiring connections.
Having done this procedure I have to believe that moving the bed is by far the lesser of the evils, especially when you have two of 'em to do.
BTW the Dorman sender assy's (side specific) are working without a hitch and fuel gauge calibration is spot-on. My experience, so far. I will say that I took great pains to make sure all connections were secure, clean, and protected. Did everything I could to avoid any re-do's.
It's looking like I'm not going to get as much use out of my new parts as I thought I would. Never mind the 427 I just started putting together.......

[LT7A]

Four, two, seven. Three numbers I enjoy.

It's your thread, tell us more about this alleged motor.

[Crabass]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Four, two, seven. Three numbers I enjoy.

It's your thread, tell us more about this alleged motor.

Same here, something about that sound that's just too sweet for this old timer to resist.....

Actually still in the parts-collecting phase.

It all started when the obnoxious brother learned of my plan to stuff a GenV 454 into the truck to replace the tired 4.3. He volunteered that he had a forged, never used 427 crankshaft in his inventory just wasting away, so, after some furious wheeling-dealing the crank was mine. Had already bought the aluminum top end, just wish the retrofit hyd roller cam setups weren't so pricey. Need to find some pistons, too. The GenV is a crate replacement with less than 19K miles (on propane) that came out of a (rusty) fleet truck.

Been looking at these and thinking how nice they'll look on the front fenders:



I think they will contrast nicely with the Kiwi metallic green paint it's getting.

Apologies for the slow reply.