Working Man's Burbon

[LockDoc]

-
I don't know what kind of shape the sender is in other than the leak but I have had good luck sand blasting and soldering the tubes. If you choose to try it just be sure and tape up the rheostat good to keep the grit out of it..

LockDoc

[HO455]

Thanks for the tip Doc. Unfortunately my blaster isn't available at present. I cleaned it up with a Dremel. As Doc alluded to getting it clean and free of contaminates is vital to get a solid, leak free joint. The resolding went well. I used my grandad's old soldering iron and heated up it with a Mapp gas torch. It works well for things like this you dont want to get too hot. Kinda of old school, but once you get the knack, it works well. Since I had the sensor out I added a 5/16" port to the unit. This way I can add an evap canister or a fuel return line down the road. To make it easier to access in the future I ran a piece of tubing from the new port over the top of the frame and then I pinched the end off and soldered the end. The hope being that I will be able to cut the end off and hook it up with out dropping the tank. Before reinstalling I checks the sensor with a meter to make sure all is well after all the monkeying around.
The ground wire insulation was a bit fifty where it attached to the sensor so I put two layers of heat shrink over it. Before installing a new insulated spade connector I coated the wire with Copper-seize to prevent corrosion down the road. I will do the same on the truck side and inside the connectors.
The locking ring was a bit of a pain. It had more slop in it than other ones I have dealt with in the past. It took about 15 minutes and 100 taps with a small hammer and punch to finally get lined up correctly. It wasn't in the proper location when I removed it. Only two of the three tabs were lined up in the locking detents.
Now I just have to muster the energy to elevate the tank which is about 1/4 full back into place. (I thought it was emptier than that when I looked at the guages). This may be a job for rachet straps. But before that i need to find a second piece of rubber for the mounting straps. One is missing and has a small rubber scrap of some kind in instead. That pretty much proves to me the tank has been out before. I was pleased to see that the inside of the tank is clean and rust free.

[HO455]

Here are the meter readings from the sender. High, low and middle. The last photos are of the locking detent. I don't even know if that is the right name or not.

[LockDoc]

-
That should work great for you. Good job....

I have a couple of the old irons too.

LockDoc

[HO455]

Thanks Leon. It passed the slosh test!
The tank went back in with no problems. Well there was one glitch. I made the piece of hose on the new port too short. That made it impossible to move the hard line to the side enough to lift that side of the tank into place. I replaced it with a piece that is 3/4" longer and now there is plenty of flex to get the tank up in place.
One other side note. Last summer I replaced all the rubber fuel Ines on the truck and now I find that the 5/16" hose I had installed has started to degrade. Most of the ends are hard and cracked. The outside and the insides seem OK it was just the areas that were in contact with the tubing. (Photo) This time I got some European hose with the woven covering. I have used it in the past on motorcycles with good results. There are two down sides, it is more expensive and it only comes in metric sizes.
Now I think about it I probably cracked the solder joint on the sender putting the new hose on last summer. Dhoo!

[crakarjax]

Is that fuel injection hose that cracked, and did it crack because it was too small for the tube? Makes me worry about the places I've used it if so...

[HO455]

Nope it was regular 5/16" Gates low pressure fuel hose. I couldn't find the number on the pieces I replaced. I still have one more piece to replace and I may get a complete number off of that piece.

[Average Joe]

Nice work as always!

Thanks for posting the sending unit readings! I need to diagnose my non working fuel guage one of these years. Lol

[HO455]

Thanks again Joe! Good luck on your fuel gauge. But be careful those new fangled convenience's are addictive.

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by HO455

Thanks again Joe! Good luck on your fuel gauge. But be careful those new fangled convenience's are addictive.

Lmmfao!!

People are baffled when i tell them ive owned it for 9 years and still havnt bothered to fix it! Doesnt really bother me though. I just keep a notebook with my milage written on it. What can be confusing to some is the 1.25 correction factor on figuring out the actual mpg. Trans still has a 4.1 speedo gear in it while i now have 3.07's. Someday ill sort that out too.

[HO455]

The engine is back together and running good. I put about 25 miles on it today and it runs nice and smooth. I spent some time filing the header gasket flanges (Now it dawns on me that I should have gotten before and after photos.) and it seems to have made a difference as the engine is really quiet inside. I must have had some small leaks that weren't bad enough to be annoying but definitely added to the engine noise in the cab. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator (It was pretty much just unbolt the old one and put the new one in its place) and now at idle with the radio off the you can hear the fuel passing through the regulator as it cycles. I may have to mount it on some kind of sound dampener. I have checked the fuel pressure 3 times now and it is the same every time! I tore the old regulator apart and it looked as if the diaphragm was leaking past.
It took what seemed like forever for the oil to finally finsh burning out of the exhaust. I was starting to wonder if I had another problem. But it all seems good at this point. I felt so confident I took the the better half out to dinner in it.

[HO455]

The WMB let me down today!
I was about 1/8 mile from work and it just died. I was able to coast off the highway and sort of parked in the clear at the Army Corp of Engineers drive way. I called and told the folks at work I was going to be a little late and one of them was nice and came to get me so I didn't have to cut through the blackberrys to keep from walking on the highway.
I rounded up a few tools at lunch and shortly I discovered that the ignition power wired had broken off at the junction block on the fire wall. Fortunately I had enough foresight to bring a piece of wire and some connectors. I made a jumper lead to go from the battery positive to the BAT terminal on the HEI and when I touched the starter it jumped to life. It was good enough to get back to work and then home this evening. Looks like I will be doing some wiring on Saturday.

After some thought I have decided that I am as much to blame for this as the PO. He had the cut the ballast wire off about two inches from the connector and crimped a big yellow butt connector to the ballast wire and the new wire he ran to the HEI. I removed the connector and solderer the wires and covered then in heat shrink I failed to inspect the wire at the pin to see if it was damaged by the butt connector bouncing up and down. Which in hindsight it had been.

[HO455]

I replaced the pin and the wire to the ignition on the WMB. First step was to get some new pins from Napa. Then pull the fire wall connector apart. (1st photo shows where the wire broke off at. The next ones are of the firewall connector apart). To remove the pin the goo that GM kindly slathered over the pins has to be cleaned out. You need some kind of fine pick (like a dental pick), some sharp pointed tweezers, and patience. The goo is hard and the same color as the connector body. Good lighting and a magnifier will help prevent you from damaging the connector body. (Photo 4 shows the nice goo and a pin partially removed). To release the pin from the body you have to squeeze it from inside the connector at the base of the pin. The pin holds in self in place and you have to squeeze the pin as I show in the last photo. The pin is out at this point but I hope you get the idea. Having some offset needle nose pliers makes this easier. However the goo doesn't help. You have to squeeze the pin and try to push it out the back of the connector body. I had to push and pull the pin a bunch of times and then go back and try to pick the goo out of the path the pin has to slide out of before I had it out. Patience is the key. The pin should not have to be forced to move.

[HO455]

The first photo shows the pin almost out and the goo that makes it so difficult to remove the pin on the firewall connectors. These pins are much easier to remove without the goo. Which is generally only encountered in the engine compartment connectors. In the 2nd photo you can see how the pins are kinda hook shaped and the opening of the hook is larger on the new pin. That is the part you must squeeze closed to remove the pin.
The pins are crimped from the factory with a special tool ( Which is available for about $100 bucks). I solder them as I am cheap. If you do try to crimp them (Without the special tool) be aware that the pin must not get deformed when you crimp it or it will never slip in to the connector body and lock into place. I place the stripped wire in the pin and VERY carefully bend the four tabs over. Two of the tabs hold the stripped conductor and the other two hold the insulation. Once they are bent into place I solder the conductor to the pin. Then just make sure the pin is oriented the same as the rest of the pins and slide it into place. It should lock in and be the same height in the connector as the rest of the pins.

Part of what I accomplished today was disconnecting the electric choke power from the power to the ignition wire. The PO had them wired together by the distributor. Which means if the choke coil ever shorted out it would take the ignition power with it. I ran a new wire to through the firewall where the wire for the transmission kick down switch goes and hooked the choke power to the power for the kick down switch. One less thing to cause trouble down the road with the engine running. I will post some photos of this when I get a new grommet for the wire. The old one won't stay in place anymore.

[Ol Blue K20]

I commend you on your patience. I would of been cussing a lot!!!

[HO455]

I didn't get any pictures of when I stabbed my finger with the pick and cursed till a blue cloud formed around my head. Sorry.

[LockDoc]

-
That tar stuff is terrible to work with. I de-pinned a complete connector a while back and it took me forever.

LockDoc

[HO455]

I'm just glad I didn't have to sit on the assembly line back in the day and smeer that stuff on connectors all day long.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by HO455

I'm just glad I didn't have to sit on the assembly line back in the day and smeer that stuff on connectors all day long.

Oh yeah

[HO455]

Sometimes the simplest things take too much time to deal with. For instance fuel caps. The fuel cap that came with the WMB was a pretty well scratched up chrome unit. I replaced it with a nice locking aftermarket unit. Fast forward to today. I fixed the fuel pickup and that seemed to help the fuel leak, but I could still smell fuel after taking right turns at speed with more than 2/3 tank of gas. I couldn't really find any leaks at the cap but it didn't really fit very tight. To prove the theory I filled the tank to about 3/4's andI swapped the new cap with the old one (which fits tighter). After a couple of test turns with no fuel smell I knew had found the the source of the smell. So the next morning headed across town and about 8 miles later the truck wouldn't idle anymore. The only way I could keep it running was by working the throttle. Nothing seemed wrong under the hood. All the vacuum hoses were hooked up, fuel pressure was fine, the choke wasn't closed. I turned the idle up but it seemed to be surging slightly. I then remembered I had swapped the cap the night before. I grabbed the cap and turned it and heard a big whooshing sound. The engine idle speed jumped up. I turned the idle back down and everything was back to normal. It seems that the old cap is nonvented. The fuel fill isn't in the best condition and it may not allowed the nonvented cap to seal. (Photo 1 is how it is now). When it was in the shop I did some work on the fill and I think that may have allowed the old cap to seal properly when I reinstalled it.
The new cap has a questionable set up to pull the cap's seal down against the fill. The red arrow points to a thin tab that wants to grab the fill but it is too flexible to pull the seal down and it just bends. The green arrow points to a much more robust tab that is too far away to allow the cap to be pulled down and seal.I ended up removing the thin plate, pounding the thick plate flat and grinding the tabs shorter. But that it made it too tight to turn, so I had to give the tabs some angle in order to get it to work.

[HO455]

I don't have a good feeling about how this is going to work out over the long run as the gasket bunches up sometimes. I like the look of the cap but the seal isn't the best design. I just don't have a clue as to what the thin plate is supposed to do.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

I don't have a good feeling about how this is going to work out over the long run as the gasket bunches up sometimes. I like the look of the cap but the seal isn't the best design. I just don't have a clue as to what the thin plate is supposed to do.

The thin brass plate is just a backer for the seal, to make it stiffer. Otherwise the seal is too flexible to seal good. In the next to the last picture it looks like the seal is not laying flat on the top side. Is the brass backer plate bent on that side?

LockDoc

[crakarjax]

I'd put some silicone lube on the seal to prevent it from bunching up. Went through the same hassle with my cap!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

The thin brass plate is just a backer for the seal, to make it stiffer. Otherwise the seal is too flexible to seal good. In the next to the last picture it looks like the seal is not laying flat on the top side. Is the brass backer plate bent on that side?

LockDoc

Hmmmm! There is no brass backer place under the gasket. Not even a flat surface. May be that has been the problem all along. I will get a photo of what is under the gasket and post it.
Thanks again LockDoc. You Da Man!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by crakarjax

I'd put some silicone lube on the seal to prevent it from bunching up. Went through the same hassle with my cap!

Good idea! Now where did I put that can?