Restoring Rusty

[Palf70Step]

So True!

[Gregski]

I am giving this update to my brothers and sisters who found themselves at one point going 55 MPH in reverse like me the last couple of days, man it's been ruff, nothing was going The Greg's way

I got to the point where all I had to do is tighten that last 3/8th inverted flare fitting in the fuel pump and take the truck for a test drive, but and you can already see where this is going

but even though I used that two wrench technique to hold the coupling that's welded to the fuel pump while twisting the fitting into it, I still managed to ever so slightly twist the darn thing, which you guessed it caused a massive fuel leak

so I was crushed, it was late at night and I decided to walk away....

[Gregski]

realizing I need to replace the fuel pump anyway I thought why not give an electric one a go, so I went out and got the Mr. Gasket #12S (it being for the 8 bangers)

I mean how hard could it be?

being a simple man I opted out for a simple basic two wire gitty up, black wire (ground) goes to the frame, red wire plus 5 AMP fuse goes to the fuse panel key on slot

[Gregski]

X marks the spot

well this is where it went, I need to take a pic with it installed, it got too dark and I already lowered the rig

[Gregski]

"Sometimes God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers" thank you Garth I couldn't have said it better myself

well not exactly but that leaky fuel pump was a blessing in disguise, since after I pulled it off I saw this...

gentlemen/ladies let me be blunt... WE FOUND THE EXHAUST LEAK !!! LOL

that's right, a set of stock exhaust manifolds, two sets of headers, and God only knows how many different exhaust gaskets and two/three years later, what I swore sounded like an exhaust leak, clickitty clockin' noise was this darn busted fuel pump rod spring thingie

[Gregski]

TEST DRIVE

Oh my goodness I am now hearing noises rattles and squeaks that I didn't know existed, and I mean it in a good way, I may even be hearing "Road Noise" lol, Honda style, jk

• No more transmission noise
  
• No more engine noise

So how is the electric Mr. Gasket fuel pump? well Mopar Seth insisted that it will be noisy, well it ain't, now I may not have the quietest mufflers on the block, ha ha, but still I don't hear any fuel pump noise, the one CON I have is that it aint no 3/8ths fitting on either end, they are more like 5/16ths so you gotta crank down on those hand cutting hose clamps to get the hoses snug

I only driven it around the block and then to the gas station, so I still need to take it on the freeway, and i will report back, but for the time being, thumbs up for that little $40 dollar guy, complements of AutoZone

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

TEST DRIVE

Oh my goodness I am now hearing noises rattles and squeaks that I didn't know existed, and I mean it in a good way, I may even be hearing "Road Noise" lol, Honda style, jk

• No more transmission noise
  
• No more engine noise

So how is the electric Mr. Gasket fuel pump? well Mopar Seth insisted that it will be noisy, well it ain't, now I may not have the quietest mufflers on the block, ha ha, but still I don't hear any fuel pump noise, the one CON I have is that it aint no 3/8ths fitting on either end, they are more like 5/16ths so you gotta crank down on those hand cutting hose clamps to get the hoses snug

I only driven it around the block and then to the gas station, so I still need to take it on the freeway, and i will report back, but for the time being, thumbs up for that little $40 dollar guy, complements of AutoZone

Looks like it's mounted back near where the dual tank valve would be located on an NL2 optioned truck. You mostly shouldn't be able to hear it run back there.

[y5mgisi]

Still one of my favorite threads.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Still one of my favorite threads.

thank you so much, the feedback died down a bit so Rusty was all like am I dumpin' all this oil on your driveway for nothin'? and I was like no bro, keep those leaks going so you can git a new enjin - If we build it they will come!

[daddyjeep]

I have a similar pump feeding my big block so I think you will be ok.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I have a similar pump feeding my big block so I think you will be ok.

cool, is it also a Mr. Gasket brand?

[daddyjeep]

Originally Posted by Gregski

cool, is it also a Mr. Gasket brand?

To be honest Gregski... I don't remember what brand I went with.

[rusty76]

Glad to see you got rusty back together. Sometimes we take a few steps back just to leap forward. New engine would be cool.

[Gregski]

WHEN YOUR FAMILY KNOWS YOU DRIVE A CHEVY... lol

[Gregski]

somehow I got off Santa's Naughty List this year, notice I didn't say I was nice... exactly, lol

[Gregski]

a couple years back I replaced my original '74 old and tired gauges with '78 style (electric oil pressure rather than mechanical, etc.) brand new ones. Yet it was still 40 year old technology, so there is no time like the present, (get it I said "present" ha ha) I mean electronics work makes for a great winter project, as there is no crawling on your back (usually) or getting coolant or oil all over yourself during winter time

so we will be replacing the brand new OEM Speedo and Tach with the brand new DIGITAL [pronounced] "super awesome and incredibly easy to tune, with additional goodies"

join me why don't you

[Gregski]

a parting look at the ol' setup

honestly the straw that finally broke the camels toe on these gauges was that one of the turn indicator lights went out, I forget which side, but I was running a brand new circuit board and I spent $7.5 million dollars on all new bulbs, and it did me dirty like that, so I'll show you Rusty...

[Palf70Step]

Love the tach. But yeah, these gauge pods sometimes will try your patience, especially that circuit board thingie.

[Gregski]

Mandatory Stare and Compare

Old Gauges vs The New "Summit" aka Intellitronix ones

man I totally forgot the new ones are that much smaller, but hey, why in the world would we expect an exact fit (it's like buying replacement shower tiles at Home Depot 10 years after your house was built, ain't gonna happen) lol

[Gregski]

note the Speedo on the left requires this Gizmotron to convert mechanical speedo gear output into electronic current

it's also funny how Summit is like all, yeah digital speedo $5.00 dollars, special drive unit... $100.00 dollars, ha ha

[Gregski]

so let's see if we can make these Intellitronix gauges work, man so close...

[Gregski]

... and then this happened,

what? you didn't expect this to be easy?

I swear I didn't drop it or nothin' it just came apart in my hand, and it looks like the back of that plexi glass still has the backing paper so they didn't finish building / gluing it, I guess some factory worker was late on his Christmas shopping and decided to leave early that Friday afternoon, lol

Q/A be dammned!

[Gregski]

alright, you guys didn't really buy that story that I tore the dash apart due to a faulty turn signal light did you?, sure that was the final straw, but the bigger issue was the most annoying clutch pedal squeaking sound ever, that's right we fix the transmission, and Rusty says OMG, must make other annoying noise, and oh boy did he deliver

and once again DORMAN lets me down, if you recall we rebuilt the entire pedal assembly real nice painted it and all and even shoved new plastic bushings in it no more than two years ago, even greased it up with white lightning grease (I'm looking at you Hatzie) that took two weeks to ship cross country, ha ha, and once again the original bushings lasted 40 years the new flimzy ones two!!!

and of course Rusty drew blood on that garage door like spring removal off the clutch pedal, those of you with manual transmission are nodding your heads right now I bet, that spring could kill a medium sized horse

[hatzie]

That's miserable... What did Dorman use to make the bushings?
Can you turn some new ones out of bronze or brass?

[Palf70Step]

Those springs definitely keep you on your toes. I had a very similar mark from my 64 when I did the clutch and tranny.