"No one likes to be a fireball." - Giffin
Continuing where we left off with the fuel pickup portion, after installing it once with discouraging results I pulled it out and decided to cut it shorter as shown. The idea was to cut it to a point such that when installed the end of the pickup would be located at the rear center bottom of the tank.
After installing it a second time, the line again did not sit as planned. The open end of the pickup hit flush against the middle barrier in the tank, but even this was only after some major persuasion. It literally would have been like trying to suck water through a straw with the end of the straw bottomed out at the base of the cup. The loop of the line was also way up the side taking up more space than if it would if it were cut a bit shorter, so tired of installing and removing the line, I cut it that much shorter yet again. I was a bit worried that I may have cut it too short but it finally worked out in my favor.
To give you an idea of what is involved in installing a bulkhead fitting and fuel pickup line in a 24o tank without cutting a port hole into the top, here's a series of shots. I did this about 8 times (2 removals and 3 installs of the feed fitting, and 1 removal and 2 installs of the return fitting) all together and my fingers were torn to bits. As in the previous fuel tank, entry you've been forewarned.
Place the bulkhead fitting in place with the nylon washers and hand tighten the inner nut in place. Get the smallest adjustable wrench you have and put it in the tank through the fuel sender hole. I found an 8" one and even with that I had to adjust the jaws half closed just so it would clear the small hole. After painfully adjusting it back open to the correct size while inside the tank and managing not to drop it, not completely successfully at times, place it over the inner nut of the bulkhead.
Please make sure to do the feed line first, as it is next to impossible to work on the feed fitting and pickup once the return bulkhead is in place. If the ports were spaced out more this would be a different story, but as they sit in the OEM position, the wrench can barely turn the inner nut without hitting the other nut if the return (top one) is done before the feed (bottom one). Ask me how I know this!
Once the adjustable wrench is snugly around the inner nut, adjust your grip on it so that you can hold the top of it to prevent it from rotating clockwise when the fitting is tightened. This will take some doing because due to the size of my fingers, the fuel sender whole, and the wrench arm, I was unable to hold the wrench from it's top and bottom at the same time. In order to keep it from falling I had to put my fingers far enough in to grip the wrench from one side and pull it against the side of the tank to keep it in place. It's a constant battle.
Once the wrench is in place inside the tank holding the inner nut, grab the nearest -an wrench of appropriate color and begin to torque down the bulkhead fitting from the outside. Get as much of a rotation as you can before resetting as it is a huge pain, especially if you drop the adjustable wrench inside the tank.
Note to self, being double jointed made this easier, but even so I had more cuts than any other project save bike modifications that indirectly resulted in on-road incidents.
Once the bulkhead fitting is tightened down with nylon washers (on either side of the tank wall), it's time to attach the pickup fitting on the inside. The first time I put the pickup in for what would become one of many test fits of it's length, I actually attached the 90* fitting to the bulkhead fitting first without tightening down the nut. I'm sure I had some rational behind it, but I quickly realized that you cant tighten the bulkhead fitting from the outside nut with the other fitting and 5' line attached on the inside. It's a swivel fitting but once it's tight it doesn't turn and you'll end up with a knotted mess of a pickup if you somehow are able to force it around. More than likely you will just waste time having to untighten it so that you can tighten the bulkhead fitting to the inner nut first, and then tighten the inner fitting.
I did have to do some loosening/tightening to get it perfect since presumably if the nut and bulkhead fitting are 1oo% tight you will tear the washers trying to tighten the bulkhead and 90* fitting by turning the bulkhead more. That of course assumes you are not a magician and can't tighten the 90* fitting from the inside while holding the bulkhead from the outside. I did a combination of both, but in the end you want both joints tight and the 90* fitting pointing in the right direction to place the pickup tube clear of the divider but not bent into the top of the tank.
It's a violent affair to try to get a wrench out of a confined space with very minimal access. I made sure the tank was clean again from any debris that may have been knocked loose during the fight. After the feed line and pickup are installed, the return line bulkhead fitting is a synch. The adjustable wrench barely fit between the two nuts of the bulkheads on the inside of the tank, but it worked. I would suggest tightening by hand before employing the use of hand tools to save time and even more scraped cuticles.
During final assembly of the pump and filter I double and triple checked the flow direction as with the walbro foam installed you can't see the oem markings. I even went as far as to mark the flow direction on the foam with sharpie of a somewhat lighter shade.
The bottom bulkhead is for the feed line as it has the pickup installed. Luckily, when the feed line is attached it runs JUST over top of the filter. It's like it was designed that way. I've never seen a tank setup, including filter and pump, quite like this but it works well and is so elegantly simplistic in it's design.
You saw it here first.
I made both lines the same length, a little under 2'. At first I was measuring and re-measuring but then thought it was silly to make them EXACT for their own connections when they were within a few inches of each other. Why not make them the same length so that they can be interchanged, or more importantly, so that one doesn't get put on the wrong side during assembly, pulled tight. I don't even remember which one I cut longer in order to save potential assembly time as they look perfect.
The lines are long enough to just come straight as they re-enter the next fitting and not kink in the loops or at the fittings themselves. The connection between the filter and the pump when installed in the car actually sits inside the rear passenger wheel (without touching anything through it's restricted motion) while the connection between the tank and the filter tucks over and under the new suspension bits as I'll show later.
Not cutting an access port in the tank had it's downfalls, especially during creation, test fitment, and final assembly. My cuticles, fingers, and hands were TORN TO SHREDS with dirt and fuel grime under the tips and blood coating the edge of every nail.
I began the layout for the bigger braided lines which I was using to replace the (3) vent lines on the tank. At first glance inside the trunk, the old lines looked great, but after the tank removal it was obvious they needed to be graciously retired. Just to make it more difficult, the front line is a -8 size, the rear driver line is -10, and the rear passenger -12. This was after an entire evening of measuring id and od of OE lines, -an lines and using online converters and manufacturing spec's.
To save some money in the end I ordered more length in order to re-use leftovers for other vent lines in the engine bay when I pretend to be legit and stop dumping overflows. When ordering, double check longer lengths, sometimes they are disproportionally cheaper per length, if not actually cheaper than the shorter lengths because it took labor to cut.
This braided line is WAY overkill for a vent line, but as I said before, I think it's great that it all matches, I had extra from the fuel lines anyways, and they look great running through the trunk. The OE replacements would have been just as expensive if not more, and this way I have extra. I don't have to deal with the pain and suffering of spending just as much money and the pre-molded lines possibly not even fitting and having to modify them, or worst case end up having to go this direction anyways.
Continuing where we left off with the fuel pickup portion, after installing it once with discouraging results I pulled it out and decided to cut it shorter as shown. The idea was to cut it to a point such that when installed the end of the pickup would be located at the rear center bottom of the tank.
After installing it a second time, the line again did not sit as planned. The open end of the pickup hit flush against the middle barrier in the tank, but even this was only after some major persuasion. It literally would have been like trying to suck water through a straw with the end of the straw bottomed out at the base of the cup. The loop of the line was also way up the side taking up more space than if it would if it were cut a bit shorter, so tired of installing and removing the line, I cut it that much shorter yet again. I was a bit worried that I may have cut it too short but it finally worked out in my favor.
To give you an idea of what is involved in installing a bulkhead fitting and fuel pickup line in a 24o tank without cutting a port hole into the top, here's a series of shots. I did this about 8 times (2 removals and 3 installs of the feed fitting, and 1 removal and 2 installs of the return fitting) all together and my fingers were torn to bits. As in the previous fuel tank, entry you've been forewarned.
Place the bulkhead fitting in place with the nylon washers and hand tighten the inner nut in place. Get the smallest adjustable wrench you have and put it in the tank through the fuel sender hole. I found an 8" one and even with that I had to adjust the jaws half closed just so it would clear the small hole. After painfully adjusting it back open to the correct size while inside the tank and managing not to drop it, not completely successfully at times, place it over the inner nut of the bulkhead.
Please make sure to do the feed line first, as it is next to impossible to work on the feed fitting and pickup once the return bulkhead is in place. If the ports were spaced out more this would be a different story, but as they sit in the OEM position, the wrench can barely turn the inner nut without hitting the other nut if the return (top one) is done before the feed (bottom one). Ask me how I know this!
Once the adjustable wrench is snugly around the inner nut, adjust your grip on it so that you can hold the top of it to prevent it from rotating clockwise when the fitting is tightened. This will take some doing because due to the size of my fingers, the fuel sender whole, and the wrench arm, I was unable to hold the wrench from it's top and bottom at the same time. In order to keep it from falling I had to put my fingers far enough in to grip the wrench from one side and pull it against the side of the tank to keep it in place. It's a constant battle.
Once the wrench is in place inside the tank holding the inner nut, grab the nearest -an wrench of appropriate color and begin to torque down the bulkhead fitting from the outside. Get as much of a rotation as you can before resetting as it is a huge pain, especially if you drop the adjustable wrench inside the tank.
Note to self, being double jointed made this easier, but even so I had more cuts than any other project save bike modifications that indirectly resulted in on-road incidents.
Once the bulkhead fitting is tightened down with nylon washers (on either side of the tank wall), it's time to attach the pickup fitting on the inside. The first time I put the pickup in for what would become one of many test fits of it's length, I actually attached the 90* fitting to the bulkhead fitting first without tightening down the nut. I'm sure I had some rational behind it, but I quickly realized that you cant tighten the bulkhead fitting from the outside nut with the other fitting and 5' line attached on the inside. It's a swivel fitting but once it's tight it doesn't turn and you'll end up with a knotted mess of a pickup if you somehow are able to force it around. More than likely you will just waste time having to untighten it so that you can tighten the bulkhead fitting to the inner nut first, and then tighten the inner fitting.
I did have to do some loosening/tightening to get it perfect since presumably if the nut and bulkhead fitting are 1oo% tight you will tear the washers trying to tighten the bulkhead and 90* fitting by turning the bulkhead more. That of course assumes you are not a magician and can't tighten the 90* fitting from the inside while holding the bulkhead from the outside. I did a combination of both, but in the end you want both joints tight and the 90* fitting pointing in the right direction to place the pickup tube clear of the divider but not bent into the top of the tank.
It's a violent affair to try to get a wrench out of a confined space with very minimal access. I made sure the tank was clean again from any debris that may have been knocked loose during the fight. After the feed line and pickup are installed, the return line bulkhead fitting is a synch. The adjustable wrench barely fit between the two nuts of the bulkheads on the inside of the tank, but it worked. I would suggest tightening by hand before employing the use of hand tools to save time and even more scraped cuticles.
During final assembly of the pump and filter I double and triple checked the flow direction as with the walbro foam installed you can't see the oem markings. I even went as far as to mark the flow direction on the foam with sharpie of a somewhat lighter shade.
The bottom bulkhead is for the feed line as it has the pickup installed. Luckily, when the feed line is attached it runs JUST over top of the filter. It's like it was designed that way. I've never seen a tank setup, including filter and pump, quite like this but it works well and is so elegantly simplistic in it's design.
You saw it here first.
I made both lines the same length, a little under 2'. At first I was measuring and re-measuring but then thought it was silly to make them EXACT for their own connections when they were within a few inches of each other. Why not make them the same length so that they can be interchanged, or more importantly, so that one doesn't get put on the wrong side during assembly, pulled tight. I don't even remember which one I cut longer in order to save potential assembly time as they look perfect.
The lines are long enough to just come straight as they re-enter the next fitting and not kink in the loops or at the fittings themselves. The connection between the filter and the pump when installed in the car actually sits inside the rear passenger wheel (without touching anything through it's restricted motion) while the connection between the tank and the filter tucks over and under the new suspension bits as I'll show later.
Not cutting an access port in the tank had it's downfalls, especially during creation, test fitment, and final assembly. My cuticles, fingers, and hands were TORN TO SHREDS with dirt and fuel grime under the tips and blood coating the edge of every nail.
I began the layout for the bigger braided lines which I was using to replace the (3) vent lines on the tank. At first glance inside the trunk, the old lines looked great, but after the tank removal it was obvious they needed to be graciously retired. Just to make it more difficult, the front line is a -8 size, the rear driver line is -10, and the rear passenger -12. This was after an entire evening of measuring id and od of OE lines, -an lines and using online converters and manufacturing spec's.
To save some money in the end I ordered more length in order to re-use leftovers for other vent lines in the engine bay when I pretend to be legit and stop dumping overflows. When ordering, double check longer lengths, sometimes they are disproportionally cheaper per length, if not actually cheaper than the shorter lengths because it took labor to cut.
This braided line is WAY overkill for a vent line, but as I said before, I think it's great that it all matches, I had extra from the fuel lines anyways, and they look great running through the trunk. The OE replacements would have been just as expensive if not more, and this way I have extra. I don't have to deal with the pain and suffering of spending just as much money and the pre-molded lines possibly not even fitting and having to modify them, or worst case end up having to go this direction anyways.
After going through a rigorous cleaning process, I would later reuse all the oem band fittings on the new braided hoses for the vent lines. I think it gave it a nice vintage touch, that and I really hate the look of new screw type band clamps in general, something else that reminds me (correctly or not) of NASCAR.
That's where those wrenches went!
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