Day 2, continued working on the fuel system. Looked at the fuel pump relay, tank selector switch, and wiring to find all seemed ok. A lot of the factory split loom tubing has become as fragile as eggshells, so I'm going to need to replace many of the runs under the hood and along the frame. Reaching the tanks and testing the wiring at the selector valve, I could see that both fuel pumps were reading open-circuit. Hmmmm. TWO bad fuel pumps?? It can't be.
Well, it is. I dropped the first tank (started left side) to find one of the worst hack-wiring jobs I'd ever seen. All three wires (ground, pump, and gauge) had been cut multiple times, stripped like 1/8" and then taped together. I can hardly believe it ever worked this way. In addition, the rubber hoses had rotted to the point where you could just snap them in half with little effort.
Turns out on both tanks, the sender assemblies and pumps were complete garbage. The little hose that connects the top of the pump to the sender was about the texture of chewing gum, and had fallen apart completely. The left tank was bone dry and appeared salvageable, but the right tank had about a gallon worth of the worst-smelling turpentine stale gas I've ever come across. There was also some kind of goopy sediment all over the inside of the tank.
Instead of messing with the tanks any further, I'm going to go with two new Spectra tanks and sending units, Walbro pumps, and a new switchover valve for good measure. Add that to my first order list I'm compiling! I'm also going to order a bunch of new rubber parts like belts and hoses, etc.
Since it was all apart, I was able to rig up a spare inline fuel pump to a 5gal gas can and hook it up to the fuel lines to give her a go. She runs!! Didn't run it for too long but she sounds healthy enough to be satisfied for now. No knocks or ticking, and seems smooth even despite the tattered plug wires that haven't been replaced yet. Not bad for a recovery after sitting 13 years! Eventually (next year?) I want to build a low-RPM high-torque 383 to drop in, but for now the stock TBI 350 should be just fine.
Finished out the day cleaning up and putting my orders together between LMC, Rockauto, Summit, and Amazon. That's probably it for now until I get some parts delivered!
Here's a pic of the fuel pump assemblies:
