Fuel Pump Replacement - 64 C10

[elane352]

Greetings!

I have been searching here on the topic of fuel pumps as well as YouTube.

I want to confirm what I believe I remember from way back when.

Now am I right in thinking that in order to get that rod inside to move up, I need to screw in a long bolt in a threaded hole on the front side of the block perpendicular to the rod? In otherwords, by screwing in a bolt, can I get the rod to move enough so that I can slip that fuel pump lever under the bolt?

YouTube makes mention of using a pair of needle nose pliers and also a hacksaw blade. In fact the instructions in the box of my new fuel pump also mention hacksaw blade usage. I must be dense, but I have not yet figured out how to work that blade or the pliers to get the rod to move up. I do not seem to know the technique. And that aspect was not really covered within YouTube videos that I saw.

When I changed the fuel pump years ago in my 57 chevy car, I did not have any problems. I believe I screwed in a bolt too in order to get the rod to move. But since I have gotten older and started to get senile, :-), I cannot remember what I actually did with the car.

Right now I have a 350 crate engine/290 HP in the truck. There are two threaded holes in the front. The bottom hole seems to be below and perpendicular where the bottom portion of the rod is pointing diagonally down. The top threaded hole seems to be in line with that part of the rod that protrudes out of the block and into the cavity.

So am I right in thinking that the best way and perhaps the easiest way to get the rod to move up is to find a bolt and screw it in the appropriate hole? I believe if I am to use one of the two holes, it would make more sense to use the bottom one.

I am apologizing because I will bet money this aspect is covered here in another thread. I evidently was not searching properly to pull something up that I could sink my teeth into.

Thanks ahead of time for all responses.

Eddie

[elane352]

I guess I am not totally senile yet. I changed the fuel pump in my 79 vette several years ago also. I believe that was when I had to screw in a bolt to get that rod to move.

I still would like to hear from you all please.

Eddie

[DPowers]

Did you look at this youtube video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XiuiyBAD8Q

[elane352]

Yes; I looked at that one yesterday three times.

I was not successful technique-wise with two pairs of pliers. I will just have to try again.

It looks like he grips the rod and then pushes it back up into the cavity high enough to get his screwdriver under the rod.

[DPowers]

Correct. A hacksaw blade can be used in place of the screwdriver to hold the rod up until you slip in the new fuel pump.

[The Rocknrod]

This vid shows the fuel pump push rod at about 30 seconds into the vid showing the bolt holding the rod. However it doesn't show finishing the job, by replacing the bolt with a shorter one after the pump is installed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd6mAvsWMeg
However the written explanation is better explained by the crank shaft coalition page here: http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...k_Chevy_engine
I can't believe this is becoming a lost art? More like lack of use since these systems are are bullet proof when done "correctly".

[elane352]

Master Chief,

Sir, thank you very much for the video and the explanation link. This is the
2nd time you have helped me (must appreciated).

I will get this done.

Sincerely,

Eddie

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by elane352

Master Chief,
Sir, thank you very much for the video and the explanation link. This is the
2nd time you have helped me (must appreciated).
I will get this done.
Sincerely,
Eddie

You know what they say, every now and then even a blind pig finds an acorn - You must be catching me on my good days.

[elane352]

Master Chief,

One final question for you.

Right now there is no bolt in the threaded hole. So what I mean is that before I removed the old pump nothing was in the top threaded hole.

Is it a requirement that a shorter bolt needs to go in after I remove the longer one and get the fuel pump bolted back up?

Eddie

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by elane352

Master Chief,

One final question for you.

Right now there is no bolt in the threaded hole. So what I mean is that before I removed the old pump nothing was in the top threaded hole.

Is it a requirement that a shorter bolt needs to go in after I remove the longer one and get the fuel pump bolted back up?

Eddie

I would just to make sure there will be no oil leak. I'm surprised there isn't "some" oil drip there.

[ironman3452]

my 64 has a 350 corvette motor, I had a bad fuel pump, it has a place to insert a rod to keep the rod from falling out, I removed the bolt , and put a small screw driver in and then changed the pump, rod stayed and pump works great.

[elane352]

Ironman,

Interesting comment there. I just came into the house working on the truck before it got dark. I will go back tomorrow morning to see if I also have that location to place the screwdriver in.

Master Chief,

I do have another question about that upper threaded hole that I was using to finger tight in a bolt to hold the rod from coming down.

Finger-tighting was not enough to hold the rod. In fact I tightened the bolt just a tad more with a socket to see if I could make contact. I had a pretty long bolt and assumed I would make contact soon. But I never did. I was a afraid to keep on tightening. So I stopped and reverted back to the hacksaw blade method. So my first question is was I in jeopardy of messing up the rod that pushes the pump lever down if I kept on tightening the bolt?

After I put on the fuel pump using the blade, the truck would not start. The starter was turning and trying. But the alternator never kicked over. So my initial thought was that I did not have the pump on correctly. I took it off and tried again with the hack saw blade and got the same no start results.

Then since the prior owner died before I purchased the truck in July of 2014, and since I had no idea how long the alternator had been on, I put on a new one tonight in order to get some peace of mind that I had a fairly new one. In the back of my mind I was remotely hoping the truck would start afterwards. But still, no start.

I charged the battery up this past Monday. So it is good to go.

My gut feel is that I did not get that rod to sit on top of the fuel pump lever.

I prefer the screw in the bold method; especially if I can get the rod to sit up and not slip down.

So can I safely go ahead and tighten the bolt more even though I need to use a wrench? I still had a good amount of length on the bolt too to work with.

Eddie

[The Rocknrod]

What does a longer bolt costs? You can remove the rod and look into the block to see how deep your bolt goes before you actually start the process, to ensure you have a long enough bolt (Not being there I don't know off hand if there is a bolt hole you may be using that is incorrect).
Your statement "the alternator never kicked over" - I have no response to that as I dont understand. It is belt driven, when the engine turns the alt turns. I'm not sure that the battery doesnt actually start the engine during the start phase anyway.
As the engine cranks using the starter your should see fuel at the carb after a while.
You should also check spark at the plugs and the coil while cranking using the starter.
If ChevyMike or his like ever chimes in you'd have someone who is actually intelligent about this stuff.
I'm just a tinker-er.

[elane352]

I hear you. Just got back in from the garage.

Before I yank the fuel pump again,I wanted to run this by everyone.

I noticed that there was a good amount of gas showing in the clear fuel pump filter which is pretty far up on the line to the carb.

Is it safe to assume that for gas to get up there that I must have installed the fuel pump correctly?

[elane352]

I went back to check the fuel pump again. As I started to undo the bolts and pull the pump back, I could see that the rod was on top of the lever. So I did have it installed properly using the hack saw blade method.

I will check the other things you mentioned.

Thank you!

Eddie

[geezer#99]

The fuel pump will not bolt up unless the lever is contacting the rod correctly. THere isn't enough room in that small cavity to get it wrong.
As for the bolt holes weeping or not weeping, if your motor has good ring seal and a correct pcv system to relieve the crankcase pressure then you likely won't have any leaks there. And there's normally not a big amount oil there anyway. THe rod is lubed by splash not pressure.
Originally those two bolt holes were for the front mounted engine bracket. The bracket covered the holes on those older motors that had no pcv and just a road draft tube.

[G8rN@te61]

Is there such thing as a high flow fuel pump for the 250 inline 6? Ive been wondering if with all my mods its "sucking air" when I get on it.