Description
How to replace a mechanical fuel pump. This is the topic for this episode in the series on starting an old 1965 Buick Skylark convertible. Last episode, Harley determined the fuel pump wasn't pumping any gas up to the carburetor. In this video we change the fuel pump for a new one. Will it start this time?Here at House of Hacks we do tutorials, project overviews, tool reviews and more related to making things around the home and shop. Generally this involves wood and metal working, electronics, photography and other similar things. If this sounds interesting to you, you may subscribe here.
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For a written transcript, go to Replace Mechanical Fuel Pump - 1965 Buick Skylark
Music under Creative Commons License By Attribution 4.0 by Kevin MacLeod at http://incompetech.com.
Intro/Exit: "Hot Swing"
Incidental: "Chipper", "Decisions", "Rocket Power"
Transcript
In the last episode of trying to get this old convertible started, I concluded that the fuel pump wasn't getting fuel up into the carburetor.I've got a new fuel pump and in this episode, I'm going to install it and see if that makes a difference.
Will this car start after I change the fuel pump? Your guess is as good as mine.
If you're new here: Welcome!
I'm Harley and this is the House of Hacks where usually we make stuff. In this case, I'm repairing this old car, trying to get it started so I can start work on another car project that I have sitting over in the corner of the garage.
I'm going to go change clothes and get to work.
[music]
OK. I got the old pump out and the first bolt was no problem. The second bolt gave me a little bit of a challenge. At first I thought it was a different sized bolt head because it didn't want to go on. But as it turned out, it was just some road gunk that needed to get cleaned out and it was in fact the same size as expected.
I took the old pump off and there's nothing special on these blocks that you need to do internally. The pump rides directly on an eccentric cam inside the timing belt cover and so on small block Chevys, there's a pin that you need to make sure doesn't fall out it's kind of a pain to get reassembled.
The Buicks are much simpler in that this rides directly on the cam and so you don't have to worry about anything.
Putting it back on, I may need to bump the motor over a little bit to take some of the tension off, depending on where that cam is in the cycle.
In comparing these two pumps, they are the same as far as the engine connection is concerned. The flanges are the same. The arms going into the motor are the same and the dimensions overall are the same. They are different though where the hoses connect in and I'm going to need to go to the parts store to get some fittings to be able to install this new one.
[music]
OK. That should do it.
The old fitting for the output side, I was able to use from the old fuel pump. The fitting was just fine. It came off without a problem and the threads fit this one.
I had to get a new fitting for the input side. The old pump had the connection built into it and the new one just had a threaded fitting and so I had to get a brass fitting to be able to put the tubing on.
It took me four stops to find this. I found it at the fourth place I went to which is probably a good indication as to why Amazon is killing the retail space. Retailers just have a hard time keeping inventory in stock the way Amazon does.
So let's get this installed!
[music]
So there were two outcomes from today.
The good news is I was able to get the engine running!
The bad news is I had to put fuel in the carburetor for that to happen. That's telling me the carburetor is not really getting enough fuel.
I pulled the fuel line from the fuel pump to the carburetor off at the carburetor and there was a little bit of fuel there but no where near the amount that's supposed to be there to keep the engine running.
That tells me that the fuel pump is trying to work but its not getting enough fuel to be able to pump it through the system.
That tells me there's most likely a partial blockage from the tank to the fuel pump. I've replaced everything after the fuel pump to the carburetor.
So the next video will be investigating that, trying to either flush out the fuel line and clear that blockage or putting in a temporary line in the mean time just to get the project running.
Until then, I'll see you this video that YouTube thinks you'll enjoy and when making things remember...
Perfection's not required.
Fun is!
