Posted by Clint Dixon on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 12:51:14 :
In Reply to: price on a fuel pump?? posted by 68427vette on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 08:27:20 :
Regardless of where you buy them, there seems to be a fatal flaw with the available pumps out there on the market. The pin that the actuator arm rotates on can fall out. These were staked or peened in place at the factory, but not as well as the old original AC pumps that came from the factory equipped on our BHPW trucks.
Two trucks at this year's VPW Rally had the fuel pump pins nearly fall out. Both were lucky. Neither suffered any serious damage. The pins loosened enough that the pumps would no longer provide enough fuel pressure to keep the trucks running.
Bill Garland told me a story about this happening on his restored WDX several years ago while idling at a car show. Again, no serious damage.
I was not so lucky. It happened to me on a new pump I bought from either NAPA or VPW back in 1989. I had just completely rebuilt the engine and had installed a brand new fuel pump. It lasted about a year until the pin let go one day while driving down the road at 50 mph. It almost trashed the engine. As the pin fell out, the actuator arm fell inside the engine and was repeatedly caught and tossed around by the crankshaft. It was thrown up into the #2 cylinder. The arm was reduced to a couple dozen mangled parts. My engine crankshaft, camshaft, #2 rod, #2 piston, and #2 cylinder bore suffered heavy damage consisting of deep chips and gouges.
I could not afford another engine rebuild, so I honed the cylinder and filed all of the other parts down to virgin material with a half round at the spots that were damaged. I fixed the fuel pump with a bolt and cotter pin in place of the factory rotator pin that had been peened in place. To this day, I have a piston rod that looks like the magnified surface of a golf ball. I cross my fingers every time I drive it.
Any time I buy a new pump, I alter it to cure the problem.
Junior
Follow Ups: