Fuel Pump Replacement (DIY)......

Thanks. I just did my pump and this write up was very helpful. Yours was the only one that mentioned the two types of fuel line connector that had me baffled for a while.

A couple of things I might add are:

- I had most of the gas out and the tank was heavier on the passenger side, so be carefull to keep it in balance.

- Other people suggest using something brass or wooden to hammer off the lock ring, in case of a spark. I used brass, even though I've never actualy seen anything spark when hammering against metal tools.

- Having damaged one of the plastic hose locking clips, I found that PepBoys sells both types

- I was able to do the job single handed by using a motorcycle lift instead of a floor jack to lower the tank. I love that lift - I used if for a single handed rear end swap too, and I expect to use it as a tranny jack when the need arises.

- I had a terrible time getting my new pump to go in and fit into the "well" inside the tank. It was a Holley pump with plastic reinforcing on the filter. It was a PITA and I had to get the filter aligned just right to get it in.

This is a great write-up and thought I would add some details after I did this for my 1989.

Trust me that having a second person to help is going to make life way easier. You can do everything one person UNTIL it's time to get the tank back up under the car as you need to lift and also angle the tank a bit to make it fit into its home and tighten the brackets up.

Make sure the tank is about 1/8 full as it makes for less chance of sloshing when moving the tank during the re-intall. I had it about 1/4 full and had to go get a siphon to take out more gas. The more empty the tank the better but when the filler pipe is out of the tank you'll get gas sloshing out the side if it's too full.

When you get the tank in, you can get the bracket bolts in a about 2 turns and with them that loose you have enough wiggle room to get the fill pipe into the filler grommet on the tank. Again, this is were person #2 is valuable. I used a borrowed motorcycle jack and still needed some help to get the tank at an angle so the brackets would hug the tank.

My car was garage kept for 95% of it's life and the tank was in immaculate rust-free condition. When I did this job the fuel line elbows on the fuel pump bracket that go into the tank were rusty. I took a wire brush to clean off the rust. Had I known this I would have bought a new fuel pump bracket as I hate doing things twice. I'll live with it until it leaks but in the back of my mind I hate knowing it's like this. I took some rust inhibitor paint and gave a quick blast to the elbows but it's a band-aid at best. Luckily you don't have to remove the fuel lines from the elbows and risk breaking them.

Also, you need a 1/4 inch fuel line disconnect tool ($5 at NAPA) to remove the "duck-bill" connectors. The "hairpin" connectors you can just remove with a screw driver. If you buy the Walbro fuel pump it gives you a spare duckbill connector and if you don't use the tool you'll probably bust it getting it out. My recommendation: buy the tool and don't fight it.

You don't need to cut the platic black hoop the rubber fuel lines sit in on the passenger side of the tank. It just pulls out of the frame and can be re-used. It holds the lines in place away from sharp items and the tailpipe.

Also, plan on a good 10-15 minutes to clean the area around the fuel pump inlet before you can take it off as you do not want any of the grit to get in the tank. That area is a dirt magnet and using an air compressor only got so much of the dirt out. I used a detailing brush and some PB blaster and cleaned the area very well and the time is worth it IMO.

I used a can of throttle body cleaner to neaten up my tank and get it completely clean.

The positive and negative connections on the pump are fool proof as the positive connector is larger than the negative connection.

When putting the pump and bracket back in the tank, you have to kind of fold the filter to get it in the hole. Also, you'll have to wiggle the brack around at bit to get it to fit as there are baffles in the tank and it will hold the bracket from going all the way in. Once you hit the sweet spot it drops right in place.

With the tank out you may find dusty areas or teeny spot rust areas behind the tank on your cars underside. This is a good time to get some 100 grit sand paper and sand/paint them for long-term preservation. You can also paint your brackets at this time too.

I used spray wax and cleaned the area really good before I went to town putting everything back together.

Doing all the cleaning, trip to NAPA, lunch break with wife the whole deal took me about 8 hours. If I just wanted to slap in the new pump and forgo the cleaning/paint and had another person with me the whole time I would say this is a 2-3 hour job for someone doing it the first time. The intial post covers it pretty good.