"underneath", installment 21
Thanks in no small part to the messages received from the List,
I felt a bit more ready to tackle the two leaks I had found; one from
the pinion seal on the differential, one from the fuel pump.
I had gotten no encouragement on getting the existing seal to
work, but lots on how to put in a new one. So, it was just as well that
I had ordered a new seal, which I got Friday from SS. It was a different
brand, Federal-Mogul, so either Rick has changed suppliers or I had
bought the other one elsewhere, I don't remember which. The new one has
no paint on it, and a thin ring -- a film, basically -- of a rubbery
substance on the back at the mating surface that the old one didn't
have. I popped the new seal in the freezer overnight.
The next AM I hopped under the car; after being installed and
removed so many times, the driveshaft came right off (I Just lowered the
rear end, left the front in place to keep the trans fluid in). The next
step was the pinion nut. You recall how I said that my flange was not
round and I could put a big Crescent wrench on it to hold it still while
I removed the nut? Not so, unless I run across a much bigger wrench. So,
I thought about Jim's idea of using a chain running from a bolt on the
flange to elsewhere on the chassis, but I had no chain. So, I reinserted
one bolt through the flange, and then through a large (1-1/4"?)
combination wrench's "ring" end behind the flange. I rotated the flange
until the 'bar' of the wrench rested against the boss on the back of the
flange and the far end of the wrench was wedged against the underside of
the car, with a block of wood under it to protect the undercoating.
That meant the flange wasn't going anywhere. Neither was the
nut, it seemed; I had a breaker bar on it, but with no room to slide a
"persuader pipe" over the end under there, I couldn't break it loose. My
nephew, using the other bay to install a radiator in his Pontiac,
commented on how it was strange that I had compressed air in the garage
but no impact wrench. A resolvable problem, I figure; 45 minutes later
we were back from Home Depot with a new impact wrench. Once the pressure
was up in the compressor, the nut came off in 2-3 seconds. Cool! Then I
broke out the gear puller I bought a while back to remove a front hub,
and was barely able to get the 'hooks' onto the back of the thick boss
on the back of the pinion flange, instead of the thinner "ears" that the
bolts go through. I was worried about bending the flange. No need for
concern, though, as the flange popped right off. Next, a large
screwdriver wedged through the hole near the pinion shaft, and a few
blows popped the seal right out, although too damaged to re-use.
I didn't want another leak, so I took a few minutes with some
paper towels and some cleansers to get the end of the diff housing as
clean as possible (I forgot the lacquer thinner I had been advised to
use), then smeared the surfaces inside with Permatex Copper. I removed
the seal from the freezer, it had become uncomfortably cold to handle,
and drove it in with a rubber mallet. As tight as it was, I'm sure glad
I didn't try this w/out chilling the part to contract it first. To
ensure it was seated fully once I had the outer rim of the seal flush
with the end of the housing, I wanted to tap on it with something that
would fit in the groove that ran around the seal just inboard of the
outer edge. I used a small file, as it fit but has enough surface area
at its end to distribute the impact and not punch a hole in the seal or
distort it. I went around and around, tapping lightly with a hammer
(BTW, I've been told that the steel in files is brittle and that beating
on them is a bad idea). I _think_ it went in a little more, but I'm not
certain.
Reassembly, was uneventful, except that my bucket of synthetic
diff oil, while under the car for protection and there for only a couple
of days, had become contaminated. So, it had to be filtered before I
could put it back in. I was a couple of hours before I had the nerve to
look under the car and find out how the new seal was holding up. Hey! No
leaks! Then I applied POR-15 to the seal and a bunch of small places, on
the diff and elsewhere, that either I had chipped during the assembly of
the car, or (more likely) missed. And POR-15 will not stick to Permatex,
I've found.
I was less convinced of my ability to fix my fuel pump leakage.
I removed the ring of screws holding the two halves together, and it
opened up. What I found inside was more than I expected. There was, in
addition to the rubber gasket, a clear plastic membrane. Furthermore, my
tube of Permatex clearly stated that it was _not_ for use around
gasoline. I basically abandoned any idea of sealing the pump that was,
leaving only the possibility of reassembling it and _hoping_ it didn't
leak. I was getting closer to the resolution to have a new pump
air-freighted in from SS.
Then I mentioned to Susan that I could, even on a Sunday, drive
down to the speed shop and but a "hot rod" pump and install that. She
agreed instantly, so we grabbed the now-reassembled pump and went there
to explore our possibilities.
The fellow behind the counter at the speed shop shook his head
when I asked about a pump to swap in to the stock hook-ups. Apparently,
the thread sizes were a wee bit different, and the aftermarket pumps do
not have the inlet and outlet fittings on the same side like the factory
pump does, they have the two fittings on opposite sides. Think of a
cross-flow cylinder head versus a reverse-flow head, and you'll know
what I mean. We settled on a Holley, 7PSI and 97 gallons per hour; there
had more powerful ones but they required a separate regulator.
Back home, I got one pleasant surprise; the new pump fit the old
bracket perfectly, no modifications (save cleaning and repainting the
bracket, and installing new bolts) were needed. The lines scared me a
bit, as I would have to cut them, and it seemed a bit, well,
irreversible. I finally found a use for that mini pipe cutter that I
kept with my household plumbing tools but never used; I had been
resigned to using a hacksaw in the narrow confines of the available
space. The pipe from the fuel tanks I snipped an inch from the edge of
the trap-door opening, leaving a two-inch or so gap to the end of the
hose barb screwed into the end of the pump. The line running to the
engine, I cut further away, removing the 180 degree bend and at least 6"
more pipe past that. This meant about 4" of rubber hose to the pump. I
really didn't like the idea of exchanging rigid metal lines for rubber,
safety-wise, but the metal ones were the ones that had been leaking. So
I have two short lengths of 3/8" hose (not the smaller hose and fitting
that came with the pump; upgraded per the recommendations received at
the speed shop; 3/8" fit the cut metal lines just fine) in the system.
Moreover, there's rubber line, at least on my car, further forward where
the fuel line passes through the frame; a future skill I must acquire is
that of flaring metal lines so I can make fuel and brake lines whenever
I want. Well, after a lesson in why you cannot torque a hose clamp to 40
foot pounds, and a short trip to buy more hose clamps, I had the pump
installed. The electrical connections took no time at all.
So, I'm about done. I need to charge and reinstall the battery,
put gas in the tank, and reattach the wheels. Then lower the car, and
drive it -- straight to an alignment shop. This is assuming I haven't
forgotten anything!
Lawrence R. Wright, Purchasing Analyst
U S Office Products, Mid-Atlantic District
Formerly Andrews Office Products
larry.wright@usop.com (new)
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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