So this is what I did yesterday. I have a complete plastic fuel tank from a 97 chevy tahoe. I need the high pressure pump that is in that tank to run my vortec swap. The tank off the el camino is for a carb suction line. I see no way of attaching the e-pump to my existing sender. I am cheap and don't want to buy a TBI sending unit. So it happened like this:
1. Removed the sending unit from the tahoe tank.
2. Do some rough measuring to see if it was even in the ballpark of fitting.
3. Removed Elco tank and freak out because the sending unit is at an angle.
4. Re-think how this will work and come up with a new plan.
5. Remove Elco sender and throw previous plans out the window because of the baffle I didn't know was in the tank.
6. Wing it.
7. I removed the little pipes that hold the top of the sender can in place.
8. Bend the pipes to a 35 degree angle, make sure the little punch hole is on the stretched side of the bend or the pipe will break.
9. Reinstall the sender can to the sender top rotated 180 degrees so that is looks like the pictures below.
10. Remove sender ring retainer from stock elco tank by drilling the spot welds
11. Cut out the O-Ring lip with tin snips to get a bigger hole in the tank.
12. Test fit the modified sending unit to see how well you matched the angle of the tank, and to see if the overall height is correct.
13. Cut the hole in the tank to around 5.5" in diameter.
14. Remove the circular portion of plastic around the sending unit on the tahoe fuel cell. I used a rotozip with a new bit and then cleaned the edges with a grinder.
15. Drill a few 'gripper' holes into the plastic ring to fill with epoxy later. Note these are 3/16" to 1/4" deep not through holes
16. Clean all surfaces thoroughly to remove any rust on the tank and scuff up the smooth plastic surfaces with rough sand paper or emery.
17. Install sending unit to plastic ring with a new or factory o-ring. Pay special attention to the locator notch that can be seen a few pictures back.
18. Generously apply 2-part epoxy to the underside of the plastic ring making sure to fill the 'gripper' holes.
19. Install the assembly into the tank and orient the discharge and return lines in the desired direction. (I determined my direction before I modified the sender). Then use a 20ish pound weight to hold it down until epoxy sets ~20 min
20. Remove weight and admire handywork
21. After many hours of curing Hook tank up the temp lines and make sure the pump runs.
22. Fill tank with 1 gallon of gas and test fire engine. ( yes the tank was bone dry totally empty and the system primed and ran off of 1 gallon).
http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s53/crazydavez28/BobbiJo/?action=view¤t=100_3564.mp4
1. Removed the sending unit from the tahoe tank.
2. Do some rough measuring to see if it was even in the ballpark of fitting.
3. Removed Elco tank and freak out because the sending unit is at an angle.
4. Re-think how this will work and come up with a new plan.
5. Remove Elco sender and throw previous plans out the window because of the baffle I didn't know was in the tank.
6. Wing it.
7. I removed the little pipes that hold the top of the sender can in place.
8. Bend the pipes to a 35 degree angle, make sure the little punch hole is on the stretched side of the bend or the pipe will break.
9. Reinstall the sender can to the sender top rotated 180 degrees so that is looks like the pictures below.
10. Remove sender ring retainer from stock elco tank by drilling the spot welds
11. Cut out the O-Ring lip with tin snips to get a bigger hole in the tank.
12. Test fit the modified sending unit to see how well you matched the angle of the tank, and to see if the overall height is correct.
13. Cut the hole in the tank to around 5.5" in diameter.
14. Remove the circular portion of plastic around the sending unit on the tahoe fuel cell. I used a rotozip with a new bit and then cleaned the edges with a grinder.
15. Drill a few 'gripper' holes into the plastic ring to fill with epoxy later. Note these are 3/16" to 1/4" deep not through holes
16. Clean all surfaces thoroughly to remove any rust on the tank and scuff up the smooth plastic surfaces with rough sand paper or emery.
17. Install sending unit to plastic ring with a new or factory o-ring. Pay special attention to the locator notch that can be seen a few pictures back.
18. Generously apply 2-part epoxy to the underside of the plastic ring making sure to fill the 'gripper' holes.
19. Install the assembly into the tank and orient the discharge and return lines in the desired direction. (I determined my direction before I modified the sender). Then use a 20ish pound weight to hold it down until epoxy sets ~20 min
20. Remove weight and admire handywork
21. After many hours of curing Hook tank up the temp lines and make sure the pump runs.
22. Fill tank with 1 gallon of gas and test fire engine. ( yes the tank was bone dry totally empty and the system primed and ran off of 1 gallon).
http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s53/crazydavez28/BobbiJo/?action=view¤t=100_3564.mp4
