Fuel Pump Access Hole - Performance Forum

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Fuel Pump Access Hole
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 8:59 AM
Hey guys.
It's that wonderful time again.
a few days ago after a good nights sleep my 02 sunfire will not start. Prior to the not starting it hasn't given me any problems.

Now all of a sudden it will attempt to start sometimes but seems like it runs out of fuel.
and when it's almost firing up and i hit the gas it kills it, like it isn't getting gas.

i've replaced the fuel filter (what a bitch) with no help in the situation.

if i have to spend the 300$ on a fuel pump, is there any way to cut an access hole to get to the fuel pump (in tank right?) without dropping the tank? has anyone done this before?

Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:10 AM
Yep its been done, my buddy did it to his cav. Of course you will have to drop the tank initially so you wont saw through it making your hole. Just measure, measure, then cut your hole. Leave the back half of the now lid you just made attached so you can shut it. Pop some kind of short screws in there all around the new lid and your done. Cover back with plastic, then your seat foam, then your seat. Bam, your done.










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:41 AM
^^ i had no idea someone actually did it on a j before. thats awesome!

definitely going to happen on both of mine, thats just too bad ass.



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:13 AM
Brad yea, Devon did it to his 3800 s/c cav.

Sadly the car is done, he pulled the motor and tranny then junked the car.










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 2:56 PM
yeah i thought about it too, and come to find out i should have done it since my tank had to be dropped again anyway lol.

we did my friends STI pump, and it was stupid simple, pull the seat, 2 screws, remove pump!


to OP, get the racetronix pump, even if your car is stock, get it, WAY cheaper than $300



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 4:26 PM
its not that hard to drop the tank...



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, April 28, 2011 12:10 PM
or you can just get the ac delco repair kit on ebay for like 80$, it comes with the pump and the hoses and a few wires. It doesn't come with the plastic assembly that you pull out of the tank. If you would consider yourself a little mechanically inclined, then i would definitely do this over buying the 300$ pump
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, April 28, 2011 12:18 PM
Racetronix.

It's happening.



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, April 28, 2011 1:36 PM
Mystic02VA (GME Chat) wrote:its not that hard to drop the tank...


x2

However, I would love to have an easy access to the pump when mine goes again...
Anyone have pics of this done?



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Friday, April 29, 2011 7:04 PM
what are you guys doing about the 2 foot of plastic hoses attached to these units? Id be afraid it kink them.



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, April 30, 2011 5:52 AM
I really need help here guys.

i don't have a chiltons or haynes repair manual for the car...
i was going to repair the head gasket on my truck but it turns out the head is completely FCKD,
so i need the sunfire running ASAP... like today.

how much of a pain in the ass is it to drop the tank?
i've never done it before and i've heard nothing positive and a whole lot of 'it @!#$ sucks to have to drop a tank'
i've got half a tank of gas in the btch.

can anyone help me with instructions on how to drop the tank on an 02 sunfire?
i just replaced the fuel filter on the car and THAT was a btch so i can only imagine how bad this fuel pump is going to be.

thanks in advance..

Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, April 30, 2011 8:21 AM
Not to be a dick, but your better off to go buy the manual. That way if you run into any other problems you can take care of them too. If somebody on here gives you instructions and there not conplete you'll run into more problems.



Time to get it going again.....
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, April 30, 2011 8:25 AM
As long as the tank is empty there is no reason you cant drop the tank, take out old pump, install new pump, reinstall tank all in a saturday morning. I made the mistake of buying a cheap ebay fuel pump my first time. It lasted 6 mos so when it went up I bought an AC delco unit. I want to say the second time around it took maybe 2 hours and that involved muscling that half full tank back up by myself(took the majority of the time) and getting a pecee of rust in my eye and flushing it out.





Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, April 30, 2011 8:57 AM
Diesell wrote:Not to be a dick, but your better off to go buy the manual. That way if you run into any other problems you can take care of them too. If somebody on here gives you instructions and there not conplete you'll run into more problems.


Plus you'll have it for anything else you may need it for in the future and no one is free to give you advice at that time.
Good investment

but if you're set on swapping it without the manual, I'm sure there's a writeup on here somewhere on how to change pumps, but i'm too lazy to search for you



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, April 30, 2011 10:37 AM
Joshua Pavao wrote:I really need help here guys.

i don't have a chiltons or haynes repair manual for the car...
i was going to repair the head gasket on my truck but it turns out the head is completely FCKD,
so i need the sunfire running ASAP... like today.

how much of a pain in the ass is it to drop the tank?
i've never done it before and i've heard nothing positive and a whole lot of 'it @!#$ sucks to have to drop a tank'
i've got half a tank of gas in the btch.

can anyone help me with instructions on how to drop the tank on an 02 sunfire?
i just replaced the fuel filter on the car and THAT was a btch so i can only imagine how bad this fuel pump is going to be.

thanks in advance..


Man, get under the car and take a look. It is obvious how you drop the tank. Not trying to be an ass to you, but if you dont at least try to do it then its hard to get help around here.

Ill give some basic steps for you since im nice

Disconnect your battery.
Jack the car up in the back, leave plenty of room for the tank to fall.
Disconnect all hoses, wires, fuel filter and lines
Since you have gas in it, you will need a big boy jack to put on the tank to lower it
Once the jack is under the tank holding it, now you can undo the metal straps holding the tank it
The bolts are 15mm I THINK.
Bam, drop the tank.











~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, April 30, 2011 1:13 PM
I've tried replacing the fuel filter on an Alero and all I had was a metal fuel line tool to remove the lines. Well I needed a plastic one to bend it in the small space. So I would assume removing the fuel lines would be the hardest part. Oh and if you have a full tank of gas that would be difficult as well. So I would suggest an access window underneath the back seat.

Question is how do you know where to make the cut?


GMR has got nothing on this
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Saturday, June 04, 2011 3:26 PM
Yep.

So after banging on the tank with a deadblow hammer a few times, i got back in the car and it fired right up.

then i drove it for 2600 miles (i live 60 miles from work) and just a few days ago i drove it to my parents house to pick up my hub adapter, and it stalled 4 times on the way there, and five times on the way back, just like it was out of gas. Nevertheless i got it back home and it still starts and runs but i'm definitely not trusting it to make the 120 mile round trip to work and back.

Since my last post i've A) gotten a Haynes manual for my car, and B) purchased an AC Delco Repair Kit which just consists of a new pump and strainer..

a few days ago i went out and figured i'd remove the tank and replace the pump.

about half an hour and i had all the lines disconnected and had wrestled the stupid hose off the rusted filler tube.
all that had to be done now, was to remove the fuel tank strap bolts and then lower the tank with the jack.

i soaked the bolts down before i began taking everything apart, with half a can of pb blaster, spraying above the bracket for the bolts, and on the bolts directly. even after half a can of pb blaster and letting it soak in for roughly 45 minutes they still wouldn't budge. so i sprayed them down again, and took a break. Came back and took another swing at them.. still not budging, when i apply force to the rusted bolts (1/2'' bolts) it twists the bracket that the bolt is attached to, which makes me think the bolt is going to break off, or i'm going to break the mount off the body.

anyway. didn't know if anyone had any helpful words for me...

otherwise i'm going to go out there and air hammer those @!#$ bolt mounts off , drill a hole through the body for some bolts with washers to hold the straps on, and cut a hole over the back seats the size of a dinner plate so i never have to do this ever again.


Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Monday, June 06, 2011 12:14 PM
If I remember correctly by looking at it. if you break the bolt off its replaceable it goes through a part on the body that allows it to be removed.



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Monday, June 06, 2011 2:18 PM
I would not put a access hole in for the fuel pump. I would be afraid of messing up the lines if you used it. Dropping the tank is not too hard to do.



FU Tuning



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Tuesday, June 07, 2011 2:40 PM
yeah i finally got around to replacing the pump yesterday... took about 5 hours all together... not that much fun, but not as hard as i had expected. The biggest problem was the fuel tank strap bolts.. after soaking them in one and a half cans of pb blaster over the course of about a week they finally came loose, and i had to unscrew them a little, screw them back in a little and then keep working them out like that. That was the most time consuming part. Drove it into town (about 30 miles round trip) with no problem except a slight shudder.. which i hope was my A/C kicking on.. tonight i'll take the car to work, along with the Triple A Card. (110mi round trip) Wish me luck.

oh, and after i removed the tank and saw how large the fuel pump assembly was, i decided against cutting an access hole. The hole would have to be ridiculously large to be able to angle something that big out of.. not to mention the plastic lines. :/
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, February 02, 2012 11:18 AM
I have. Somewhat the same problem with my car whole underbody of car is rusted. And I am terrified of breaking the bolts on the straps. Carparts warehouse has a pump assembly for about 160 wandering if that will be a good pump or racetronix any suggestions apppreciate any help thnx guys[*]




Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, February 02, 2012 2:57 PM
It is not that difficult to drop the tank. I did it with hand tools two jack stands laying on blacktop with broken glass and fire ants an all.

Get out the tools jack the car up and man up and get it done!







Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, February 02, 2012 4:34 PM
Thanks for the help , what experience if any have you all had with racetronix pumps?
Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Thursday, February 02, 2012 6:12 PM
damn... i thought this was a new thread...

i was going to post "Its not that hard to drop the tank"... then i realized this was from april and i already said this



Re: Fuel Pump Access Hole
Friday, February 03, 2012 5:39 AM
eddy rodriguez wrote:Thanks for the help , what experience if any have you all had with racetronix pumps?


Racetronix are super nice and almost a complete drop in the tank and go option. I am very pleased with mine and it is nice and quiet.





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