Woogeroo
04-09-2012, 12:07 AM
My story...
old trucks are fun(repeat until you believe) - Easter Edition!
----
There I am in my big blue 1965 chevy truck (https://stepsidematraca.wordpress.com/)... riding out to my buddy's place, about 17 miles away.
Nice Easter Sunday afternoon... vroooom.
Perfect driving weather except for all the crazy church drivers going fast and cutting me off!
*truth*
However, I digress...
I get to my buddy's place... 'hey man, how ya doing? What's the latest... hey, we hungry or what, ok... pizza? let's do it.. yers or mine? let's take mine, the winders are already open...'
Get in truck... crank... vrooom.... engine dies. Hrmmn? crank it again, it's fine... 'well, that was weird.' We ride about 300 yards away and it dies.
Now, after 9 years of owning this frankenstein(different years of parts cobbled together) of a Chevy truck, I know a few things or four about it... so we check this, that... and I think 'ya know, last time it acted like this, the power to the electric fuel pump was the culprit... ' and because of that incident, I have a backup positive wire running from the battery down to the pump... I jump the wires over and the fuel pump makes a very slight death 'ker-plunk' and then no-thing. NOTHING.
ooopsies.
Great.
Fun times ahead for me!
We roll it backwards down the hill and into a now thankfully vacant church parking lot... (thank ya lawd for not letting it die out on the main road!) .
Now the fun begins...
Folks, I'm here to tell ya that this newfangled gasoline with the ethanol in it... burns on the skin like you would not believe possible. hooooooo eeeeeee, I was lit up and I still have some nice red spots on me, ow!kwitit!
My buddy walked back to his place, grabbed his tools and his truck, we went to parts store, buy new pump, go back to truck... start to take off pump, gas goes everywhere all over me. I can report that this new ethanol gas tastes worse than old gas too. Now, naturally, the new fuel pump won't fit into the already existing and mounted bracket band which my mechanic or his crew put on a few years ago.
Wonderful.
So, I'm fussing with the hoses to get 'em off and get 'em on and gas is spewing and running out, and I'm on fire cuz it's irritating the snot out of me(serious understatement) and then I get the hoses on. Yay. Then... I notice... the rubber hose from the tank to the new electric fuel pump is dry rotted, has a nice slit in it and it is in fact, leaking.
I had to laugh, of course... mr. murphy is my co-pilot today.
Now... my buddy goes back to his place, grabs some fuel hose and some hose clamps he had lying around from a past project(he's a recovering old car guy, he has go-fast motorcycles now) and comes back. I'm laying under my truck trying to be philosophical about this and ponder : well, at least it is a awful pretty day, I'm right by my buddies house and it isn't raining.
hah!
Buddy comes back, I get back to work - new hose, new clamps, done.
My pal brought his wire stripper/crimping tool and some connecters, yay... get that done... now, will it crank, or was it something else?
crank... VROOM.
hallelujah!
Throw tools in the trucks, clean up our mess in the parking lot and off we roll back to his place for further inspection.
Now, how are we gonna mount this thing? Hmn... the bolts that came with new mini micro pump (mr. gasket - mini micro #12s for you gearheads out there) are too short to go through the plastic mount of the pump housing and the frame itself through the already existing hole.
Mr. Murphy had not yet left us, you see?
My buddy scrounges around and like a true gear head, he has some bolts, nuts and lock washers lying around.
*smirk*
Now I'm looking at this issue... fuel pump mounting is about a inch and a half away from the already existing hole in the frame... but, I have rubber fuel line on each side of the fuel line, so I can wiggle it side to side.
Aw dang it, I'mma take another ethanol bath.
%*&#&!$*@!!!
O.K., so I took my man pill and explained my predicament to my pal and he says: oh, ok, now we are being picky.
I say: that's right, my OCD is now fully active... got any more fuel line?
So, I did the other side of the fuel pump and had more adjusting room. Taking yet another bath in gasoline, this time with a straight shot to the mouth, luckily I have ridden in this kinda rodeo before and learned from my dad to keep my mouth closed when dealing with gas lines on cars and you are underneath the thing.
*thanks for the tip dad!*
Now we got new old stock fuel line on each side with the screw in adjustable manly hose clamps and I have it lined up with the already existing mounting hole on the frame.
YAY.
new bolt and hardware and done.
yay.
But... but... hey... wait... it's... leaking?
from...
fuel line to engine compartment ---> fuel pump ---> in line fuel filter ---> gas line to fuel tank pickup
that came with fuel pump that we already screwed in and snugged down!!!
Hrmmn.
Mr. Murphy must be on the porch now in the rocking chair.
Now we snug it some more... driiiiiip.
A little more.
drii ii iii pp.
A lil, lil more.
dripppp.
**aaahh. we are gonna break it!**
I double check directions to see if maybe we were supposed to use some kinda sealing tape or a gasket, something... nope, nada.
So, we tighten it a little more and it's really in there...
I'll check it tomorrow and see if it requires further attention.
Now, put up tools... I've been sprayed in gas from my head to my belly and laying in it all over my back(my shirt has long since been tossed cuz the gas sitting soaked on my skin was making me insane, yes it hurt that much)... and my hands and fore arms are filthy with old truck grime and I'm covered with that sand that accumulates on roads and driveways.
For you Jerry Clower fans, my pal starts making jokes about going into town with me in this condition, no shirt, big fat jelly belly hanging out and dirt and grease all over... and making like Marcel Ledbetter wanting a bellywasher at the beer joint... I told him : " but, I don't have a chain saw... " he says: we'll just drag the door off with a chain.
*hah.*
So, Cuz finds me some clothes to borrow(luckily we are both big boys! - hah), I take a scrub/rub down/shower and we finally go eat pizza.
sheesh.
old trucks are fun.
repeat until you believe.
Ya'll have a good week!
--end--
-W
old trucks are fun(repeat until you believe) - Easter Edition!
----
There I am in my big blue 1965 chevy truck (https://stepsidematraca.wordpress.com/)... riding out to my buddy's place, about 17 miles away.
Nice Easter Sunday afternoon... vroooom.
Perfect driving weather except for all the crazy church drivers going fast and cutting me off!
*truth*
However, I digress...
I get to my buddy's place... 'hey man, how ya doing? What's the latest... hey, we hungry or what, ok... pizza? let's do it.. yers or mine? let's take mine, the winders are already open...'
Get in truck... crank... vrooom.... engine dies. Hrmmn? crank it again, it's fine... 'well, that was weird.' We ride about 300 yards away and it dies.
Now, after 9 years of owning this frankenstein(different years of parts cobbled together) of a Chevy truck, I know a few things or four about it... so we check this, that... and I think 'ya know, last time it acted like this, the power to the electric fuel pump was the culprit... ' and because of that incident, I have a backup positive wire running from the battery down to the pump... I jump the wires over and the fuel pump makes a very slight death 'ker-plunk' and then no-thing. NOTHING.
ooopsies.
Great.
Fun times ahead for me!
We roll it backwards down the hill and into a now thankfully vacant church parking lot... (thank ya lawd for not letting it die out on the main road!) .
Now the fun begins...
Folks, I'm here to tell ya that this newfangled gasoline with the ethanol in it... burns on the skin like you would not believe possible. hooooooo eeeeeee, I was lit up and I still have some nice red spots on me, ow!kwitit!
My buddy walked back to his place, grabbed his tools and his truck, we went to parts store, buy new pump, go back to truck... start to take off pump, gas goes everywhere all over me. I can report that this new ethanol gas tastes worse than old gas too. Now, naturally, the new fuel pump won't fit into the already existing and mounted bracket band which my mechanic or his crew put on a few years ago.
Wonderful.
So, I'm fussing with the hoses to get 'em off and get 'em on and gas is spewing and running out, and I'm on fire cuz it's irritating the snot out of me(serious understatement) and then I get the hoses on. Yay. Then... I notice... the rubber hose from the tank to the new electric fuel pump is dry rotted, has a nice slit in it and it is in fact, leaking.
I had to laugh, of course... mr. murphy is my co-pilot today.
Now... my buddy goes back to his place, grabs some fuel hose and some hose clamps he had lying around from a past project(he's a recovering old car guy, he has go-fast motorcycles now) and comes back. I'm laying under my truck trying to be philosophical about this and ponder : well, at least it is a awful pretty day, I'm right by my buddies house and it isn't raining.
hah!
Buddy comes back, I get back to work - new hose, new clamps, done.
My pal brought his wire stripper/crimping tool and some connecters, yay... get that done... now, will it crank, or was it something else?
crank... VROOM.
hallelujah!
Throw tools in the trucks, clean up our mess in the parking lot and off we roll back to his place for further inspection.
Now, how are we gonna mount this thing? Hmn... the bolts that came with new mini micro pump (mr. gasket - mini micro #12s for you gearheads out there) are too short to go through the plastic mount of the pump housing and the frame itself through the already existing hole.
Mr. Murphy had not yet left us, you see?
My buddy scrounges around and like a true gear head, he has some bolts, nuts and lock washers lying around.
*smirk*
Now I'm looking at this issue... fuel pump mounting is about a inch and a half away from the already existing hole in the frame... but, I have rubber fuel line on each side of the fuel line, so I can wiggle it side to side.
Aw dang it, I'mma take another ethanol bath.
%*&#&!$*@!!!
O.K., so I took my man pill and explained my predicament to my pal and he says: oh, ok, now we are being picky.
I say: that's right, my OCD is now fully active... got any more fuel line?
So, I did the other side of the fuel pump and had more adjusting room. Taking yet another bath in gasoline, this time with a straight shot to the mouth, luckily I have ridden in this kinda rodeo before and learned from my dad to keep my mouth closed when dealing with gas lines on cars and you are underneath the thing.
*thanks for the tip dad!*
Now we got new old stock fuel line on each side with the screw in adjustable manly hose clamps and I have it lined up with the already existing mounting hole on the frame.
YAY.
new bolt and hardware and done.
yay.
But... but... hey... wait... it's... leaking?
from...
fuel line to engine compartment ---> fuel pump ---> in line fuel filter ---> gas line to fuel tank pickup
that came with fuel pump that we already screwed in and snugged down!!!
Hrmmn.
Mr. Murphy must be on the porch now in the rocking chair.
Now we snug it some more... driiiiiip.
A little more.
drii ii iii pp.
A lil, lil more.
dripppp.
**aaahh. we are gonna break it!**
I double check directions to see if maybe we were supposed to use some kinda sealing tape or a gasket, something... nope, nada.
So, we tighten it a little more and it's really in there...
I'll check it tomorrow and see if it requires further attention.
Now, put up tools... I've been sprayed in gas from my head to my belly and laying in it all over my back(my shirt has long since been tossed cuz the gas sitting soaked on my skin was making me insane, yes it hurt that much)... and my hands and fore arms are filthy with old truck grime and I'm covered with that sand that accumulates on roads and driveways.
For you Jerry Clower fans, my pal starts making jokes about going into town with me in this condition, no shirt, big fat jelly belly hanging out and dirt and grease all over... and making like Marcel Ledbetter wanting a bellywasher at the beer joint... I told him : " but, I don't have a chain saw... " he says: we'll just drag the door off with a chain.
*hah.*
So, Cuz finds me some clothes to borrow(luckily we are both big boys! - hah), I take a scrub/rub down/shower and we finally go eat pizza.
sheesh.
old trucks are fun.
repeat until you believe.
Ya'll have a good week!
--end--
-W