KaBoom

Hello all!

I've got a 92 Camaro RS with a bad fuel pump. I don't have the time to take apart the whole damm car the replace it. Is there a way that I can remove the carpet in the hatch area and cut a access hole above the fuel pump? Is there anyway of knowing where I should cut without damaging anything below? Has this even been done before? LOL

Any help or advice would be great. Thanks

brodyscamaro

I can tell you it's been done, and worked before. Can't tell you where to cut the hole exactly though - never done it myself.

del91_305

Well i had the same problem a while back, it was the middle of winter and i didnt have time to do it either. So what you do is, pull up the carpet in the back and get a whole saw a drill a whole right in the center, and you should have access to the pump. If you didnt drill the whole in the right spot, you should now be able to see where it is at. To get the pump out, there are metal fuel lines connecting to the pump, they are going to have to be cut, i used a hack saw blade. Then when you get ready to put it back together, use rubber hose and some clamps to connect the lines back together. This is the easiest way to do it.

sqzbox

I just put a new axle in my 88 bird last fall and believe me it was no fun not to mention all the other stuff that has to be removed in order to remove the tank. I pulled the carpet up and layed it back out of the way and used my angle grinder to cut a hole.
the fuel pump access ring is dead center under the hump. I cut a line just about an inch back from the back seat edge from one indented spot to the other from the right wheel toward the left wheel (about 6 or 7 inches) and then back towards the rear of the car about 12" and bent the flap back so I could push it back down after I was done. This gave me enough room to cut the lines with a hacksaw blade wraped with duct tape so save wear on my hands. I also cut the three wires to the sending unit and fuel pump wich I connected back after I was done. You need to be a little careful when you cut the hole because the tank is about 3/4 " under the floor pan. The new pump came with Isolator hose, clamps, and new ring gasket for $43.00 from napa.
additional parts needed are 8" of 3/8 fuel hose and 4 clamps, 8" of 5/16 fuel hose and 4 clamps. cut each hose in half for 2 3/8 lines and 2 5/16 lines. you also need 3 crimp connectors for the elec. wires. the whole job took me about 2 1/2-3 hrs. The biggest hassel was getting the carpet back in possition after I was done. the pump I put in was a webber from napa and it now puts out
13 1/2 lbs pressure. The car runs perfect now and a lot more power that when a bought it. Evidently the pump was on it's way out when I bought it and never realized it till it got to be a problem starting it. It took 3 yrs to go completely bad but I've only drove it 9,000 mi. in that time. Any questions feel free to E-mail me or post reply. Also when I put the new ring gasket on I coated it with Vaseline, went back together easyer than it came appart! Use a new blade w/30 something teeth per in. I cleaned as much metal shavings as I could frome the lines when I cut them and was a little concerned about that but hey, thats why they have fuel filters and they wont get by it to do any harm. Good luck!

MightyMouse

Dont bother cutting the electric wires, just unplug them, there is a connector under the car.

sqzbox

That's funny,I couldn't find one! My wires went through a block in the floor pan and under the back seat. That's the only reason I cut them.

MightyMouse

The connection is on the vertical part of the back seat, under the car. At least that is what I remember but I know there is a connector under there somewhere.

del91_305

Yea it worked perfect for me, But when i tried to the connector loose, it wouldnt move, so we had to cut the wires. But anyway its a whole lot easier than taking your whole rear end apart.

chevypower

I'll be damned if I'll start cutting my cars body up with a hack saw and a drill then just bend the metal back down! I'm in the middle of droping my tank now. I've been at it for two days, cause when I was cutting my exhaust down I got metal in my eye and had to have sirgery to get it removed. Its not easy or quick for sure! Now if you could cut out a panel and get a plate made to bolt back in it would be sweet. When I get my tank out I'm going to look in to this. Maybe use some 1/8 aluminum plate so that you could shape it to fit. And put some wetherstrip around it and bolt it back in for future changes which I plan on doing. If I think it can be done NICELY and not hacked up i'm going to try it. If so I'll take pics and give some sizes for people. But I still feel that the tank would need to be removed to do this right. But after that first time it would be a breeze. Why GM didn't put a plate there in the first place I don"t know? I've changed a few other pumps(Nissans, Hondas) and they had a plate, guess GM had to be a dick here, but you got to love'em.

TechSmurf

Much easier.. just don't follow in the footsteps of my 88's previous owner and use 2" sheet metal screws to put the cover over the hole.. they were pressing against the tank =\

One of thse days I'm going to peel up the carpet and fab a nice hinged cover or something for that cutout.. but until then...

sqzbox

First of all, Chevypower, hope your eye is ok! I guess that's a lesson learned, safety glasses are cheaper than an eye huh?
I bent the flap back down on my car because I was in a big darn hurry to drive it! but I don't intend to leave it that way. I have to go back and re-position the carpet anyway and in order to do that, the plastic well covers are going to have to come out.
While I do that I plan on getting some 16ga., cut it to size 1/2 in. larger to place over the hole and will probably seal it with silicone.
No screws! That will form a weather seal (not that it see's that much) that I can pull up in case of later access. My reasoning for this is I didn't want to hack up my new 3" cat back sys. and pull the axle back out that I just put in last fall. All the work was done through the hatch and it's just to easy and fast to take this short-cut considering the alternative. GM could have put a access door in there but, that would be too easy for the avg. mech. to repair. That way they support the local dealership mech. That's how the dealership's keep trained mech's. on the payrole making 50 or 60 grand a year. If you and I could fix everything the mech's. would go hungry!

chevypower

Yea it suxed, I cut my Flowmaster Exhaust off since I had it all welded up. But I didn't have to drop the rear end. I put the car up on jack stands and removed what I guess is the upper control arms? I also took out the fuel fill cap thing-a-ma-gig and undid the wires and hoses. Then just took out the two bolts that hold the tank straps up and it came out towards the right side of the car. I've yet to put it back in or look about making a access flap though.

MightyMouse

I put a aluminum plate over my hole the second time I did it. It took about 20 1/4-20 X 5/8 countersunk socket-head cap screws to get it in place. It looks good and BTW the carpet makes a good seal(no gas smell). If you do it this way there will be a little more road noise. I have a pic but cant post it (FTP Problems) I can email it to anyone if they want to see it.

chevypower

E-mail me the pics! tripstermania@comcast.net Thanks, Bobby

MightyMouse

If anyone is planning to remove fuel pump from the top I also can send some pics that will show where to cut the hole. I think that there are some already posted on this board but if you need another view let me know.

ronbuick

Mighty and others that have pics,I'm also interested, as I have to upgrade the pump in the the 86 t/a I just picked for a LC2 transplant, and I had it up on my lift to see what kind of job it will be to r and r the tank, it does not look pretty, in my 87 TR it is very easy. so all help is greatly appreciated sine I'm new to these 3rd gens.

Ron

wuz_up92085

i made the acces door, i used a saw zaw and it worked great, and to cover the whole back up, just get a sheet of sheetmetal and cauk the crap out of it, dont use screws incase one puntures the tank and it would be even worse if you smoked. that is just what i did. the total time i spent was around 2 hours, but the idea of taking apart the entire rear end was kind of dreading even though i work at a shop and my grandpa who owns the shop says that is always he has done with these cars but of course he need the owners consent.

ShiftyCapone

iTrader: (7)

Jack car and place on jack stands
Place jack under rear end and support

Unbolt the rear shock mounts, panhard rod mount (one side only) and sway bar endlink mounts.

Lower jack and et rear end hang

From outside the car unbolt the 5 or so little bolts that surround the gas pocket (open the fuel door and you will see them). remove the plastic housing that covers the fuel neck.

Climb under the car and dissconnect the fuel lines that run to the tank.

Remove the two 9/16 bolts that hold the fuel tank straps.

Lower tank.

Use brass punch to tap and loosen the lock ring around the top of the tank.

Pull out sending unit, replace pump, and reinstall.

You can have the car in the air with the rear end hanging down in under 20 minutes. From there only a few bolts hold in the tank.

You only need simple hand tools for this job and no shop should have to ask for consent to cut a hole in the trunk.

A novice mechanic should not even consider the access door. To me that would take more skill and be more intimidating than to just replace the tank with simple hand tools and a few hours laying on the ground.

wuz_up92085

if you've done that then you forgot to take out the exhaust then another poblem occurs that most of the parts that you take off are extemely hard if they have never been changed before. i used air tools, 4 foot breaker bars and still couldn't get some of the sfuff off, so unless you plan on turning a fuel pump change to a rear end upgrade, the access door is much simpliar, especially if dont have really good air tools at your dispoal and a lift but i had both and still went through the hatch.