Fuel tank/pump replacement

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DoubleDingo

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I bet that tank would clean up just fine with some solvent. Heck, if you hadn't opened it up, you would have continued to run it. I run fuel system cleaner in all of the vehicles at least 4 times a year. Doing that in yours, that tank would be just fine.
 

Doppleganger

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Cripes, it’s like completing an entire Soduko book just to find parts that aren’t made of recycled crap and rice paper….
On another note, just in the last 12months, a real deal SKF unit bearing for a HD truck went from like $275 to $345. And as proof of WTF?????, 10 years ago the same part was about $220.
Or you can buy one on Scamazon for $165 and it will probably make it to the state line before it starts howling or the ABS light comes on!
And Napa….they sell the SKF one for ^, or they have a house brand for like $6 less….. why? Anyone buying a $300+ part for a $20-50k vehicle wants to save $6? And the guy at the counter tried hard to sell me it. “We sell them all the time to fleet shops like public works and schools….” Sure you do. They have bean counters and they’ll buy 2 of those for $12 cheaper and tow/repair it an extra time because govt employees and the shops are paid by the hour!
I bought SKF bearings exclusively for well over a decade.....then found out that they, like the others, have a 3 tiered system: same boxes, same PNs, same packaging.....but 3 levels of quality. One was the original Swedish, $65; one was Mexico, $40; and another china, $15. Only way to tell on paper what you were getting was the price (which initially tipped you off) and the COO (country of origin). Even the reviews were skewed using opinions from PN only (ALL quality levels). The EP381's we use in these squares are the same way: $40 feebay/scamazon (lol) is china and $100+ is Brazil (and the known reliable part). When I got mine, NAPA had the chinese junk and Autozone had the good. WTF?
 

Grit dog

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I bought SKF bearings exclusively for well over a decade.....then found out that they, like the others, have a 3 tiered system: same boxes, same PNs, same packaging.....but 3 levels of quality. One was the original Swedish, $65; one was Mexico, $40; and another china, $15. Only way to tell on paper what you were getting was the price (which initially tipped you off) and the COO (country of origin). Even the reviews were skewed using opinions from PN only (ALL quality levels). The EP381's we use in these squares are the same way: $40 feebay/scamazon (lol) is china and $100+ is Brazil (and the known reliable part). When I got mine, NAPA had the chinese junk and Autozone had the good. WTF?
Ya all Napa parts are suspect now too. Gotta make sure what you’re getting like you said.
I wanna blame them but in reality the internet online shopping and especially now the Temu Scamazon era forces them to do it to keep their doors open.
What really stinks though now is parts I would sometimes buy from them they have jacked up the price to almost double the competition. Filters for example. It’s 1 thing to pay $9 for a $5 filter for the convenience of it. Wholly different to pay over $100 for a $60 one.
 

Ricko1966

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Electrolysis would get 90% of the rust,easy and dirt cheap. Then drain,rinse,dry,coat the inside with 2 stroke oil,seal up the openings until ready to use.. I'd also be tempted to just rinse it out with diluted Klean Strip metal prep. Then rinse dry and 2 stroke etc. Klean Strip is phosphoric acid wash. Not as dangerous or aggressive as muriatic acid.
 

DoubleDingo

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Carb'ed Vortec 350
Ya all Napa parts are suspect now too. Gotta make sure what you’re getting like you said.
I wanna blame them but in reality the internet online shopping and especially now the Temu Scamazon era forces them to do it to keep their doors open.
What really stinks though now is parts I would sometimes buy from them they have jacked up the price to almost double the competition. Filters for example. It’s 1 thing to pay $9 for a $5 filter for the convenience of it. Wholly different to pay over $100 for a $60 one.
All of our good parts stores closed here, Napa, Car Quest, gone. Now it's only Oreillys and Auto Zone. The mom and pop store I had an account at (Carquest), the owner sold all three locations he had bought. Sad.
 

Fat 454

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That stuff will work… It’d eat the hide off a rhino!
Do they still make the real stuff? Hadn’t thought about it but like most other “good stuff” figured it’s probably outlawed and replaced with an actual environmentally friendly, reverse osmosis water based, free range vegan organic variant that doesn’t cause fish to have 3 eyes or no eyes if it gets into a lake…
You wouldn’t even need to dump it in the tank. Just set it next to the tank and it’ll scare the varnish off like Chuck Norris!
FYI - recently worked on a project for "green" energy production. Turns out that "they" are planning on producing methanol from wood chip ( corrosive and highly toxic ). Site is on the bank of a major river system, so when there is a spill it WILL kill everything around it, create 3 eyed salmon etc. etc. I guess that's progress tho'.
On the positive side I'm sure it would probably make a great tank de-greaser .....
 

496bb

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I've got a Delphi assembly to go in, hopefully it'll last. I really don't want to cut an access hatch for replacing these pumps - but they are a bit of a pain to do. At least dropping the tank made it super easy for me to install the new Curt hitch!

I agree, all these parts now are hit or miss. That's part of the reason I'm ditching the very poor running TBI for a Q-jet, previous owner (who is a friend) had it in the shop multiple times trying to get the TBI to run right. I think you've got less than a 50/50 chance of getting a new working piece for any of the multiple sensors that system uses. And if anyone reading is of the "I love OEM TBI" crowd, keep your thoughts to yourself - you are not gonna change my mind!
 

Ricko1966

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I've got a Delphi assembly to go in, hopefully it'll last. I really don't want to cut an access hatch for replacing these pumps - but they are a bit of a pain to do. At least dropping the tank made it super easy for me to install the new Curt hitch!

I agree, all these parts now are hit or miss. That's part of the reason I'm ditching the very poor running TBI for a Q-jet, previous owner (who is a friend) had it in the shop multiple times trying to get the TBI to run right. I think you've got less than a 50/50 chance of getting a new working piece for any of the multiple sensors that system uses. And if anyone reading is of the "I love OEM TBI" crowd, keep your thoughts to yourself - you are not gonna change my mind!
If you are ditching TBI and going carb. If your engine has manual fuel pump provisions,I wouldn't even use an intank pump. I'd replace it with an engine driven pump and a pre TBI sending unit. Or a TBI sending unit with a pickup tube and no pump. If you use a TBI pump with a carbureator,you will have to use a return style fuel pressure regulator,and possibly have to change your distributor. If your distributor does not have a Vacuum advance can,you will need to change distributors or minimum,add a throttle position sensor. And plumb in your existing map sensor,so the computer can still calculate engine load and control the timing.
 
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496bb

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Yes, I know what’s required and already have the needed parts for the swap. Never planned on dropping tank- but PO apparently didn’t bother to spend $10 on a filler neck hose when they replaced the tank/pump, and it dry rotted and started leaking. So, I figured if I had to drop it down to get that hose changed, might as well put in a new assembly cause the truck had sat a lot over a number of years, and he wasn’t sure what had been replaced. Truck is not my daily so taking my time to correct any issues best as possible.
 
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