pump bucket diy

[steveo]

looking for some ideas

I do a lot of corner carving, and run the stock unbaffled fbody fuel tank

my pump gets hot and noisy, and starves out up hills and corners all the time lately

when I got the car, the fuel sender was patched together with just the ol' hoseclamped walbro pump mod, the bucket was gone

stock lt1 pump "bucket" looks like a sealed container with a check valve, return line feed, and a vent hose? never had one apart

well I can't find a sender in good shape to harvest for parts, so I want to diy a bucket.

any pointers? has anyone ever taken apart a gm pump bucket?

anyone have any idea how the damn thing works?

[EagleMark]

Bunch of pictures here:
http://www.gearhead-efi.com/gm-ecm-p...onversion.html

[beestoys]

Steveo
Your best bet is to get the bucket out of the fbody and go back to that setup with your walbro. That pump is specific to the fbody setup. i had one in the camino and found out the expensive way that it won't fit any other bucket configurations. The f body's are unique in that the bucket is sealed (sort of) and rides on the end of the pivot arm. it has to do with the tank location and shape. If you can get a stock bucket it can be seperated and glued back together keeping the siphon fill effect in tact and it will keep you from starving out the fuel system. If you can't source one there let me know there's a yard here in AZ that has a few Camaro's and Firebirds in it. I can get the whole pump assembly for 16.00

[steveo]

really? man if you could help me find one of those that'd be a big help.

the yards around here want a hundred bucks for one,and id have to go out there and slice the car apart to get it myself with shitty tools and no power

let me know what i can do to make that happen

[beestoys]

really? man if you could help me find one of those that'd be a big help.

the yards around here want a hundred bucks for one,and id have to go out there and slice the car apart to get it myself with shitty tools and no power

let me know what i can do to make that happen

I'll take a look kind of a full weekend this weekend have to put a cruise control in a blackbird and moving a storage unit out but think I can gt that way next week. Let me see what I can find and get back to you.

[steveo]

for sure, appreciate any help. i'll keep searching around here, but so far it doesn't look good

[lionelhutz]

anyone have any idea how the damn thing works?

Yes, there is a small hose comes off the pump that goes to a siphon jet pump. This siphon pump fills the bucket so the pump still has fuel and won't stave when the fuel sloshes away from the bucket.

You'd have a hard time making a bucket/baffle that works as well as the factory one. Even if you surround the pump with a baffle you'd be missing the siphon pump that would keep it full of fuel even as you run the tank on the low side.

So, I not surprised you're having fuel trouble with the bucket missing.

I looked at the GM factory units for use with my Impala but with a 3.5" high tank they won't fit. I then looked at making something like the GM setup with a siphon pump but it would mean cutting a big hole in the tank and basically experimenting with a working jet pump. I finally just went for simple and welded a sump onto the bottom of the tank and used an external pump.

[beestoys]

for sure, appreciate any help. i'll keep searching around here, but so far it doesn't look good

Sure enough I know I saw at least 3 or 4 out there when I pulled the pumps and tank for my setup.

[steveo]

the wreckers out here are such crap, no wonder i end up having to make most of my parts by hand

[steveo]

lets say I wanted to make my own siphon effect pump bucket... how could I do that effectively?

it seems simple in my head but I bet I'm missing something...

[lionelhutz]

First attempt try a 1-way valve to let the bucket fill initially as well as a siphon jet running off the small tap on the pump that pulls fuel into the bucket. Making a jet that works well and will handle being submerged in fuel could be a little tricky.

[EagleMark]

Doesn't the return line keep bucket full?

[steveo]

well, yeah. but how exactly the siphon jet thing constantly draws fuel, which obviously works with the weird spring loaded air valve outside the tank (also has a hose going to the thing), i dont quite get

[lionelhutz]

Look at the pump pictures. There is a little hose coming off the pump. It goes to the jet pump and then dumps into the bucket. The jet pump sucks fuel from outside the bucket into the bucket. You could also put a jet pump on the return line.

[steveo]

really? 'cause i only saw an inlet and outlet fitting on my walbro pump?