Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, Guerneville, CA.
Working on the van got off to a slow start today.
Around seven thirty AM this morning, I heard a few more lightning strikes, and it was raining, and too early for me to be up. I was able to stay in bed until around ten thirty when I finally got moving. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do today, as there was a lot of rain last night and I thought the van area would be too wet to work much.
But, the sun came out and I got to work around one PM on the van. I wanted to get the fuel lines in, as they are the last big part of the project putting TBI injection in the old van. I started by making some adjustments to the fuel line bracket I made the other day, as it was too long. Repainted that and set it to dry on the wood stove. While waiting for this to dry, I studied the fuel line installation a bit and finalized my plan of attack.
I needed to bend two steel lines around the front of the engine, real near the radiator fan, and that is what the bracket I made is supposed to help do, hopefully keeping the fuel lines out to the fan, as that wouldn’t be too good if the fan and the lines got together and made contact.
Below is a picture of the front of the engine showing the new fuel lines going around the front of the engine. There are the two greenish brown lines going just under the new radiator hose I also added.
After I got those metal lines bent and hooked them up to the TBI injection unit I then went under the van to hook the other ends of these steel pipes to more steel lines that run along side under the van back to the fuel tank.
I’m running two lines as I had to add a fuel return line to the gas tank. When I worked my way back to the gas tank, I had to install a fuel filter and an electric fuel pump. I had already dropped the gas tank the other day to add a fuel return line, so that was ready to go. Only problem was the tank had twenty gallons of gas in it and the new filter and pump had to hook to the bottom of the tank and there was no valve to stop it. So, I carefully took the old fuel line off and used my finger to stop the fuel until I got a new gas line on the outlet. Of course, that method was a little crud, but it got the job done, with only a minimal amount of gas running down my arm.
You can see in the picture below the new electric fuel pump and the new fuel filter that I had to add to the system.
I still need to hook the fuel pump up to the electrical system to complete that part of the job.
It was almost dark out and I was going to go in, but I thought, what the hey? Let’s see if I can make a bracket to mount the new air cleaner to keep it where it belongs. I thought about this one for quite a while and wanted something simple and elegant.
You can see what I came up with in the picture below. The new bracket is rusty and not painted yet. I will add two band clamps that will go around the new bracket and the new air cleaner.
The below picture just shows the new bracket better. You can see where I cut the ends of the new bracket to put he band clamps on it. No band clamps yet I have to purchase some. I’m also using the original air cleaner mounting bracket. That’s the thing the rusty new bracket is screwed to.
I took that new bracket off and put some grey paint on it and put it on top of the wood stove to dry.
Below is a picture of what my new system looks like so far.
I am pleased to get this work done today, especially since I thought I wouldn’t be able to get anything done because of the wet.
I still have to hook up most of the electrical. The fuel pump needs power and I need to mount and hook up the computer and get the wiring harness hooked to the ignition and battery. I’m sure there are a few other things, but, at least, I’m almost there. Maybe I’ll get this part done before the new year?
Had a good day working on the old van.
