Fuel pump access panel

Hi guys it’s been a while since I posted and I need to replace the fuel pump on my 94 RMW. Could someone with an access panel cut in their floor give me a center point where to cut the floor an east / west and north / south measurement for the center point and cut out size would be great. Thanks in advance.

Just drop the tank. Less work than cutting the floor, making a patch.

Tom from NH did it on his.

That said, it's not that hard to drop the tank. I actually put one back in my wreck yesterday in 10 min so I could film the motor running before I pull it.

I did a write up on here. It does go alot easier if the tank is near empty (if the pump still works even half ass, you can pull the fuel line at the filter and jump the pump to run and empty it.

Also not in the write up, I now unscrew the filler next at the cap (3 bolts) and drop the whole thing as it saves alot of time.....

Never done it before? about 3 hours to drop replace, reinstall. I've done it over a dozen times now, I can do it in under an hour.

you need 15mm and extension. 13mm (wrench and socket), and I think 7mm to take off the heat shields and the filler neck. and a pair of pliers for the breater tube clamp and the fuel quick disconnect thingies. a floor jack and plywood to raise and lower the tank unless you get it all the way empty.

I do it the same way. Drop the whole filler neck. Every B I've owned has had the tank out. Some more than once. It's really easy on a lift with a trans jack...

While dropping the tank is pretty easy, I've done it 5 times in the last year, eventually you reach a point where you say *&^% this &*($.

For me that point was the 3rd time the car left me stranded and I had dropped the tank 5 times. At that point I was very, very angry. Thankfully the car died at work. So I grabbed a hose and my cutoff tool and went to work. It wasn't pretty but it got the job done and it came in handy the next weekend when the car left me stranded again.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

That was a rough draft and the floor has since been put together better and will eventually get a full repair. Entering body work phase with it and it is on the list.

Hopefully that helps you. I have some other pictures if needed.

Still, as others have said, dropping the tank isn't bad at all. You can even leave the filler neck on and never fully remove the tank from under the car. My "driveway" is a strip of dirt and large rocks that feral cats use for a bathroom so I have to improvise a lot.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Oh, all my tank dropping issues were caused by buying this piece of crap part....TWICE....

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Do yourself a favor and never buy it. If for some reason you do, replace the rubber hose with corrugated plastic because even though they say they do none of them come with fuel submersible rubber hose.

Hi Jeff

If you send me your email, I will send you the pattern.  The first time I did it, it took about  3 hours, the second time I did it, it took about an hour.

True, what Sprocket and Jason have said, they can do it in an hour.  But, the days of me doing the pump are in the rear view mirror.  There is also a lot of truth to what Woody said. I would guess he did it in 20 minutes.

Tom

I personally havn't dropped the tank on mine but when I was having issues with my Delphi sending unit I watched as the guys doing the warrenty repair dropped the tank and they had it down and out within several minutes.

and if you do get a Delphi like was said replace the original hose, with one that is submersible rated and good for pressure as I think that's the other issue the original line has no reinforcing of any kind, it's almost like they used a chunk of larger vacuum line.

Though if your existing sending unit is giving you decent accuracy on your gas gauge keep it and just replace the pump, not the whole unit.

If you noticed in the above pictures, the tank is very close to the body. You should at least lower the tank before cutting. The above hole seems a little excessive, and you can cut a lot closer to the sending unit without hampering the R&R. If you make a tracing of the hole, you can cut a cover from a donor car at the JY. You can use rivnuts, and short screws to attach the cover to avoid pointy sheet metal screws, that could puncture the tank. Get some urethane sheet to make a gasket around the perimeter. I would avoid making the points, and make a straight line between the upright portion, and the circle around the sender.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Thanks everyone for your input... glad to see everyone active in the forum still.
I would like to do another WF this summer.
Tom - if you could email me at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that would be great.
Think I may try to drop the tank it’s almost full if I run into an issue cutting the panel would be a backup. I still have Joel’s fire wagon to cut a fill panel from. Thanks again, Jeff

As you can see in the pics... you can't really cut the floor without dropping the tank anyways. It's tight right against the floor.

When I did a new pump on one, a wire came off on the reinsertion of the sender. No gas gauge function. It was faster to re-drop the tank than to cut the floor and fab a panel. Two bolts, three connections, a couple of screws on the filler. Down it comes.

Can't cut the floor with out dropping the tank? Wrong because I did it. Of course I knew what I was doing with the cutoff tool and didn't go completely crazy. There is a very small gap between tank/floor.

Yes the hole I made was VERY excessive but as I said my patience and temper was gone at that point. Car is lucky I didn't go through with my thought of tossing some fireworks in the back once the sending unit was removed.

My hole was cut in about 5 minutes, hence the brutality

bamalongroof wrote:

Thanks everyone for your input... glad to see everyone active in the forum still.
I would like to do another WF this summer.
Tom - if you could email me at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that would be great.
Think I may try to drop the tank it’s almost full if I run into an issue cutting the panel would be a backup.  I still have Joel’s fire wagon to cut a fill panel from. Thanks again, Jeff

A full tank is really no problem though. The picture I posted of the tank removed is a full tank of gas. I just used a floor jack and a piece of plywood to drop it and left the straps on the tank. Simple. Of course I do this stuff for a living on much bigger vehicles so my definition may not apply to others.

Patterns and direction sent to Jeff.

Tom

I see this thread has been around awhile.....
Hopefully, folks have found my even older thread before cutting away way too much of their floor to get fuel pump access..
The way I did my access panel is not a hack job and it's easy access and airtight....
With pictures....

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]