Let me start by saying I am NOT a “new” car guy. I’ll never be the one raving about the new Tesla or bragging about the amazing benefits of gas direct injection. I’m a simple man with simple pleasures. I like my fuel toilets and HEI distributors.
I’ve helped revive a few pre-60s cars (thank you Alan!) but never an FI car. So when I started this venture, I did the standard thing… Google the f* out of it! I’ll toss a few links below.
Step 1 – The Rings
First thing I did was pull all 4 plugs and dump some Marvel’s down each hole. Was this needed? Probably not. But I figured why not… just on the off chance the rings were stuck, may as well do it.
This turned into a debacle. Apparently 17 year old me didn’t know about anti-seize, because those f*ers were stuck stuck. I got them out, but not without a lot of PB Blaster and time. 78.6% sure I’m going to need to chase those threads. OH, and make sure you blow out the plug valley before you start… pretty sure Peter Rabbit had a nest on each one.
Step 2 – The Fuel
See, this is when I’d normally grab a pop bottle, fill it with gas and start filling float bowls… and run a line into a Jerry can… but noooo, not in the FI world. For the s10, a quick Google reviled the best way to drain the tank was to pull the bed. Cool, cool, cool, cool… Ya, so here we are.
Pulling the bed on a mini. Hard? No. Annoying? Yes. All good though, at some point I was going to do it (air bags!!).
Aaannnyyywwwhhhooo, after pulling the bed I yanked the fuel pump/filter/thingy and did the ol’ hose suck thing (that’s what she said) then put back the pump..
The next steps were pretty basic: change oil, clean up plugs, add fresh gas with a SHIT TON of Seafoam in it.
The Startup:
Next it was time to get serious… I tossed in a battery, pulled the plugs one last time, pulled the fuel pump relay, and put in a compression tester. Long story short, we’re good to go. I tossed the plugs back in and cranked it until I got some good oil pressure.
After confirming we’re good to go, I tossed the fuel pump relay back in aaaaannnnnndddddd nothing.
Long story short, when you pull the bed, there are 2 grounds on either corner of the bed. Apparently, the one on the driver’s side is for (among other things) the fuel pump. So after re-connecting that guy, I could now hear the pump go and on the second try it came to life!
Conclusion
After a good hour of running (and about 10lbs of mouse shit spewing from the tail pipe) I got it to heat up and open the t-stat… so far with 0 CEL codes!
Next up will be some brake line action and …? At this point I need to shit or get off the pot. Its time to start thinking good and hard about a suspension setup!