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Sunday, September 26, 2010

327 - Firing Up Our Fuel Injected 327 - Strike One

Strike One!  It didn't start.  Ty & Bonnie T., Dennis & Annette K. and Dewayne & Jane J. joined Gerri & I for the first attempt to start the 327 Corvette.  This is one of many video's Gerri took throughout the day but it gives you a general idea of how things went.  The video is about 3 minutes long so if you're on a slow connection you may want to pass.


After lots of trial and error we finally concluded that lack of fuel was the issue and we believe it may boil down to this.  There were two versions of the drive cable and housing for the high pressure fuel pump.  There was a long version and a short version.  The difference between the two is about a half inch.  Below is a picture of our set and it's mismatched.  The housing is long and the cable is short.  We believe that when it's installed the cable end to the high pressure pump is not engaged.  The engine cranks but the fuel pump doesn't.  Thanks Ty for noodling that one.  I am not sure how long it would have taken me to figure it out.  I will order a proper set today.



A more disturbing issue exists though.  During the prefiring preparations we ran the oil pump to make sure the engine was well lubricated.  We found an oil leak and it appears to be coming from this oil galley plug (double click on the photo for a good look).  This plug, when installed properly, requires sealant and 20 ft lbs of torque.  If this is the source of the oil leak it will require removal of the head and that will require the removal of many other components.  If you know how to tighten this plug without removing the head please be sure to let us know.  I am not happy about this.  More to follow.


The fuel injection unit is now back on the bench.  While we wait for the new drive cable and housing I am sure we will be exploring and learning more about how this unit works.  I will say the education we are receiving is a definite plus.

Thanks to Dennis, Dewayne and Ty for all your help.  I am sure these guys would agree that when it did run it really did sound awesome!

8 comments:

  1. Hi John this site may be of interest, you probably know it already, but this is the man for fuel injection lots of good info on this site.
    http://www.jerrybramlett.net/index.html
    I watch with interest as to your endeavours, for my fuelie is on the water between the US and AUS and you will make my journey a little easier thanks

    cheers Ausy Pete

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  2. Pete,

    Thanks for the comment. I have visited that site and I did find lots of good information. It was especially helpful when we were trying to figure out FI spider. Keep watching and be sure to chime in anytime.

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  3. John
    I have all the works service manuals for the FI unit if you need any pages scanned let me know
    my email is hofs@bigpond.com

    cheers Ausy Pete

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  4. John, on the picture of you pointing to the oil leak, it looks like I can see the bell housing and your missing a connection hole in the bell to the block? Take a look. Jim p

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  5. Pete,

    Yes, thanks. I'll be in touch shortly. Thanks again.

    John

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  6. Jim,

    That is a hole that is used for some other purpose other than the bellhousing. Maybe it's for an option that we don't have. Don't know. It's not for the bellhousing though.

    Thanks for the keen eye and your interest.

    John

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  7. John
    re the block plug under the head, I think this is the cross drilling for your oil for the disy, if you can see the hex in the plug you could try a ball ended alan key you would need to get a burr to expose the hex at as steep an agle as you can to minimise the scallop,but you can use the ball ended alan key on an angle, it should be a dry seal plug so hopefuly its just not done up
    just put a small pipe on the small end of the sAlan key this will give you enough leverage
    cheers Ausy Pete

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  8. Pete,

    I like it! I'll give it a try and post the results. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete