Car Blog: No idea what I'm doing.: Hot August Nights

Spoiler Alert: I made it to a Hot August Nights event. I also ran into more problems.

(Come on now, that isn't a surprise...)

Vapor Lock issues

Going back to the mechanical pump was a huge mistake. After about 30 minutes of solid driving, I notice the fuel pressure gauge start to drop. It gets so bad after a bit that it literally reads 0 PSI on the gauge. It is at this point that I may or may not die at an intersection. If not that, I'll definitely die or bog if I put any pedal into it.

Why?

What is happening here is that the fuel at the inlet of the pump is basically turning into vapor from the extreme heat. There are many factors at work here but basically those pumps do a much better job at sucking liquid gas than vaporized gas. And with the fuel vaporizing like that, it is actually starting to create more of a 'vacuum' so to speak on the wrong side of the pump.

SOLUTION: Fair enough, time to hook up the electric pump instead.

DIFFICULTY: It has to be done by the next morning; we want to AUTO-CROSS OUR BOATS.

Yep! What better way to test the engine than to drive the boat through cones and surf some asphalt?

Jake was onboard with assisting since he installed the same pump and fuel controller in his car and he is a super cool dude.

STATS:

Fuel Pump: Mallory 110 GPH Electric Fuel pump.
Fuel Controller: Revolution Electronics

The controller is neat because it will shut off your pump if the engine dies and when you turn your key on, it will prime the pump for about 3 seconds and shut off. Sweet!

So If I flip my car, the electric pump won't keep pumping death all over me....wait, if I flip my car...let's not think about that.

Of course I didn't get any pictures, because I suck. I've been in such a hurried panic/stress over getting this done in time, it really slipped my mind.

"AAAAH WIRE EVERYTHING TOGETHER!!!"

So basically, we found a nice spot for the pump under the car, right behind the back seat. I reroute the fuel line to come from the tank, into a fuel filter, then into the pump and finally back into the hard line that goes towards the front of the car.

Then, I removed that stupid mechanical fuel pump (with relative ease this time around) and chucked that dumb piece of metal into a box. Cleaned everything up, slapped some gasket maker on the block off plate and put that back on. Attached some more rubber hose from the hard line at the car to the hardline I made on the engine and boom, all hooked up.

For wiring, I ran wire all the way to the back of the car (under the carpet next to speaker wiring) and through a grommet and connected to the pump itself. The pump itself is currently powered by the controller, which acts as a relay to give the pump direct battery power when it receives a signal from a switched 12v source. That source being the relay I have on the back firewall I installed awhile ago.

I mount the controller in the back of the engine bay next to the switched power block. The controller gets its RPM info from the MSD box which conveniently has a tach out already wired up and ready to hook up. Jacob made quick work of wiring some of that up and I wrapped up powering the controller and pump.

Boom! All set up.

I turned the key and heard the beautiful sound of that electric fuel pump giving life-blood to my engine.

ENTRY TO THE EVENT

Before I leave, I take EVERYTHING out of my trunk. The rules are you have to have all loose stuff out of the car. Guess what I carry in my trunk? A small mechanic's shop. Two tubs with every fluid I would ever need, several sizes of every rubber hose I would need, all gauges of wiring I would ever need, an extra coil, a tool box and then some.

And a spare tire. The kitchen sink would fit as well but I think everyone gets the picture by now.

Anyway, time to go. Jim, Jacob and I take the highway to the Event's Center for some Auto-Crossin' fun, each in our own beast of a car. My Beast handles beautifully and is very responsive. So far, so good!

[Imagine being at the top of a roller coaster and it is slowly starting to crest...]

Yep, something has to go wrong. As I am taking the offramp, I notice my volt readout is below 12 volts.

"Hmm...this isn't good, I should be pulling a strong 13-14 volts..." Well, I was still running fine so I just kept an eye on it.

We pull up to the Auto-X entrance and was greeted by a guy looking like he was about to kick people out of first class and into coach/economy class.

Jim was leading the convoy so he approached him and the conversation went something like this:

"Sorry, this is the Auto Cross entrance, you guys are going to have to go around to park"

"I know, that's where we are heading"

After an eye brow raised look, "Really?"

"Yep"

"In this big thing?" He says as he eyes Jim's lowered, full sized classic Caddy.

"Yep, and that 73 Cougar as well as the big 72 LTD back there as well."

"All right, if you say so"

PROBLEMS

So we pull into the parking lot and right as I'm coming to a stop, I see my fuel pressure tank straight to zero and the car dies in its resting spot, as if the parking spot was made specifically for the Beast.

Turn the key over and nothing. First things that go through my head; controller took a shit or the fuel pump just got fried.

After some minor panic moments, I cut the power wire from the controller to the pump and give it juice straight from the battery. Jim listened for the pump to make any sort of heartbeat.

It did. The pump was working fine - the controller's internal fuse must have flipped. Which means it was overdrawing for some reason....either way, I can't hook the controller back up now until I get back to the shop. I also can't hook the pump straight to the battery without some sort of inline fuse either.

IF ONLY I HAD A TRUNK FULL OF EVERYTHING I WOULD EVER NEED IN THIS SITUATION.

So now what? Well, my bad luck is always overshadowed by some sort of awesome luck. Guess what the auto-cross is next too? A goddamned swapmeet. A place where someone, somewhere is selling something I will need for a classic automobile.

Armed with 20 bucks in cash I borrowed from Jim, I run off into the gypsy land of auto parts.

Tables and tables of this kind of thing. The Swap Meet is a magical place where a person brings their junk in exchange for other people's junk and/or money.

After running from table to table, I acquired the following:

Small package for wire butt connectors: $1.00

Worn pair of wire cutter/crimpers: $9.00 (ripoff)

An inline fuse holder (without the fuse) $2.00

A small box of fuses: $1.00

I run back to the Beast with new found tools and parts in hand.

Find spare wire that I keep in my engine harness. (Yep, it is my "jump" wire. I keep it there just in case I want to power something straight from the battery instead of going from switched, relay, etc) - usually for resting or diagnostic purposes.
Splice in the inline fuse holder into that wire and connect it to a battery source.
Then connect the fuel pump power directly to this wire.
Jim popped in a 7.5 or 10amp fuse in the fuse holder.
Turn key - pump is a go!
Start car.
After several seconds.....it rumbles to life!!!
FRONTIER CAR MEDICINE FOR LIFE

Jim hops in the Beast and we go drive into the queue. Jim just finished navigating the course in his boat so he could help navigate me through it with hopefully not a lot of cone destruction.

Here are videos of one of my runs. [Warning, large cumbersome boat video ahead]

It was so much fun and I want to do it again. This was the first time I've ever done anything like this let alone drive the LTD like a 70's movie. I would do it again in a heart beat!! Next time, I would like to actually go a bit faster and push harder. I'll try again this weekend.

As for the hot-wire job; I'll re-wire all that stuff properly this weekend when I get all my tools back.

Until then, here are some mediocre pictures I took of just the swap meet.