Technical Fuel pump rebuild help

**Resolved, see posts further down for solution***

I had the fuel pump in my coupe peter out at the end of December, so I ordered a rebuild kit. Due to holidays and shipping delays, it showed up yesterday. Eager to get my car running again I had already stripped, cleaned and prepped my fuel pump, so this morning I started dropping parts in.

Immediately I saw that the one way valves were a very poor fit. The old ones were press fit in, making them a bit of a trick to remove. The new ones are around .003-.004 smaller than the holes, so they have nothing to retain them. I tried to stake one in, but it is impossible to displace enough material to press the valve down into it's gasket to seal.



Am I doing it wrong? Should I apply some sort of sealant or adhesive to the valve, then stake it?

Open my second pump and see if they fit better?

Pretty frustrated, I was hoping to have the car running enough to get it under cover before the next snow coming, as it died in my open driveway.

 

You might want to mention what fuel pump you have and where the parts came from.

 

Fuel pump is a AC 588 from a '48 Plymouth.
Kit came from Vic's Dodge garage.
Not trying to blame vendor, may well be operator error.

 

I wasn’t implying you wanted to place blame.
But those that can help you need to know what you are working on. The reason I asked where the kit came from, is those that have had the same pump, might know who to buy from, who not to buy from and also things related to that pump.
If I was to give my experience rebuilding fuel pumps for a Massey Ferguson tractor, wouldn’t help ya much

 

I got it. Had to fashion a sort of seal driver and swage them. Now they fit snug. At the expense of my pride, I will leave this up, in the case someone else has the same issue.

 

Hillbilly Werewolf, I've had similar issues with FORD rebuilt fuel pumps. The valves would rattle around in the seats and need to be disassembled and repaired before you even install them on the engine. I managed to stake them in but I think your way may be better and more feasible. Good info.
The pump housing is cast iron, the valve itself is pressed steel. The cast iron is difficult to stake safely without cracking or breaking. Thanks for the tip!

 

Could you post a couple of pictures,please?

 

I've encountered similar problems trying to rebuild pumps....I gave it up, mostly. The guys who do it for a living know where to get the right parts. I'll give them the money to do it.

Of course, these days getting anyone to do anything presents it's own challenges, unfortunately

 

Yes, I will take some pictures at lunch, while I finish up building it.

 

A 1/2 socket fit one. A few solid taps with a hammer and it got much tighter. A few more and it expanded enough for a good seal.

For the other side, the socket wouldn't fit over the frame of the valve, so after a thorough search of my work, I found a junk collet that fit over it but had a thin enough wall to only press the edge. Due to collets being fragile I opted to use a shop press on this one. Again I went a little ways, stopped, and checked. Then applied pressure again. I don't know if you could crush these things, but didn't want to find out. You can see collet ended up breaking while I was using it, but was able to hold it together enough to finish the job. A dedicated tool would be easy enough to make, may even be able to find the right size tubing.

I almost missed the lower spring retainer, it was stuck to the old diaphragm.


I used the old pin for the arm, because the new pin was .010 undersized. I don't know if the rebuild kits from other vendors are better, but I think I will try one from someone else next time.

As a note, when bead blasting the fuel pump body, I left the old valves and pin in place so the bores wouldn't get larger. I also took the time to file/ stone the mating surfaces totally flat.
I would assume a professional rebuilder would do these same things, but it is one of the advantages of DIY, knowing they are done.
All in all, it wasn't horrible to do. When I track down a dual action pump I will plan to rebuild it myself. May also do the spare pump I have, to keep in the trunk on long trips.

 

Now I remember why I don't do them any more!

 

Well, I guess I didn't learn my lesson. I just bought a core AC dual action pump to rebuild in a few months.

 

I don't change the check valves in fuel pumps, but I always test them by blowing or sucking through them. I've never come across a bad one in a vintage pump. However new pumps often use a cheesy plastic insert with umbrella seals, which do go bad by deforming and thus failing to seal.

But then I make my own diaphragms with "Hypalon" material so I don't buy kits.