The next issue I discovered when test fitting the Pro-Flo on the block. The valve cover hit the intake on the passenger side. This was because I had replaced the valve cover gasket on the driver side but not the passenger side. Below you can see it hits on the intake runner.
Driver side close, but clears.
Some others have had the same problem and the instructions mention some clearancing might be needed. I just installed the other replacement gasket to match the driver side.
That solved it.
Cleaned up the old gasket material and got the intake installed and torqued down.
The next issue was the alternator bracket; it wouldn't bolt to the thermostat housing anymore.
For the time being, I have just cut that tab off. I wanted to keep this bracket because it has the clamp to hold the AC and heater hoses in place. Later I will weld it back on to fit.
Next up was the fuel system. I think this probably took the most time. My plan had been to run a TBI pickup tank with a TBI sender and EP381 or Walbro equivalent. I could not find a TBI sending unit in stock anywhere. Plan B was an external pump.
@folkenheath helped me find the best pricing which turned out to be an Edelbrock kit that includes a Walbro pump and adjustable pressure regulator.
https://www.edelbrock.com/inline-fu...tric-fuel-pump-3594-regulator-1728-35943.html There are probably cheaper setups but I specifically wanted the Walbro pump and this was the best pricing to get both the pump and regulator I needed.
They don't say it anywhere I saw on the Internet listings, but it is a Walbro pump.
Another advantage is this system is kinda designed for the Pro-Flo 4 because at 43psi it will draw less than 10 amps. That means it will run directly of the harness. This is something Edelbrock specifically points out in the description.
I'm still running the TBI tank so it has the sump pan for the fuel pickup. Old versus new.
Here's a picture of the baffle tray inside the tank.
Then I ordered a carb style sending unit with a return line; my truck didn't have a return.
I was going to run hose all the way from the fuel rail to the tank, but then decided to use some nickle-copper hard line with rubber line at each end. I was looking for a way to make a hose barb on the ends of the hard line and I came across this $30 "bubble" flare tool.
It works great!
My plan with the external pump was to keep it back away from the cab in case it was noisy (which it's not), I used the factory hard line feed and vent and added the new return line. Here's the factory setup:
The feed line goes thru the frame and the vent line goes over the top with a short piece of hard line in the middle. For the new setup, I ran the feed line to the rear of the cab mount and used the hole in frame for the return line and mirrored the hardline to the factory feed hard line. The vent is over the top of the frame but with all rubber in an abrasion protection sleeve.
The pump is on a bracket to get it at the bottom of the tank. I put a piece of rubber between the bracket and the frame for extra sound and vibration isolation.
The only thing I didn't foresee was the emergency brake cable being all up in the fuel pump's business.
The inlet line is zip tied over and you can see I added a shield to the outlet hose. It doesn't touch the cable, but I was thinking there's some chance it could bounce against in some situations. This was one of those situations where I had a plan and at the end of executing it, I realized I could have done it differently and maybe better.
I was thinking you could move the pump all the way up to front of the tank and it would be inside the frame rail but still at the bottom level of the tank. However you would have a little longer suction line. And the factory hard line would need to be cut down. Also the pump would be right under the cab. So I'm not sure how much better that location would be, but I think if this was a trail rig I would have gone with that option.
I can report the pump is not noisy enough to bother me. You can't hear it at all in the cab over the exhaust noise. I can hear it standing outside the truck, but it's pretty slight.
Picture upload limit reached. More on the next post.