im trying to get my S4 fuel pump out so i can put in my 225LPH Walbro in...and check my voltages to see if i need to rewire. the bolts that hold the assembly in are VERY rusty...there isnt much depth left there to get them out...i know its common and people have just used some pentrating oil to get them out...but is there another way? i havent even tried to turn them yet cause i cant get much grip with the screwdriver at all...im thinking vice grips? anyone know of any tricks?


-Matt

 

use an impact driver

 

i used a good set of vice grips, then afterwards i used galvanized recesed allen bolts with lock washers and spacers to keep it tight. works magnificently, i'll try to post a pic for ya.

 

yeah mine were so rusty you couldnt see the star on the head. I used a hammer and a chisel. If you chisel at at angle they will eventually turn but you will ruin the head. otherwise the fast and easy way it to just cut the head off and when you take the plate off you can take the rest of the bolt out with a vise grip.

 

vise grip and replace with allen head or hex nut bolts

 

ill try the vice grips if i get a chance...does anyone know the size of the bolt so i can go pick them up before i take it all apart?

 

just take one of the bolts to the local hardware store and match them up

 

yeah that would be the plan but if someone knows the size i can just pick them up on my way home from work...

 

Drill them and then use an EZ-out.

 

if memeory serves which may not be right. i believe its m4x1.25

 

i used m4 -.7 and they seemed to work fine. anyways i visegripped what i could then drilled the rest out.

 

Nobody else uses the impact driver method? Weird.

 

Are you talking about the eight small screws that hold them in? Mine were pretty rusty on all of my cars so far... I used PB blaster and kept spraying them over and over while I used a small pick to clear all of the rust and crap out of the screw heads. After I got them out, I used a tumbler and they came out looking great. Using this method, I've never rounded or stripped a single one. TB plate screws are a different story

 

personally i dont want to chance a spark, that and/or dent anything

 

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78794

 

Acidshock, NO!...you want me to drill near my gas tank? do you want me to die?....ill use the vice grips....

 

Um, if you do not disconnect the fuel lines and put a cloth around the area you are working, you will be in little or no danger. I have done this before several times and I am still here without so much as a burnt hair.

 

The last time I had to remove these screws I drilled the heads off. Unless you are somehow leaking fuel out onto the top of the pump flange, drilling is fine.

I wouldn't necessarily drill the broken ones out when the tank flange has been removed, however.

 

Take compressed air, carb cleaner, brake parts cleaner, whatever you can get that has some force behind it. Spray all the bolt heads to clean them out, and all around the pump for that matter, so that no crap gets into the tank upon removal. I just take a regular screwdriver and a hammer, put the screwdriver on the screw in proper alignment and hit the top of it with the hammer quite hard several times. This transfers energy down through the screw and "shocks" the threads loose...it also serves a double purpose of seating the screwdriver into the head of the screw well.

An impact driver will do the same thing, but for those without one, this method works 95% of the time. IF it doesnt, the next step is to take a dremel and cut a flat channel in the head so that a bigger, wider flat head screwdriver can be used on it. The chisel method is similar, but it's often difficult to get the proper angle to apply the amount of force you want.

IF you have to, use the dremel to cut the head off, and vise grips once the pump is out exposing more of the threads. They are almost too small to try and drill through by hand properly, so drill and ez-out is pretty much out of the question.

 

i still havent had a chance to try...im at work right now and i have to go to my girlfriends after. so maybe tomorrow before work, or after work...who knows...they WILL come out.

quick question just so i dont have to search...what voltages should i be getting at my pump. What is the minimum i should be getting?

 

i used a screwdriver and a hammer, and got like 6 of the 8 out, and i GUARENTEE yourse arent as bad as mine were . the other 2 came out with a robogrip. which is a terrible tool by the way, i hate it. lol