z :: fueling pt. II

Spent most of yesterday helping Phong replace the water pump on his 91 Celica. This job turned out to be a real bitch because of the many, many tiny (and very difficult to access) bolts that were involved in the process. We managed to finish it today, but not before this happened:



Yes, that a is a spurt of coolant coming out of the block as we run it. We had completely neglected to tighten one of the mounting bolts!


This would be a good time to mention Taco Bell, one of the unofficial food providers of The Future. The others include that rib place in Lafayette. and my dear mother.


I spent the morning screwing AN fittings into my fuel pump, and mounting it up to the car. This took WAY too long, as I mis-drilled the holes TWICE, and had to file them out to get the pump mounting bolts to clear some brackets on the car.

Now, kids, is when I tell you what happens when a man really loves a car.


First, he goes out and buys beautiful AN fittings and steel braided -6 hose (I had this left over from the blue Datsun).


Then he chucks the securing piece in a vice, and with a screwdriver and a little bit of luck, works the braided hose into the non-threaded side of the fitting, careful not to bend any of the stainless steel strands.


Then, he screws the flaring piece into the threaded side. As he does this, the cylindrical piece to the left of the threads (which is actually a thin aluminum tube) gets flared out into the inside of the hose, creating a fluid-tight seal.

I forgot to take a picture of the completed piece, but you can all imagine the mechanical beauty that comes with clean, clamp-less, red and blue anodized fittings. <3

(also took the oil pan off today to replace the gasket. I'll snap a shot of the bottom of the bottom end tomorrow.