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*Rust Alert* - My attempt at saving another VR V8 Fuel Sender Unit

LXCHEV

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Picked up a VR 5litre V8 Calais project car last year. Wasn't running, but took a punt and figured it was worth saving. I'll start a separate thread on the car itself at some stage soon, but for now I thought I'd share my first horror story as I embark on the rescue mission - trying to get this thing up and running.

It had been a dual-fuel car and had also been off the road for the past 6+ years. The previous owner had also been fighting fuel system issues, so I figured I'd do things right and start at the rear of the car... time to pull the big V8 tank out and have a look....

The stench .... oh my god the stench - I've never smelt anything like it. Stale AND rusty fuel. It took weeks to get the garage smelling fresh again (I'm serious!)...

Here's what I discovered when I removed the fuel sender unit assembly...

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07GTS

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yep thats what petrol does when people use gas all the time and never petrol, can only assume the whole tank/ fuel system is like that
 

LXCHEV

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Yeah it can only be described as feral. Again, I would just like to mention the smell - the evil, evil smell! Yes, the tank was the same - pure filth. The in-tank return hose had perished long ago too.... I'll come back to the tank at a later stage....

After walking away from the car with frustration for quite a while, I quickly discovered that replacement V8 tanks and sender units are not exactly easy to come by, nor are they cheap.... I hadn't yet binned either the sender or the tank (I came so close)...

So I took a closer look at the sender unit and tried some undiluted white vinegar on it. I didn't have enough to submerge it, so just washed it on with a brush, and repeated several times over 2-3 hours..... then threw on some bi-carb soda (to neutralise the acid component) and then washed off with water. I may have another go, but for now, I've just sprayed some WD40 all over it to help protect it. This is where I'm at so far....

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It's actually come up surprisingly well. None of the rust was 'structural'. The return pipe was completely blocked (even compressed air wouldn't clear it) - but after a few minutes with some wire I managed to clear it and then blew everything out with air.

I think I still need to do something further to treat/cleanse the inside of the pipes - keen to hear what you think. Should I try the vinegar inside the pipes (I'm reluctant to as I don't think I could pour the bi-carb soda in and hit every bit of surface). Is there an alternative I can soak in?
 

LXCHEV

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Whilst messing around, figured I'd test the sender unit float arm....

Empty position reads 33 ohms and full gives me 272 ohms. I found another thread on these forums that indicated that's almost perfect. If that's the case, I'm rapt. I'll check that against the factory manual - but looks like it's all fit to use.

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07GTS

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yea the smell is crazy i know all about it ive fixed many a sender unit from this type of issue, the actual sender may be ok at each end but keep the multimeter on it and move it thru the range and wriggle it around it should stay consistent between the full and empty readings and not go open circuit at all or if ur half way wriggling it and it flashing round the 100 to 250 ohms its bad, u can use the nulon carby/TB cleaner and spray it in the tube and let it sit in there for a while if u can block one end think its the purple spray can, just be careful around plastics/rubbers as it can eat it
 

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Amazing how it came out ok. The starting pictures look like it was only fit for bin fodder.
 

LXCHEV

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I do have a couple of questions:

1. The plastic return line fitting had an o-ring on it (which I broke)... is this something that needs replacing upon re-installing a new return hose? I thought the barbs and clamp would be more than enough to seal this up??

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2. Just curious to understand what purpose this unit performs when installed on the pump outlet?

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3. I'll be buying a brand new fuel pump. What's recommended these days? I'm leaning towards a Delphi. Can't seem to find Bosch anymore. There is also Goss or Fuelmiser.
 

LXCHEV

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To your point about the mid-range readings - they were all spot-on. Moving the float arm throughout it's full range gave me a nice smooth progressive reading, so we're winning.

Cheers for the suggestion on the Nulon carby cleaner - I think that sounds like a good move. I'll report back.
 
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07GTS

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that plastic return fitting actually comes off the metal pipe so any fitting of hose to the plastic is fine hose clamp ect, yea stay away from the last two just go delphi or bosch of u can find one the bosch i think comes with some of the rubber fittings the pump suits in not 100% tho, that coupling is just a dampener for pulsations in the fuel delivery but many just use hose without any issues
 

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I think I still need to do something further to treat/cleanse the inside of the pipes - keen to hear what you think. Should I try the vinegar inside the pipes (I'm reluctant to as I don't think I could pour the bi-carb soda in and hit every bit of surface). Is there an alternative I can soak in?
Some sort of low pressure / slow volume electrical pump, a kids bucket for the vinegar, lots of tubing. Keep the pump input hose relatively high in the bucket so it doesn't pick up shite, and just pump the vinegar through the tubes back to the bucket for a few hours. When done, tip the vinegar and make up a water/soda mix to pump through for 10 minutes. Any old wiper/washer/fluid pump and tank combo of any car might do instead of a bucket/pump combo.
 
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