Getting old burb back on the road. Looking for advise

[Appaloosa]

I have a tank off a 1999 K1500 6.5 TD Suburban that I would sell for $300 a ton - you can check the weight of the tank to make me an offer if you are interested.

We would have to figure something out on shipping

I think my re-done old tank is gonna work...if not I let you know, thanks.

 

[Appaloosa]

NiCopp has lines that are good and will not rust. Ive had good luck with the lines, and very easy to bend.

that stuff looks pretty good I might try that. sounds easy to bend. looks to be similar priced as stainless.

 

[Appaloosa]

See above.

thanks for the answeres, Do you think the walbro pump will be able to pull fuel with a water seperator and pre-filter in front of it? what size filter do most use? What do you think of those wrap on blanket stye heaters you put around the filters?

 

[ak diesel driver]

that stuff looks pretty good I might try that. sounds easy to bend. looks to be similar priced as stainless.

Pretty much the stuff I was talking about earlier

 

[reddtekk]

I used NiCopp for everything and found it really easy to work with. I learned about the reactivity to biofuel blends after installing the NiCopp fuel lines, so there may come a time when I'll have to replace the fuel lines, but let's hope that is a while away. I've used stainless lines on many industrial automation projects and wouldn't shy away from making fuel lines out of stainless. Yes it is harder to work with, but for us in the rust belt, it would be nice to be able to do it once. Aside from that, NiCopp is great if you want to save some money over the stainless prefab brake lines and don't mind bending and flaring your own.
Also JCWhitney has poly fuel tanks, but they're pricey. Steel ones are so cheap that I just went with that since I was running out of money for the project. Good luck, hope it's going well!


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[Appaloosa]

Yah, I think I will order NiCopp for brake lines and stainless for fuel. Probably should have just ordered a new steel tank. spend about 3 hours tonight welding around the filler neck, building up metal. didn't realize it was as thin as it was...

 

[jrsavoie]

Use a chipping hammer to check you cross members. I didn't notice mine being bad on the Tahoe until I hit them with the chipping hammer.

 

[reddtekk]

Nice paint work! I didn't even have any holes in mine but saw where the PO had patched it. I just didn't feel like crawling around in the mud under that rig again if I could avoid it. The Dorman replacement that I got for my pickup felt really well made and I am glad I put it up there.


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[WarWagon]

thanks for the answeres, Do you think the walbro pump will be able to pull fuel with a water seperator and pre-filter in front of it? what size filter do most use? What do you think of those wrap on blanket stye heaters you put around the filters?

I pulled fuel through a CAT water separator then the walbro and then pushed through the factory filter. (Water separators like to be pulled through vs. pushed through.) The water separator served as a prefilter to protect the lift pump. I would push through the final fuel filter. The Walbro must have a prefilter or you can ruin it like I did.

I am in AZ so fuel heating isn't a concern. But just a filter blanket won't keep you running in the cold - you have to heat the fuel. These systems move a lot of fuel and return a lot to the tank.

A filter head heater example:
http://www.wasteoilheater.us/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=120WATT_12V_HEATER_ELEMENT

 

[reddtekk]

On the subject of fuel heating, the IP is in a great place to heat fuel, and should do just fine at that as long as the fuel gets to it. I've got a '96 VW Passat which does NOT have a lift pump and does NOT have any fuel heaters to my knowledge. What it DOES have is a nifty little thermostat in the fuel filter. The fuel goes in on the dirty side, clean side goes to the IP, and bypass line goes back to the dirty side of the fuel filter via the thermostat. Once the fuel reaches a certain temp, the thermostat valves it such that the fuel returns to the tank rather than the under-hood fuel filter. My car starts and runs fine without glow plugs down to 20f, and though it will start and run without glows somewhat below 20f, it will sometimes false-start. Waiting for the glow plugs below 20f the car starts fine every time. I know this isn't really an apples-to-apples comparison to the 6.5TD, but what I wanted to bring up was that (a) without anything fancy the car has NEVER let me down, except once when a weak battery finally just gave up, and (b) that the VW filter cartridge and thermostat may be a pretty nice addition before the LP to reduce fuel heating system load. The VW one is pretty small though, so perhaps someone makes something similar but V8 size, or maybe 2 will be necessary, or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree here...

Filter: http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=50&products_id=254
Thermostat: http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29_115&products_id=727

 

[Will L.]

Want to know how refineries deal with getting water out of the crude before running it through their equipment?
Why does Mercedes Benz, king of the idi engine use a fuel heater on every single engine before the separator?
You don't need to run heaters for you fuel system, just like most the engines up through the '40's did not need an oil filter or fuel filter.

If you want to see something really cool here is a lesson on separating water from fuel (or oil). Take a quart mason jar, Fill up half way with diesel fuel and another 10% or so of water. shake the heck out of it to let it mix in. Now watch how long it takes to separate. Even pour it through you favorite separator and then see how well it did.
Now heat it up to 195% F. and do it again.
Now do it with just your regular filter, no water separator and mix in a little used engine oil and even a bit of sand. The difference in cleaning and separating anything from fuel or oil at it's proper temperature is HUGE! Heck - take an oil filter and pour 1 gallon of old grimy oil threw a new filter and cut it apart. Now do it with the oil warmed up.

If your going to put a system together, this is along the line of what I would run in colder country, here in the desert, just the heater hose heat exchanger head is plenty since no cold starts are a concern.https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/fuelfilterheater.php I know nothing about that company and am not recommending purchasing from them- example only If http://leroydiesel.com/product-category/fuel-delivery/ sells the heater set up like this with the mini blanket and heated head definitely get it from him. I glanced on his page, but he has a ton of stuff not on there iirc.

 

[Appaloosa]

Well I'm still sifting through my fuel delivery system options... what about a fuel heating element submerged in the fuel tank? maybe that sounds similar to a bomb...found some stuff on the web using this system though. still looking for a good filter setup...

wasted some more time today breaking stuff. twisted two exhuast manifold crossover bolts off today....rushed it I guess. damn rusty trucks. soaked em with penetrating oil for 2 dyas, heated with torch, tried to be carefull, then twisted them right off. luckily the turbo side leaked enough oil over the years to keep the bolts from growing in as bad as the driver side. 3 hours, a torch, drill bits, easy out, PBR, and a tap. back to stock.

tried to get exhuast ready while i wait for brake and fuel lines... and go to my real job..

thanks for the help. I'm going to do more research on the fuel pumps and filter heaters. gotta get something ordered soon though..

 

[reddtekk]

Will I have a gallon of watery cloudy fuel and I will take your advice. The reason that I suggested the VW setup as being a nice idea is because it focuses on maintaining the fuel in the filter and the IP at a constant temp. The VW pump has a temperature sensor in it (apparently they adjust other fuel delivery parameters according to fuel temp). It doesn't take long to get the fuel in that loop up to temp, don't remember exactly how hot they make it but it's pretty toasty, and once there it stays there. So they are heating the fuel with all the electronic doo dads in the IP but giving priority to the fuel in the IP and filter by using a thermostatically controlled loop rather than bleeding the heat off into the tank and applying a bunch of heating elements to keep up with the flow. Both will surely work and I'm not saying that nice warm fuel isn't going to help, I'm just offering some perspective to the way another manufacturer did it and testifying to the reliability of the system from my experience. To the OP, nice work so far! Coming along great!


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[Will L.]

I am not familiar with their set up, does the fuel filter have a real water separator, or fall short like the 6.5 or 7.3 ffm in that dept. And having 100% saturation of fuel at temp before separator is key. Definitely no shooting down the vw, they have some good engineers on the books for sure.

 

[reddtekk]

It is a replaceable cartridge assembly. I am pretty sure that they are relying on the element to do it all, but haven't cut one up. Next time I'll do so, but I am going to err on the side of it just being a decent filter, nothing more. I am more interested in the concept than anything else, as it mimics the temperature control method employed in all liquid cooled engines, which allows it to heat up quickly without over-heating or adding complexity. I also like that it's all mechanical. Neither VW or GM is known for doing extraordinarily well at making reliable electronic gizmos in my book, so this comforts me.


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[NVW]

For a source of SS fuel line get to know someone who works in "Instrumentation" in the Oil Field. They always have miss bent tube.

 

[Appaloosa]

Seems to me the coldest place on my 6.5 would be along the steel frame, 2' from the ground, open to the elements...What about mounting the new LP and pre-filter under the hood. Seems like this would help keep the filter warm and out of the weather. Any body done this? Is this too far from the tank for the LP to pull fuel?

 

[ak diesel driver]

most pumps like to push

 

[Will L.]

Yep, pumps push not suck. Hummers have the lp up on the firewall, but it's actually a shorter distance than placement on a 4 door pickup. Keep it as close to the tank as possible. Filters are usually best close to the lift pump, but GM put the filter just before the IP well away from the LP. I believe this, along with the "relay mod" being stock in hummers is why hummer LP lasts longer than pickups with the same LP,IP, and FFM.

 

[Appaloosa]

I like some of the features of the FASS pump, filter, heater combo. I'm sure its not flow on fail, but looks like a good system http://www.fassride.com/

I'm afraid a FASS system at $600 is a little over board for my truck thats worth about $700...

I think I"ll just go with the Walbro FRC10, with a remote prefilter with 4 ports so I can add heat probes. Any other better Ideas are greatly appreciated. thanks.