by "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
Published 04/24/2017 at 10:30
by "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
Published 04/24/2017 at 10:30
Tags: ford
; f-150
; wrenching
; nitrophyl
; blog
STARS: 4
I learned something new.
A friend’s been daily-driving this ’94 F-150 since he bought it a few months ago. It’s needed some work, and still needs some work, but this weekend we were able to resolve a very irritating issue. He’s had to visit the gas station every day or two because the front and rear tanks both leak. Rust-tacular!
He’s been able to get by with just putting a little bit of gas in the front tank at a time, because it only leaks if filled more than half-way, hence the frequent refueling stops. So he ordered up a new front tank, along with new straps, and a new pump/sending unit assembly. (Dropping the tank is just too much work to take a chance re-using the original pump, so we figured this would be money well-spent.)
We got the truck up in the air , dropped the old front tank, and were just about to put the new pump/hanger assembly in the new tank, when I noticed something. There was a big gash in the new sending unit’s float, which had also cut through a little plastic baggie that the float arm was wrapped in for shipping.
Oddly, there was zero damage to the box, which must mean that something happened during or prior to packaging, and somebody didn’t notice (or didn’t care), and just tossed it in the box anyway. This “gash” had broken the float into two pieces, and broken off some small chunks, too.
Because this was a special-ordered part, it wasn’t likely that we would be able to get a replacement on a Saturday. And we quickly dismissed the idea of trying to tape or glue it together, and returned to the parts store to weigh our options.
Sure enough, they didn’t have another one in stock. BUT they did have some other sending units in stock, which gave the counter guy an idea... He located one with the same size & shape of float, and we were able to carefully grind down the crimped end of the rod and swap the good float over to the otherwise-intact arm. After re-crimping the rod to keep the float and washer from sliding off, it was good as new. (And yes, the cannibalized pump was set aside with a strict DO NOT SELL warning so that the store would not pass the problem on to another customer.)
Anyway, while at the store, I noted that the float seemed to made of some kind of plastic, which the guy at the counter quickly identified as “nitro-something” (I forgot what he called it, so I had to try googling it later). After a quick search, I guess he must have said “Nitrophyl”.
Supposedly, Nitrophyl doesn’t leak or saturate like older float materials, which I think is super-cool. I had no idea this stuff existed, but apparently it’s been aroudn for a while now. I thought the only options out there were brass and plastic . Now I kinda wish I had looked into alternative float material instead of soldering the carburetor float back together on my father’s CL100 last year.
"boxrocket" (boxrocket)
04/23/2017 at 22:37, STARS: 5
I think what is more impressive is that the parts store counter guy - and on the weekend! - had a creative and constructively-viable solution.
"PS9" (PS9)
04/23/2017 at 22:38, STARS: 1
Ahh, some jackass just drew a red marker across the float so it wouldn’t work anymore. Common prank.
Another common prank; stick a red circle with a slash through it on the engine so it won’t start anymore. Kids and their pranks these days...
"XJDano" (xjdano)
04/23/2017 at 22:41, STARS: 0
From what I just read it sounds like the original broken float would have worked anyway. I don’t think it would have been less buoyant because it was missing a few prices and cracked. Also I would not really want to eat a brown banana or bruised apple, I would have done same.
I wonder if you could just order a large piece and have it milled on a CNC to your own spec. The few fuel pumps I remember handling had this hard plastic on the end.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/23/2017 at 22:43, STARS: 1
That’s the same guy that introduced me to Nicopp tubing. He’s been real helpful. He even managed to find me an alternator for a Skytrak that I was working on (CAT engine).
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/23/2017 at 22:47, STARS: 0
It might have, maybe? I’d really rather not try it, and more importantly, it wasn’t my decision to make anyway. The truck’s owner was pretty pissed when he opened the box, and this is something that at least needed to be brought to the parts store’s attention, even if he was willing to give it a shot.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/23/2017 at 22:49, STARS: 1
Never underestimate the power of MSPaint lol.
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
04/24/2017 at 07:07, STARS: 3
I’m impressed that you have a real parts guy who was able to solve the problem.
"19JRC99" (19jrc99)
04/25/2017 at 02:33, STARS: 1
That’s a damn good looking truck.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/25/2017 at 09:25, STARS: 0
In that pic, you can just barely see the rust around the rear wheelwells, and the clear coat peeling from the hood, but it’s still better-looking than my truck haha.