Rocket Man's 2008 Bagged CC Silverado Build AKA "THE MACHINE"

[Rocket Man]

Well never mind. The OEM lock ring will work fine with just drilling and tapping the holes just like I had done with that steel ring. I have no idea why they went to the trouble of making that one out of 1/8” steel. Originally they had used some 5/16” head sheet metal screws and half were stripped out plus they tried to use the factory O-ring which didn’t seal due to the ragged cut out. There was no gasket so every time I filled up or gas would slosh up it would leak around the pump so I made cork gaskets and changed to machine threaded screws. I think this time I’ll install the screws from the inside so they’re studs sticking up and then I’ll use nuts with nylock to secure the pump. That will be better IMO.

 

[Fless]

I don't know what your fuel pump flange looks like, or its size, but here's a pic of the Flex Fuel pump gasket (my defective one). Might be something to try for a seal. GM Genuine G39. Might be too thick on the top.

 

[Rocket Man]

The problem with the OEM gaskets is the fact that the hole that will end up being the cutout for the pump will not be close to perfect at all because every one of these cells come with a pre-drilled hole with a mounting plate in it that’s too small for a stock GM fuel pump ( I’m assuming from the picture of the new one that it will be the same issue) so I’ll end up with something similar to what the current cell has. I’ll try to make it cleaner but it will most likely still have the half-holes towards the inside. Which is where the stock gasket would try to seal against but it’s not going to work. That’s why the original O-ring wouldn’t work.

I made cork gaskets last time and they sealed up good. I have one that goes under the flange of the pump that’s wide and is the main seal, and another that goes around the perimeter of the pump flange that’s a spacer to enable the mount ring to sandwich the 2 layers and seal the outer diameter. It worked last time. I still have to trim a bit, might remake one or the other but they’re close.

And I’ll only have 7 bolts in this one instead of the 10 originally that I had to use because that stupid steel ring had that many.

 

[Rocket Man]

The cell arrived today. It’s virtually the exact same unit as the old one except it’s red. I just need to remove the fill cap and enlarge the hole for the pump and do the same where the sending unit is- remove it and drill the hole bigger and then install my fill tube. Which is exactly what they did with the previous one.

It does have a bent mounting tab even though the box was unmolested. I sent the seller a message suggesting a $40 discount instead of sending it back for a replacement. Im sure I can bend it back pretty easily without damaging the powder coat.

 

[Tonyrodz]

The cell arrived today. It’s virtually the exact same unit as the old one except it’s red. I just need to remove the fill cap and enlarge the hole for the pump and do the same where the sending unit is- remove it and drill the hole bigger and then install my fill tube. Which is exactly what they did with the previous one.

It does have a bent mounting tab even though the box was unmolested. I sent the seller a message suggesting a $40 discount instead of sending it back for a replacement. Im sure I can bend it back pretty easily without damaging the powder coat.

Should be an easy enough fix. Hopefully they'll give you the discount, just for the aggravation.

 

[Rocket Man]

Hope they do. It’s not being returned lol. I got the cutouts done, just have to drill and tap the holes. I was busy finishing up painting my kitchen and dining room ceilings and adding a ceiling box for an island light today so I didn’t spend much time on it.

 

[Rocket Man]

It’s ready to be installed. I’ll probably do it this afternoon. Should be gtg. It sure looks way better.

 

[Rocket Man]

All done. Did a quick polish on the rear billets while it was on jack stands, got rid of the winter stuff. I didn’t take a lot of time on them. I had a couple DTC’s for the FPCM but I cleared them and checked data on the Tech2. Everything looks good. I left the tailgate off for now, I’ll roll like this tomorrow when I go grocery shopping. I’m no longer ashamed of my leaky smelly rear end.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I’m no longer ashamed of my leaky smelly rear end.

Nothing to be ashamed of, happens with age.

 

[Rocket Man]

And the EBay seller agreed to refund me $40 so the new cell only cost me $90. I can’t complain at all, this turned out to be a nice little upgrade for cheap. I didn’t really want to have that other one welded up and always have it on my mind. What a relief to not have fuel dripping out the back of the truck constantly. It was doing it for at least a week, probably two. I would come home and lay it out so I couldn’t see under there but I seem to remember smelling gas about 2 weeks before I pulled that cell. It was slow at first but by the time I got to it, it was leaking bad. It would have been nice to find one that held more than 15 gallons but in reality I don’t really need it.