It lives! Again. For now.....

[five-oh]

If any of you old farts still here remember the headaches my '86 project car/ money pit/ pos has given me...I *think* I have beat them.
They were caused by Bubba.
Every since I've had the car, I've had fuel pump issues. I thought it was the relays. The pump'd work fine, then suddenly no fire to the pump. I replaced relays. I ran extra grounds. I replaced pumps. I rewired the entire pump assembly.
Never knew when it would quit working.You'd have full volts for a few days, then right when you needed it most- like to get HOME again- you had zero fire to the pump.
September 13 was the last straw. I went for a quick cruise to take the young'un to school and came home on a trailer. Again. I was so disgusted I shoved the Corvette in the shop and let it become a shelf. Everytime I looked at it I'd get mad again.
The other day, finally semi-over my mad spell, while looking at the fuse box, I could see evidence that at some time in the past the fuel pump fuse slot had gotten hot. Never seemed to affect putting a fuse in it though.... Still, I decided I would pull the fuse panel out and make sure there was still a good connection- but I never got around to it.
Tonight, the wife calls me while I am at Lowe's and informs me a young friend has came by to see me. Kid's twenty, and a heckuva mechanic who has been dogging me about getting the vette back running-
I come home and he had taken the "breadbox" off and found that some previous owner had CUT the wires to the fuel pump circuit and attempted to wire a fuse block in. Bubba the P.O. SUCKS at wiring....the connection was pulled apart and had a blown fuse. We rewired it, new fuse- voila, runs better than it ever has. Fired up first revolution after nearly 7 months of silence.
Now, I wonder what'll be jacked up on it next..

[WW7]

Bobby, Congratulations on getting the car running again..
That's the problem with these oldler cars, since most are over 20 years old the chances that a "Bubba" has worked on them is pretty good. That is unless your lucky enough to find one that has only had one, or just a few owners..Alot of these cars have had half azz repairs and modifications sometime in there life, and it usually shows up later on as a problem that's hard to figure out......WW

[five-oh]

Originally Posted by WW7

Bobby, Congratulations on getting the car running again..
That's the problem with these oldler cars, since most are over 20 years old the chances that a "Bubba" has worked on them is pretty good. That is unless your lucky enough to find one that has only had one, or just a few owners..Alot of these cars have had half azz repairs and modifications sometime in there life, and it usually shows up later on as a problem that's hard to figure out......WW

I told Cody, my young mechanic friend, that I was gonna write a note to the effect " the fuel pump circuit has been bypassed. Look behind fusebox for fuse block" and tape it inside the console so the next poor idiot doesn't go mad changing fuel pumps and chasing his tail.
Much as I love this bodystyle 'vette, I think this is the last "fixer-upper" I'm gonna buy of it. Bubba is VERY creative at hiding his fixes on them...

[DukeAllen]

Congrats. Mine had 7 previous owners, and no real sign of Bubba-ing. Until me

Now drive it and show us some pics.

[Frizlefrak]

I'd always figured you were too cheap to buy gasoline and was trying to run it on 'Shine....but I should have known better....you wouldn't waste good 'Shine in the fuel tank.

Congrats on getting it running....

[five-oh]

Lord, Friz, If I ran moonshine in it, it'd be the equivelant of jet fuel. These ole boys 'round herebouts don't play when it comes to the shine...

[C4fan]

I have to say that is a good feeling when you find the "smoking gun" of electrical issues. Mine has been drawing the battery down between drives. I don't get it out much so I have to leave a bat tender on it all the time. I drove it last Saturday morning and had to pull down the visor and noticed the mirror light was on. My first though was woohoo I found my drain and then I shut the car off and the light went out. Oh well, I'll keep using the battery tender and looking for a short. Glad to here you have one less problem behind you.

[DukeAllen]

Originally Posted by five-oh

Lord, Friz, If I ran moonshine in it, it'd be the equivelant of jet fuel. These ole boys 'round herebouts don't play when it comes to the shine...

Octane rating of that jet fuel?

[five-oh]

Originally Posted by C4fan

I have to say that is a good feeling when you find the "smoking gun" of electrical issues. Mine has been drawing the battery down between drives. I don't get it out much so I have to leave a bat tender on it all the time. I drove it last Saturday morning and had to pull down the visor and noticed the mirror light was on. My first though was woohoo I found my drain and then I shut the car off and the light went out. Oh well, I'll keep using the battery tender and looking for a short. Glad to here you have one less problem behind you.

1986 1989 Corvette Heater Blower Motor Control Module | eBay

Check this Bill. I had the same problem earlier with this car.....never could figure it out until I was out in the shop tinkering with the '46 and suddenly the blower motor on the vette cranked up. Nearly scared me to death, thought the darn car was possessed.
I changed it out with a used one and haven't had an issue since.

[Black95]

Originally Posted by C4fan

I have to say that is a good feeling when you find the "smoking gun" of electrical issues. Mine has been drawing the battery down between drives. I don't get it out much so I have to leave a bat tender on it all the time. I drove it last Saturday morning and had to pull down the visor and noticed the mirror light was on. My first though was woohoo I found my drain and then I shut the car off and the light went out. Oh well, I'll keep using the battery tender and looking for a short. Glad to here you have one less problem behind you.

You could make a fuse circuit tester like I did. I used a blown fuse and soldered a couple of wires to the connectors. Plug the modified fuse into each slot and test with an ammeter to find out which one has current draw to help you narrow it down to the circuit with parasitic draw.

[C4fan]

Originally Posted by five-oh

1986 1989 Corvette Heater Blower Motor Control Module | eBay

Check this Bill. I had the same problem earlier with this car.....never could figure it out until I was out in the shop tinkering with the '46 and suddenly the blower motor on the vette cranked up. Nearly scared me to death, thought the darn car was possessed.
I changed it out with a used one and haven't had an issue since.

Originally Posted by Black'95

You could make a fuse circuit tester like I did. I used a blown fuse and soldered a couple of wires to the connectors. Plug the modified fuse into each slot and test with an ammeter to find out which one has current draw to help you narrow it down to the circuit with parasitic draw.

I haven't even begun to search for the drain yet. I have a project currently going on (been meaning to do a thread on it) and won't be working on any of the cars until I'm done. Those are two good suggestions for a starting point though and I appreciate it.

[Frizlefrak]

Originally Posted by Black'95

You could make a fuse circuit tester like I did. I used a blown fuse and soldered a couple of wires to the connectors. Plug the modified fuse into each slot and test with an ammeter to find out which one has current draw to help you narrow it down to the circuit with parasitic draw.

Nicely done....and free.

But for $15, ChiCom has one....

20 Amp Automotive Fuse Circuit Tester

[Black95]

Originally Posted by Frizlefrak

Nicely done....and free.

But for $15, ChiCom has one....

20 Amp Automotive Fuse Circuit Tester

Thanks. Had not seen that but I do have one of these that comes in handy once in a while:
Four-Way Trailer Light Tester

[five-oh]

Since we don't have a generic "everthing goes" thread and this place is mostly dead, I figured I'd revive it some by posting in this thread...
After repairing my Moneypit's issues, I drove it around 50 miles with no issues, until I got home and notice something hanging down on the passenger side. It was the freakin' floorpan.
Bubba had cracked it in the past, apparently worse than I realized, since I haven't had it up on a rack...
So today we started the repair on that. Definately not heading for Bloomington Gold, but it'll work for a driver. I cut up an old heat duct that a friend that works for a heating and air company brought me, pop rivited the metal to the broken floor pans, and stitched them back together. Tomorrow, I'll start fiberglassing the inside of the floorpans and rubber coating the bottom side....
At least I'm not doing the Flintstone now....

[SQUIRMIN VERMIN 84]

Sounds good. I have a couple corners on my storage bins that are cracked.
Can you take some pictures for showing your progress here?

Glad it's running more to your satisfaction!

[DukeAllen]

Who the hell are you two and what are you doing in my private playground?

[five-oh]

Originally Posted by DukeAllen

Who the hell are you two and what are you doing in my private playground?

We are taking over. And true to form, just like any rat, what we can't eat or steal, we are crapping on to make it unusable for you.

And that ain't no way to welcome your long lost brethren.

And Bunky, I suck at pics....but I'll see if I can get some when I start 'glassing it in- which, thanks to my disease of procrastination-itis, won't be today. It is a perfect spring day here, and the '46 is going for a drive and it MIGHT involve fishing poles and dirt roads...then the grill is getting fired up.

[DukeAllen]

Always looking for a bribe...

[SQUIRMIN VERMIN 84]

Originally Posted by five-oh

We are taking over. And true to form, just like any rat, what we can't eat or steal, we are crapping on to make it ATTRACTIVE for you.

fixed

And that ain't no way to welcome your long lost brethren.

And Bunky, I suck at pics....but I'll see if I can get some when I start 'glassing it in- which, thanks to my disease of procrastination-itis, won't be today. It is a perfect spring day here, and the '46 is going for a drive and it MIGHT involve fishing poles and dirt roads...then the grill is getting fired up.

It's a well-shared disease, Bobby!
I love that '46! Absolute CLASS! Hope fishin' was good! Do possum have gills???

[five-oh]

Originally Posted by SQUIRMIN VERMIN 84

It's a well-shared disease, Bobby!
I love that '46! Absolute CLASS! Hope fishin' was good! Do possum have gills???

Excuse to post pics... and no, 'possum's don't have gills. We didn't went a hook anyway, but drove around 50 miles of dirt roads looking for a creekside camping spot. Youngun' wants to go camping, so we have a pup tent on the way and will be doing that soon. We don't want a campground though, just old timey farmer's field camping...

http://s997.photobucket.com/user/five-oh_photos/media/public/20140111_124515.jpg.html
And a pic of the old store we stop and get glass bottles of Dr. Pepper and summer sausage fresh sliced for our rides..
http://s997.photobucket.com/user/five-oh_photos/media/public/20140315_142001.jpg.html
And just 'cause I'm in a pic posting mood, and to keep it C4 related- My heap, affectionately known as the MoneyPit:

http://s997.photobucket.com/user/five-oh_photos/media/public/20140412_175417.jpg.htmlDon't know if the pics are working or not...