I dropped the tank in my '87 GT to replace the fuel pump. I'm replacing it with a Grand National pump, since I'm planning a N* swap in the future. I only want to drop the tank once, so I want to replace everything that is likely to fail. This is the original pump and sender unit, and the car has been sitting in a pole barn for about 5 years.

So far, I'm planning on replacing the pump, the o-ring that came with the pump, and all the rubber fuel hoses at the firewall side of the fuel tank. Is there anything else I should replace, and how can I test the sending unit to make sure it isn't defective?

Thanks!

The gauge sender and the screen filter are the only other things I can thing of. Use clamps on the short hose from the pump to the steel line.

Test the sender with an ohm meter, one lead on ground, the other on the pink wire or other side of the sender. move the float slowly through the range, should go from 0-90 ohms with no dead spots within the travel. the contact area of the sender can be cleaned carefully if there are dead spots.

Hi, just read your post and would like to add one tip: when you replace the short hose from the tank to the steel line do not use the standard rubber fuel hose. Use the fuel injection hose with the blue teflon liner in it's core. I have read several articles about the effects of Ethanol based fuels on the standard old type rubber fuel hose. It seems that Ethanol can eat up the rubber which can cause a blockage in your fuel system. I am in the process of restoring a '69 Ford galaxie wagon w/ 429 eng. I dropped the tank and replaced the fuel hoses with the Teflon lined type. This was done 2 years ago and so far no problems. The line going from the front of chassis to the fuel pump was also replaced with this new type hose. Good luck with your project. Ernie

My tips are to:
A) use double clamps on the 3 smaller fuel lines (I hate fuel line leaks)
B) speaking of clamps I use IDEAL clamps rather than just any brand.
C) make sure the connectors that go to the fuel pump go on SNUGLY. (I had to replace mine)
D) make sure you put those tank "pads" back before you put the tank back.

Kit

I'm with Kit on the Ideal clamps. They used to be headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y. ( my birth place ) . Now they are in St. Augustine Fl. I have always used ideal clamps and found them to be excellent. I once bought a big bag of small diameter clamps real cheap at a flea market, made in China. Well, as I tightened one it just snapped and at that point I threw the whole bag in the recycle bin for the trash man. Never again will I buy anything like that crap . Go with the better product for a little more cash and be safe. Ernie

Since your gonna be down there with everything off anyway, may as well throw a new fuel filter in.. Prolly wouldent hurt to blow out the metal fuel lines that go from your tank to the "in" on your fuel filter.. In case there is any crud in there.. Empty and clean out your fuel tank while its out.. get out any sedement thats in there. Prolly wouldent hurt to clean any rust off the outside of your tank and give it a paint job to help protect it.. And dont forget the pads on the tank.. There should be 3 that stick to the top of the tank.. Then there are 4 more that cover the brackets for the tank straps.. The pads on the top of the tank shouldent be a problem, but the ones on the brackets will probably just fall off.. I just held mine on with tap untill the tank was back in to keep them where they are suppost to be.

quote Originally posted by Triple_El: So far, I'm planning on replacing the pump, the o-ring that came with the pump, and all the rubber fuel hoses at the firewall side of the fuel tank. Is there anything else I should replace...

quote Originally posted by Mike Gonzalez: The gauge sender and the screen filter are the only other things I can thing of.

Same here.

For years, my Fiero's gas gauge readings were overly optimistic, happily reading way past full when full, and 1/2 full when near empty. My cheapskate remedy then was always to change the trip odometer reading to zero after a fill-up because I had a decent idea of how far I could go before needing to fill up the gas tank again.

Eventually, like you, I needed to drop the gas tank to install a new fuel pump anyway, so at that time, I finally ended up replacing my Fiero's fuel sending unit, which immediately fixed the faulty gas gauge readings. Accordingly, if your Fiero's fuel sending unit is the original one, currently 22 years old, this might be an opportune time for you to replace it.

The fuel sending unit for a Fiero isn't cheap, so I suppose you could always ignore replacing it (as I previously had done for years), or you can attempt to repair it after it fails. However, regardless of whether the attempted repair is a success or not, it will require dropping the gas tank again, and your inquiry was about what to replace when you've already got the fuel tank out anyway --- not about what are the only cheap things to replace then.