1991 Chevy Caprice

[WyrTwister]

This car belonged to my late Mom & Dad . It has set , parked most of its 28 years ~ 47,000 true miles .

Went to move the Caprice , Saturday morning . Put the battery charger on it and charged it a little bit . Would not start . Put some more gas in it , no start . Primed it & it started , but , of course , it ran only a few seconds .

This will be the 3rd fuel pump I have put on this car . My theory is , the fuel pumps made for 1991 cars , were not made to run E10 . Plus setting parked does not seem to help .

The gas gauge was flaky , so I decided to replace the fuel sending unit , too , this time . Had to do some driving around to source both , Saturday . Chevy Parts Dept. has nothing , obsolete . Ended up buying the pump at NAPA and the sending unit at O'Reilly .

We used a Harbor Freight transfer hand pump to empty , maybe , 4 - 5 gallons from the tank . Makes the tank lighter , to handle .

Son and grandson helped me drop the tank & change the pump & sending unit . Used a floor jack & a 2' x 2' piece of plywood to raise the tank back into position .

There was a 18.5 mm vent hose from the tank and the filler neck . It was cracked & needed replacing . Stopped at 4 - 5 parts houses & found some 19 mm hose . It fit well .

We finished Sunday afternoon . Gassed it back up with pure gas . Cycled the key key a few times to prime it . It started fine . Better than it has in several years , I think .

Praise The Lord !

Moved it to the shop .

 

[czbrian]

While it does probably have to do with the E10 and sitting for a while, GM didn't exactly make reliable fuel pumps back then either. They were pretty terrible in the trucks anyway.

 

[WyrTwister]

The tank is black " plastic " , so if there was any rust in the bottom , it is not coming from the tank .

No more than it gets driven , I am going to try to keep E0 in it .

I switched over to E0 in the lawn mower .

Wyr
God bless

 

[PimTac]

That car needs to run.

 

[WyrTwister]

Yes , I know . But I can not see the cost of inspection , registration , insurance , etc. when we do not drive it .

Would sell it , but no one wants to give me much of anything for it . :-(

Although I hate to part with it . Since it belonged to my late Mom and Dad .

 

[Silverado12]

I would keep it too. FWIW my brother still has my grandmother's 1962 Rambler Classic 4 door she bought new in 1963. I think it has 60K miles and stays in the garage. Looks like new. Probably the nicest one in the country.

 

[Silverado12]

Here's a partial picture. 1965 Mustang 289 4 speed and 1973 Sportster in the pic too.

 

[JasonC]

So, let me understand this. You aren't planning on driving it, yet you don't want to sell it because no one will give you anything for it?? Have you tried putting it for sale? These cars are very popular with the Rap Music crowd. They would probably pay good $$$ for it.

 

[The_Jeff]

25 years old is about when cars bottom out in coolness. Then they become rare and start turning heads again.

Put this guy in mothballs and in a few years you may find yourself taking the kids for ice cream in it.