I'm surprised nobody offered the simple advice of fill up sooner? If you know your fuel gauge is wrong at the bottom why not fill up at a 1/4 and not come to the pumps on fumes everytime...

Mine is setup to pull fuel up 1/2" ID line to the pump which is mounted right below the fuel pump connections on the driver side in front of the axle. It has served me fine but a sump would be best like Injuneer has said.

 

OK the problem that I am having it that I have an air leak air getting into the tank and my gas is evaporating.
Something with the venting system so I'm going to check it out now that the tank is down that's why I have not been keeping a lot of gas in the tank.
How did you run you pick up in the tank and do you still have a sock on it?
I know you have to have sock something to take it's place before the pump so you don't pick up junk from the bottom of the tank.
I was looking at the fuel pump bucket and there is a rubber valve under the pump so the gas stays in the line.
I was thinking that even if I made a new pick up and had a sock at the end I would still have to put a valve very close to the end of the pick up to prevent the gas from going back into the car when the car is shut off.
I'm thinking that with out a valve at the pick up that when the pump kicks on for the 2 sec prime it would not be enough to get fuel to the engine.
I know it's bad to run the tank low but it happens sometimes and I want to avoid killing the pump.
And it does not help when the sender is not reading right too.
So that's why I was think of an external pump It won't die as easy as one in the tank.
Let me know if you can give me some insight on this.
Thanks,

 

Are you saying your Evap system is inoperative or you are actually losing gasoline due to evaporation?


Most guys I have seen run an external fuel pump either have a fuel cell or converted a carb vehicle to fuel injection. There are guys on here running duel in tank pumps that supply enough to support something like 2000HP!

Unless you are dead set on having an external pump, why not just replace the in tank pump with a good quality part?

 

Yea it I have a problem with the Evap system.
I started to smell gas an hear the gas vapors coming out.
So something is wrong there and my gas was evaporation away.
I would like to put a fuel pump back in the tank it would be much easier but with the gas gauge reading wrong I fear that I will just burn up another pump and have to have the car towed again and have to buy a new fuel pump.
And if this happened far away from my house then I would have to have the dealer fix the car and I'm sure that would be at least 1k.
If I could get the fuel sender to read right I would have know problem putting one back in the tank.

 

I didn't put a sock on the end of it- I simply put a filter before the pump that will take out the large pieces and another filter after the pump to take out the small particles.

As long as your pick-up is in fuel the fuel won't run out unless there is an air leak in the system somewhere. In case this doesn't make sense- think about when you put your finger over the end of a straw and pull it out of the drink- the liquid stays in the straw right? same principle.

It has been mentioned a couple of times but here it is again-

Your best bet is to get a quality in-tank pump assembly, replace your sending unit, and do the trap-door mod for the fuel pump and be done with it. You don't have to worry about external pump problems and you will have enough fuel pump to feed your system. Plus if anything should go wrong you have the access door to get it at really easily.

 

Well the problem with that is the darn price.
I can only get the fuel sender with the fuel pump and the cheapest one I could find is a SPECTRA Part # SP3924M from RockAuto parts for $222+ shiping.
I have no income right now and that alot of money and I don't know if the SPECTRA pump is any good.
I'm going to try to get to the salvage yard tomorrow and see if I can get a sender that is more accurate than mine.
I'm sure the senders are the same for a V6 and V8 just the pump should be different so it would not be hard to find and I can check them out with a multimeter.
then I can buy a good pump like the one I killed that one will cost me $80 bucks shipped and it's a 255LPH pump.
If not then I will have to figure out the best way to extend the pick up and use the stock sock and run an external pump and be done with it.
The lines to run an external pump should be cheap enough to make up and I can get the connectors to hook up the fuel pump at the salvage yard so I don't have to cut anything on my car.

 

I'm so confused by this thread...
Instead of a custom band aid, why not just find and solve the problem..?
You're the only one out there going through pumps like oil filters by the way.

 

If you hear gas venting then your gas cap is probably bad and needs to be replaced. At the same time, crawl up under the car and find the vent tube and see if it's clogged.

As long as you're using a properly setup bucket you should not have to worry about burning up the fuel pump; the bucket will keep it submerged in fuel from the return line. If you want to fix the gauge try bending the float arm slightly to adjust it.

 

That's a good Idea but I would have know idea how much to bend the float level.
The sender seams to be reading a little more than an 1/8 of a tank high.
I would hate to put it all back together then have to pull it apart to re bend the float arm.
No offence but I won't do the trap door on my car.
I'm going to go to the slavage yard today and try to fine a better reading sender.


I check the lines I have no clogs I will check some more today.
As for the cam I believe the car uses a non venting cap so I don't see how that could be the problem because it's not letting vapors out from there it's under the car by the gas tank and it's only vapors.
As for the fuel pump your right it makes no sense why I'm going on my 3rd pump in the 8 years I have owned it.
The Stock one died at around 85K.
Then this one lasted only 2 years.
The only thing I can think of is the fact that my sender is not reading right and I ran it out of gas 4 times on the 4th time was when the pump went.
That makes sense right?
Running out of gas too many time = killing you fuel pump.
Unless it's an external pump that does not need fuel to cool it.
This is my thinking If I'm wrong by all means tell me I wrong.
Let me know thanks.

 

Yea I'm getting a little confused in this thread my self but how is putting an external fuel pump on a custom band aid?
The right thing to do it to get the fuel sender to read right.
I can afford to buy a $222+ no name stock pump just so I can have a new sender.
I can't buy just the sender I can buy the pump or the pump and the sender but not the sender itself.
That's the problem I have no money coming in so I have to fix the car and not use every dime I have.
Spending $222+ $80 bucks for a new good pump is out of my budget.
So the cheapest way of fixing the problem if I can get a sender at a salvage yard is to spend $80 bucks put the pump on the out side and call it a day.
If I run out of gas again I don't have to worry that the pump will fry because as soon as the engine stalls out the pump turns off plus it does not need the gas to cool itself.
If I'm missing something or I'm thinking the wrong way please let me know.
I just don't want to take a long trip and get stuck somewhere I can't afford to have it towed home.
If that were to happen I would have to take it to a dealer and then I'm screwed.
I don't mean to be difficult
I just want to prevent this from happen again and so soon.
Let me know.
Thanks,

 

Well everyone has given you multiple ideas how to solve your problem. Its your car and you can do whatever you like to fix it. Nobody here will be able to tell you how much to bend the arm so it reads different. Everyone that has run at least one tank of fuel thru a 4th gen will tell you that the fuel gauge doesn't read proportionally from the factory like it should and many other people have run out of fuel at 1/8 tank just like you.

I guess if it were me and I didn't have the proper means to fix the car at the time I would simply put a new pump on it and fill up sooner before I hit the 1/8 tank mark. Even when a proper reading fuel gauge is on 1/8 tank its time for a fill-up since there is probably at best 2 gallons left.

 

crazypurgatory:
You've got a trip meter as well as an odometer ... fill up at 150 miles or 100 miles if you continually hammer the engine or whatever is appropriate for the way you drive ...

 

Well I went to the salvage yard today and all the Camaros still had the gas tanks in them.
They just put a nice big whole in them to get the gas out of them.
So I was not about to spend 2 hours under a car there to pull out an old sender than might be any good.
It's not like I really need a 255L pump for a stock engine with bolt on parts.
A stock aftermarket one will work just fine.
It would be nice to have the 255L pump but I would rather have a fuel gauge sender that works.
I was looking on Amazon and lucked out I just ordered an Airtex complete assembly fuel pump and the fuel level sender.
Got the best deal on it $171 shipped to me.
Just the fuel pump goes for around $200 bucks at my local auto parts stores so I hope it will solve my problems and I will try my hardest not to run it that low again.

 

Walbro 255lph (GSS340) fuel pumps are under $100. http://treperformance.com/i-133113-f...1996-1997.html

Cut the access hole, direct intank replacement, retain bucket for cooling, supports over 500rwhp, just make sure its a genuine one and fix your leak, crisis solved.

 

Yea my old pump was the TRE 255LPH pump that pump worked great and was very quite.
I was going to buy another TRE pump but I need to replace the sender because it was reading way off.
I just got an E-mail for the Co. on Amazon saying that the Airtex pump and fuel level sender is obsolete.
So there sending me the Delphi pump and fuel level sender for the same price of $171 bucks !!
And it will be here by Tuesday.
That whole deal goes for $325 bucks at gm parts direct.
So I'm very happy about that deal as long as the new sender works better than my old one witch it should.