Dateline - 07/01/2017 - I'm still chasing that gas smell in the truck. I've gotten frustrated enough that I've ripped out everything in the trunk and starting over. This time, I bought five feet of marine grade fuel hose a West Marine at $5.50 a foot (YIKES!) and started by plugging the hose directly into the right fuel tank and into the fuel input in the front wall of the trunk. Then I completely washed the back of the trunk with dish washing soap to get any gas residue out. Then started the car, let it run for awhile and checked for leaks. Then I closed the trunk lid and let it sit. No smell.
So, next, I pinched off the hose with a hose pinch tool, cut the hose at the fuel inlet and inserted a new steel tube that I made to run along the bottom of the trunk up to the fuel feed selection solenoid. Cleaned everything, let it dry, started the engine, checked for leaks, then closed the trunk lid for six hours. No smell.
Next I inserted a fuel filter into the hose coming out of the tank by pinching the hose at the tank, cutting the hose, inserting the filter, cleaning everything, letting it dry, starting the car, checking for leaks, than closed the lid for six hours. No smell.
So now I inserted the fuel feed selection solenoid by pinching the fuel hose after the new fuel filter, cutting the hose to size and inserting it onto the right inlet side of the solenoid. Next I cut the hose connected to the steel tubing to fit and slipped it on the solenoid's output fitting. I needed to make sure the left intake side was plugged so that I didn't get any gas leaks there, so I took the remainder of the hose, slipped it on the solenoid and plugged the other end with a bold. Clean, start the car, close the lid. No smell.
Now, time to bring in the left tank. The tank was already empty, so I just removed the old hose I had on the tank outlet, took the bolt I was using as a plug out of the hose and plugged it into the fuel tank. Cleaned everything. Put a couple of gallons of fuel in the left tank, started the car with the left tank selected and checked for leaks. Closed the lid. Was there a smell? Don't know yet. Will check tonight! If there is no smell, the last thing to do is insert fuel filter in the hose from the left tank. Here's hoping this works!
Also this weekend I worked on upholstery in the back of the car. I got the 70 degree angle drill that I had ordered from Amazon several weeks ago and used it to drill the holes needed to mount the back reading lights. Worked like a champ! Nice to have the correct tools! After mounting the light on the passenger side, I decided to make the upholstery needed to fill the gap between the seat and the body. I still have a bit of 1" foam left over from building the seats, so I cut, glued, and shaped it to fit the void. Then I cut and sewed the upholstery to fit the foam. It's scary how good I'm getting at upholstery!
I did have a little challenge in the pocket area that is formed between the seat bottom and the door. I thought I would fill it with foam also, but the pocket makes a really good seat belt storage area. So, instead of filling it with a foam pad, I decided to glue vinyl right to the body. I had to sew a bit of piping to the edge so that it would meet cleanly with the carpeting. I've very happy with the results and it makes a perfect little pocket for the seat belt. I'll grab some pictures and update this post when I have them.
