I think all my ducks are in a row for this project in a couple of days. I got a brand spankin new ACDelco fuel pump kit, new O rings, hand pump and extra tubing for clearing the tank and the most important, beer.

Right now my symptoms are not holding static pressure, leak down is 1lbs per minute and jumpy fuel pressure under rev. A new symptom has become known since I have been running down the tank for this project. With the tank under 1/4 now there is a shutter/sputter to the engine when sitting at idle and the fuel is elevated away from the pump. Not sure what is causing this but I am willing to bet it has something to do with the pump.

Well, if you have any helpful tips for replacing the fuel pump please post them.

Here's a nice little tutorial on replacing the pump.
http://www.howstuffinmycarworks.com/...fuel_pump.html

 

Done: I replaced the fuel pump today and found out there was a O ring missing from the output of the fuel pump. The return O ring was hard and brittle, so having new ones on hand really paid off.

I also did another fuel pressure test after the pump install and had 58 lbs static with no needle movement at idle. The pressure did drop to 54 psi at idle and did jump up to 60 psi under rev. The leak down now is holding at 56 psi for 10 mins, so I have to think the fuel system is working in tolerance now. I do think the idle pressure seems a bit low, so now I have to look at maybe a vacuum leak causing the FPR to return a low pressure at idle - any ideas?