I purchased/installed the complete Fuel Pump Kit for the B-Body directly from Racetronix. Their kit includes a new Fuel Pump, Flex Hose and Filter Sock, a Fused Relay Harness to run from Factory Connector to a 12V source from the Battery and the Bulkhead Connector and Harness. The quality of their kit is Top Notch with solid Connectors, Wire and is well designed. The Fuel pump included with their kit is no longer the Walbro unit but is now the Turbine-Tech Purple pump.
Edit - The Flex Hose diameter where it fits onto the BulkHead Barb supplied with their kit was too tight to push on. After contacting Racetronix ((which you do HAVE to create an account 1st on their TechForum, but only after you purchase something from them and have an account. This is the one negative, other than that very good support. ) ) for help, they offered some ideas to stretch the hard hose such as boiling it. Another member here also had the same issue and said boiling it didnt work. However, they did just send both of us new hoses that were already stretched on 1 end and fit perfect...THANKS Racetronix!
Here is a pic of all the assemblies included with their kit for approx. $210 shipped.
After dropping the Fuel Tank, I removed the factory Sending Unit/FuelPump and attached Bulkhead harness. The Racetronix bulkhead kit differs from the GM design and uses a separate connector for the SU and the Harness is attached with a Weatherpak type connection.
This pic shows the difference in the Spectra unit on the left and the Racetronix setup in the middle. On the right is the original GM harness that was used with the GM Sending unit.
While the Sending unit is out of the car, it’s a good time to recalibrate the fuel Float Circuit. There is a very good thread on how to do this with a stock GM unit and I also added info on how to modify an aftermarket unit in this thread….
To install the supplied FP in the factory SU you must modify the the plastic housing. The stock FP uses a lid that has the flex hose mounted to a “cap” that will NOT work with the Racetronix pump. The flex hose will now mount directly to the Pump and no longer to the “Cap”. Instead, you remove this this “cap” from the “lid” of the FP housing. Here is a Pic of the Cap removed from the lid.
With the Cap removed, you must open up the Lid a little so the Flex Hose mounted to the Pump will fit through the opening. I was going to use a drill, but found that a Rat Tail File made quick work of this as the plastic is pretty soft. Here is a pic of the Cap after it had been opened up a little.
Once the assembly is ready to put back together, plug in their supplied FP to Bulkhead (in tank) harness to the FP. Pic of modified lid with harness.
Once this was done, I moved on to remove the Stock bulkhead harness and connector from the Sending unit. Just use a small flatblade to get under the metal retaining ring to pry it off the Yellow Plastic Connector. Once this is removed, the harness/connector should just pull out from the SU. Pictured is the new connector/clip and SU. Edit - The Yellow Connector has 4 pins pictured but 1 is missing on the other end of the connector and not used.
Once removed, install the new Yellow Plastic Connector supplied with the kit. The supplied rubber O-ring goes on the connector first and then is pushed into the SU metal lid. Once this is installed, you use the supplied metal trim ring to secure the connector to the SU making sure it is pushed in tight to seal the O-ring to the SU. I just used a deep socket to drive it on.
Before driving the retaining ring/clip onto the connector, I first ground off a little metal from both sides where the Plastic connector for the intank harness mounts. I did this so I could use the Supplied connector with their harness. Their instructions have you remove this and use the stock GM Plastic connector from the intank harness, but I preferred the design of their connector over the GM connector and it works fine if you just grind off a little material from the metal clip. Here is a pic of their supplied harness connector on the metal retainer ring/clip.
Once all this is done, plug the harness into the new Bulkhead connector and test continuity for all 3 FP wires from the FP terminals to the connector that plugs in back by the rear bumper. Verify that the Fuel Gauge wire (purple), and the 12V (Gray) and Ground (Black) go to the correct Connector terminals at the Bumper connector. You don’t want to find out something is wired wrong after installing the tank. Once all is verified, install the SU/FP assembly into the tank and install the tank.
Now you need to install the Relay and 12V hot wire which run up to the Engine Compartment. The instructions offered by Racetronix don’t give you much to follow here, but just mention to run the harness up the frame to the back of the alternator. As their instructions indicate, I mounted the Relay to the bolt for the Gas Tank Strap and also cleaned the frame to bare metal there for the Redundent Ground of their harness. Pictured here is where the Relay mounts.
I decided to run the harness up the “inside” of the passenger side Frame to the front of the car. The Rear and Front Sections of the frame are boxed and if you decide to do this will need to fish the harness through those 2 sections of the Frame. I chose to remove the Fused Connector Plug from the 12V wire in order to easily fish just the wire through the frame. Be sure to cover the bare wire terminal with tape to keep dirt off the terminal while fishing it through the Frame. I then used a fish and pushed it through the opening at the rear of the frame where the bumper mounts. Tie wrapped it to the Buick Brace from the Relay and into the Rear Frame Horn.
This will run the wire up and over the rear axle to just under the Rear Door where the frame opens up. In this open area you will see the Vapor Canister Hose that runs up the inside of the frame from the Gas Tank. In this area you can just tie-wrap the harness to the Canister hose at a few locations to secure it.
To get the harness the rest of the way up to the engine, I used a fish again and the front boxed section of the frame. It appeared like there may not be enough length in the wire to reach the alty and I also had concerns doing this and getting near any hot engine or exhaust parts. While looking at the frame, I found what I feel is a better location. Right off to the side of the Starter is a 1” hole in the frame and just decided to mount it to the Starter Hot wire instead. If you are familiar with the Battery Cable, then you know that the Battery, Alty, Auxillary Terminal and Starter Wire are essentially the same point. This is a picture of the location I used, fished a wire through and pulled the Racetronix wire the rest of the way to the Starter.
One concern I had with running the wire inside the frame was that I could not secure the wire inside the boxed sections. While the supplied harness already has very nice protective wire cover, I chose to cover the sections of harness running in these 2 sections with some extra wire cover I had laying around.
And also added a 3rd section of wire cover where it comes through the opening near the Starter. You may also notice that the Passenger Front Brake Line bolt was used to secure the Fuse Holder to the frame and some additional tiewraps used to secure the wire to the Starter wire. Here are a few more pics of the finished product.
Fuel Pressure seems to be holding steady now and is easy to monitor with a Gauge on the Fuel Rail.
Nice write up 4Door! Thank you Sir. I bought the same kit back in 2009-10, asked the mech to install which never happened, got to love it. Anyway I got into a pinch one Sunday and had to steal the pump for my 9C1. Do you think I should purchase the Turbine Tech pump, AC Delco? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
If sticking with the stock setup, I would just use the Delco part. But if your upgrading to something else like Racetronix pump, you most likely will need to modify the SU and wiring. So keep this in mind but not a bad thing really.
Has this kit changed over the last 4-5 years? I installed one of these a while back, but I REALLY do not remember anything about new connectors in the sending unit...
I'll have to see if I still have the install instructions in my files and see if that was part of my install...
Has this kit changed over the last 4-5 years? I installed one of these a while back, but I REALLY do not remember anything about new connectors in the sending unit...
Gotcha, yes that was included with the kit I purchased. It is the BLT1-BCA "Sender Bulkhead Connector Assembly" and it is also available seperately from them for $40.
I know you mentioned you installed a similar kit years ago. How has your install held up over the years? Been happy with mine so far.
I will say that there does appear to be an advantage (or at least greater psi) to running the dedicated Harness for Ground and 12V. I was doing some testing the other day and was curious about something. The nice thing about their kit is that you can still unplug the Harness/relay setup that I ran up the frame and just connect the Stock 3 wire Plug to the Bulkhead Wire Harness and the system will still work. Good to know if you suspect a problem with their relay or HotWire connection.
However, I did notice a Presure change at the Rail when running the system with the Harness and then with just the Stock wiring. I have a stock, non adjustable pressure regulator on the car now. With the Harness hooked up to battery voltage I was seeing about 45 psi at the rail. When I unplugged the Harness and just connected to the stock harness, it dropped a few pounds to about 41 psi. I think both are still well within spec, it was just interesting to see that the psi did increase with what I assume is greater voltage to the Pump Assembly.
I've been happy with their Fuel Pump so far. It runs quiet and only time will tell since they had just switched over from the Walbro they used to carry when I got the kit.
If you wanted to hotwire the stock pump with the main racetronix harness, is it plug and play with the OEM "bulkead harness" connector or do you need the the racetronix bulkhead harness as well ?
Their Main Harness is true "PlugNplay" and just connects in series with the GM 3 wire plug/harness behind the rear bumper. It should work fine with the stock pump and you don't need to do the bulkhead harness unless you want to.
If you are even suspecting a problem I would recommend dropping the tank and taking a close look at the intank wiring and connections there including the metal pins of the Bulkhead connector. A lot of guys choose to solder the wires to the pins.
If you wanted to hotwire the stock pump with the main racetronix harness, is it plug and play with the OEM "bulkead harness" connector or do you need the the racetronix bulkhead harness as well ?
Thanks for the write-up on the kit. This should be a sticky.
The kit is very well made and well worth the money.
One step I did not understand until I got the bulk head connector installed was: (my kit did not come with instructions)
Before driving the retaining ring/clip onto the connector, I first ground off a little metal from both sides where the Plastic connector for the intank harness mounts. I did this so I could use the Supplied connector with their harness. Their instructions have you remove this and use the stock GM Plastic connector from the intank harness, but I preferred the design of their connector over the GM connector and it works fine if you just grind off a little material from the metal clip. Here is a pic of their supplied harness connector on the metal retainer ring/clip.
Maybe a rewrite of:
Before installation of the bulk head connector and driving the retaining ring/clip onto the bulk head connector, I first ground off a little metal from both sides where the Plastic connector for the intank harness mounts. I did this so I could use the Supplied Racetronixs connector with their harness. Their instructions have you remove this and use the stock GM Plastic connector from the intank harness, but I preferred the design of their connector over the GM connector and it works fine if you just grind off a little material from the metal clip. Here is a pic of their supplied harness connector on the metal retainer ring/clip.
Part of it was the sequence of pictures. I installed the bulk head connector and later figured out I have to grind off the metal.
The plug and play aspect of the kit is great.
A few comments to make the installation easer.
1. Get a fish-tape and install the wiring harness from the rear to the front of the car. The fish tape will make quick work of running the wiring in the frame.
2. I ran a separate ground from the battery to the relay in the rear of the car. It is not required but I did it anyway.
3. I mounted the +12V supply to the under hood fuse box AUX post. I mounted the pump fuse against the firewall next to the wiper motor. EZ to service.
4. I came out the frame before the firewall and ran the wires up with the existing harness to the fuse block. It is away from heat and any road hazards. see pics.
5. Before installing the bulk head connector place the tank mounting ring on the tank feed through portion. What I found is the mounting ring will not reinstall on the tank unless you notch the mounting ring. This is not a big deal but took time. See pics.
6. Racetronixs should check all kits to make sure they have instructions before shipping.
Thanks for the write-up on the kit. This should be a sticky.
The kit is very well made and well worth the money.
One step I did not understand until I got the bulk head connector installed was: (my kit did not come with instructions)
Before driving the retaining ring/clip onto the connector, I first ground off a little metal from both sides where the Plastic connector for the intank harness mounts. I did this so I could use the Supplied connector with their harness. Their instructions have you remove this and use the stock GM Plastic connector from the intank harness, but I preferred the design of their connector over the GM connector and it works fine if you just grind off a little material from the metal clip. Here is a pic of their supplied harness connector on the metal retainer ring/clip.
Maybe a rewrite of:
Before installation of the bulk head connector and driving the retaining ring/clip onto the bulk head connector, I first ground off a little metal from both sides where the Plastic connector for the intank harness mounts. I did this so I could use the Supplied Racetronixs connector with their harness. Their instructions have you remove this and use the stock GM Plastic connector from the intank harness, but I preferred the design of their connector over the GM connector and it works fine if you just grind off a little material from the metal clip. Here is a pic of their supplied harness connector on the metal retainer ring/clip.
Part of it was the sequence of pictures. I installed the bulk head connector and later figured out I have to grind off the metal.
The plug and play aspect of the kit is great.
A few comments to make the installation easer.
1. Get a fish-tape and install the wiring harness from the rear to the front of the car. The fish tape will make quick work of running the wiring in the frame.
2. I ran a separate ground from the battery to the relay in the rear of the car. It is not required but I did it anyway.
3. I mounted the +12V supply to the under hood fuse box AUX post. I mounted the pump fuse against the firewall next to the wiper motor. EZ to service.
4. I came out the frame before the firewall and ran the wires up with the existing harness to the fuse block. It is away from heat and any road hazards. see pics.
5. Before installing the bulk head connector place the tank mounting ring on the tank feed through portion. What I found is the mounting ring will not reinstall on the tank unless you notch the mounting ring. This is not a big deal but took time. See pics.
6. Racetronixs should check all kits to make sure they have instructions before shipping.
Glad this helped you out. Their kit and parts are very well put together. I didn't have instructions with my kit either but their Tech Website does have all the instructions but you need to purchase from them, get account access and THEN you can get to their techpage.
I like where you ran the Hot wire and may move mine at some point but it does seem to be fine where it is at the starter. But just like the Battery, the spot you Chose is the same "Electrical Point" as it would be going to the Battery as they suggest in their instructions. I just found that the harness may not have been long enough to run all the way up to the battery. This may have also been due to how I ran it in the frame....but as you mentioned a Fish makes this an easy job.
As far as the Metal Trim Ring on top of the Sending Unit. I do remember it being a little tricky to get it back on there, but I did manage to get it on and over the Bulkhead connector without trimming it.
from what I have read in several posts on the RaceTronix product is the quality is good but the customer service is....well in terms of getting printed instructions with the product the story I heard from one post was the company "customer service guy" said it was to expensive to print copies of the instructions with the kit so you need to buy one, sign up for their forum and then download the instructions.
IMHO this is BS. Charge $1 more for "printing" the instructions if their profit margin is so tight they can't include instructions.
But good to hear people who have purchased their product have overcome the process of getting instructions be it downloading them or from various threads like this one.
My pump craped several years ago and I at the time just replaced the pump itself with the Walbro255. If it should ever fail again I will look into their kit.
There may be a link already from someone who posted these instructions or even better RaceTronix finding a way to include a few pieces of printed paper in their packaging....
Sure does seem "silly" especially when a lot of other companies put their install instructions up on the web to be read or downloaded. It's always nice to see what's involved with an installation before making the purchase.
But really once you do get setup, they seem to respond quickly and there is good info already there and I included some info from my install and the way I chose to modify things differs from what they had before. I didn't hear any complaints from them and I think keeping the Hotwire wpaway from the engine and hot exhaust was the better way to go along with modifying the Bulkhead clip.
Just completed the FPW Harness. Had the classic "burnt wire"! My new pump won't be in till Tuesday so I rolled the dice and reinstalled slightly used GM Stealership pump I bought 1 1/2 yrs ago, she started right up! I did pretty well for being Electrically challenged, lol. I went the Aux. battery post route rather than the Alternator option, thanks to all for the info.
So can someone elaborate why you have not routed the harness to the alternator position for power? I have spoken to multiple sources and many felt that the harness would not reach the alternator when routing it inside the frame rail?
My question then becomes, what if I just ordered the wagon harness that is $3 more, would that get me to the alternator? Thoughts?
If you compare the voltage from the alternator post to the "aux" post voltage. You'll discover little (if any) advantage to the alternator as a power source. Especially,if your cables are decent. I solved this problem,and others by re-locating battery to the trunk.
If you compare the voltage from the alternator post to the "aux" post voltage. You'll discover little (if any) advantage to the alternator as a power source. k.
Yes, as I mentioned when choosing a different location, the battery positive, aux post, starter and alternator are "electrically" the same point. Any voltage differences seen in any of these 3 areas off the battery post are most likely due to a highly resistive positive battery cable that should be replaced.
So can someone elaborate why you have not routed the harness to the alternator position for power? I have spoken to multiple sources and many felt that the harness would not reach the alternator when routing it inside the frame rail?
My question then becomes, what if I just ordered the wagon harness that is $3 more, would that get me to the alternator? Thoughts?
Hey Chris, as I mentioned and for me running the harness the way I did in the frame was very important to keep it secured how I wanted. In doing so, it was obvious that I would not have enough length to get to the alty and not even sure about the Aux post. So instead chose to run it to the starter. Plus it was nice to not have to run into the engine bay and/or near any hot exhaust or Componets.
The downside to this is the fuse is not mounted in a convienent location. However, if You suspect the fuse blew for some reason, you can quickly unplug the Hot Harness back at the tank to put the FP circuit back solely on the factory harness to get where you need to and troubleshoot later.
You hay be able to take some other routes to gain a little extra length up front and see what happens. Not sure how much longer the wagon harness is over the sedan and don't believe they list that. You could try and reach them to ask but if you don't have an account with them, this could be a problem. Maybe just try their email link or if you want I could maybe try to reach out to them via their Tech Page and see if they answer. Although you may have better luck via email since they didn't like my "truthful" and "professional" post about their faulty product and deleted my post. >
Wow that's almost 3' more and should give you plenty of options. wish I knew the sedan harness would be short or I may have still tried to hook up "somewhere" in the engine compartment with a wagon harness. I could have tried to reroute the harness to gain some length but working from the back and doing a 90* at the Buick Brace and frame took up some length. Not sure I would have gained much anyway running thru the frame how I did.
Like I said, seems like you gotta a lot of options once you look closer at the frame up front. Be careful in the area where the control arms mount/move and maybe exit the frame some place before that?
1.)The real question now becomes will it be way too long?
2.) For you guys that have installed this harness what other way do you think you could route the harness if not in the frame rail?
3.) It does not make sense to me that the sedan harness does reach the alternator.
4.) With Gary's battery cables installed, amp power wire, & electric water pump my fuse terminal and battery are busy.
I think w my SS Gen2s that are uncoated I would rather keep this wiring as far away from the heat as possible. So I think I have talked myself into the wagon harness. It will also allow me to get creative with the routing for a cleaner look.
I purchased the GM OEM sending unit from rockauto and bought the racetronix fuel pump kit 2 yrs ago. It had no instructions. Found 4doorss thread and followed it but the new su had a different wiring set up and thought I'd add it here.
The fuel gauge had 2 black wires attached by screws at top side of unit and the purple float gauge wire riveted to a male spade.
The racetronix wiring has 2 wires 1 black 1 purple and its set up for the original gm su with female spades, I cut off black wire spade and crimped a ring and soldered but the purple wire was not long enough to make it to the spade on the new su. I switched wires from new gm su to racetronix wiring harness and crimped a female 90deg spade and soldered it.
I purchased the GM OEM sending unit from rockauto and bought the racetronix fuel pump kit 2 yrs ago. It had no instructions. Found 4doorss thread and followed it but the new su had a different wiring set up and thought I'd add it here.
The fuel gauge had 2 black wires attached by screws at top side of unit and the purple float gauge wire riveted to a male spade.
The racetronix wiring has 2 wires 1 black 1 purple and its set up for the original gm su with female spades, I cut off black wire spade and crimped a ring and soldered but the purple wire was not long enough to make it to the spade on the new su. I switched wires from new gm su to racetronix wiring harness and crimped a female 90deg spade and soldered it.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, racetronix has a interesting way (being nice here) of not posting up ANY instructions unless you buy from them and THEN get access to their tech site.
As far as the wiring issues, like you I have found that the aftermarket Sending unit from Spectra and what also appears to be like GM replacements now differ quite a bit from the original sending unit. It requires some wiring skills to make their kit work with the newer style sending units and they only offer the original style intank harness. Here is what I found and did....
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