I really appreciate you offering up your experience. the PA-2 gave me an option I didn't know I had w/out buying a new tank. One final question.. how is the fuel pressure regulated for the pressure the explorer needs? is this simply matched to the walbro pump, or is there another regulator needed somewhere?
I think i misquoted earlier.. I think you had the Fram filter setup. what does it offer over the other frame-mounted inline filters that most of the vendors sell?
I am running 1996 Explorer rails, and the stock Fuel Pressure Regulator sits after the injectors and returns to the tank. I don't know how the return-less Explorer pump is controlled...and hopefully I never find out.
I do run the Fram filter, but mostly because I want a convenient location to mount the fuel lines, and I wanted a fuel filter that anyone can service. Plus, I wanted standard fittings. I can handle NPT, and I can handle JIC37 degree Inverted Flare Female. (also known as -AN) The duck-bill canister from the 89 Volvo with the custom push lock fitting is not something I want to try to find 10 years from now...and can't remember where it came from. Every shop, and every technician knows Fram. Anyone can look at the housing, and get a filter. (HPG1 ACDelco GF775 Or WIX 33900R) It's $8.50 on Amazon. Plus, it will filter to 5 micron, and is big. Big is important, because your 190LPH pump will completely empty your 23 gallon tank in about a half hour. So the filter needs to be big enough to "clean" your tank twice an hour.
If you decide to put a pump in your Northwest tank, be careful not to do what I did in my pic. I wanted the pump to be located in the center of the tank. It always bothered me that Northwest put their EFI sump in the Driver's front corner. So I centered mine. The baffle inside the tank makes that location a problem. Not for the pump, but for the fuel sender! So if you don't move the sender, it will hit the pump stand. I could have either moved the pump, or moved the sender, or bought one of those super cool new senders...but instead, I shortened the arm, and twisted the float and made it work. In hindsight, I'm glad that I did.
My whole impetus for doing this project was because I happened to have a leftover skid plate for a Northwest Fab tank. I refuse to buy another gas tank mounted on unistrut, and I like how the Northwest tank gives good ground clearance by using the body lift space. So in order to take advantage of a free $70.00 skid plate, I bought a used non-EFI tank, and put a pump in it. I also installed the threaded backing ring from Tanks Inc, and ended up welding it in place, because I got tired of dropping it in the tank. I figured that the next idiot that has to change the pump will probably be me...
I had never welded a used tank before, and I was scared to make sparks...so I drilled a 1 inch hole with a uni-bit, and used a nibbler to make the big round hole. I've been picking up nibbler bits for a month. They are just the right shape to get stuck in your socks...and of course into your bare feet. They hurt like crazy...but they are easy to find. It took me an hour to clean all of the little bits out from behind the baffle in the tank, but with a magnet, and some brake-cleaner...the tank eventually came clean. By then it didn't smell anymore, so I went ahead and welded the reinforcing ring.
I am super happy with how it came out, and the price was right.
I
