Got the Fuel tank (and fuel pump) and the Exhaust installed on the '89 Horizon today. What a bear. Unlike most vehicles I've seen, the bolts for the tank straps actually come thru the floor pan and are welded to the floor inside the car under the seat. Of course, like every other bolt on this car, they snapped as soon as we we put a wrench on them. So, after tearing apart the back seat and discovering they were welded in place, Matt drilled them out and we dropped carriage bolts thru the floor.
Installing the pump was a bear also, the hole in the side of the tank is, of course, just barely large enough, maybe. The pump intake sock and the gauge float point opposite ways at the end of the assembly, so you have to gently fold the sock over and try to wiggle the float through without bending anything. Well, I guess I bent it. Now with a full tank of gas the gauge reads just under 3/4 tank, and with 3 gallons in the tank it was on empty. Oh well, just have to remember that the gauge reads 1/4 tank low. I'm not about to take it apart and see if I can make it worse.
On the top of the tank is a vent valve that I hadn't even thought of, although the Caravan and Voyager tanks also have them. Of course, when I tried to remove the valve from the rubber grommet the valve shattered. So, I went and dug out a spare Caravan tank. Fortunately, on the Caravan tank the valve is about 8 inches from the (much larger) fuel pump hole, so Matt was able to put his hand inside and gently push up while I used two pry bars and gently pried up evenly and removed it. It looks a bit different than the Horizon valve, but I can't find a parts listing to see if the replacement part numbers are the same. The Horizon seems to run great, so far.
Rock Auto screwed up and didn't ship the front and rear struts. They say they did, and the invoice and packing list say they did, but there is no way they could have. Each of the four struts weighs 15 - 16 lbs, and the only item shipped (according to the FedEx records) that weighed more than 10 lbs was the fuel tank. Both exhaust pipes were shipped as separate packages, loose with the label stuck on the pipe. So, I'm going back and forth with Rock Auto Customer Service trying to get them to ship the struts. They asked me to make sure that FedEx didn't hide the package under a bush or something. We'll see how it goes, but that's over $100 worth of parts that they owe me that I have already paid for. And I was hoping to at least get the rear struts installed today.
Gas went to 3.699 yesterday, as I expected.
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