A few weeks ago I finished up the fuel tank/brake line remove and restore boogie. Woo Hoo.

A little history: The leaking fuel lines were the latest fiasco that had prevented me from doing the initial run in on the newly rebuilt 455. The first came as the engine was first started - the water pump was not sealing and coolant was spritzing back. Upon sober investigation I discovered the top water pump bolt used was too short and had not seated. Replacing the bolt with a longer one sealed the leak. When the engine was re-started the leaking fuel lines were discovered.

So, I finally get a day off to work on the coach. Put in 5 gallons of fresh premium, flipped the battery switch in the engine compartment and turned the key...silence. No clicks, whirrs, buzzes, just the silence of my thoughts screaming "now what???"

Battery dead. no problem, it was the blue top that came with the coach (dated 2008), I'll just recharge it. Flip batt boost to engage the two one-month-out-of-warranty 12v Marine energizers from Sams Club I have been recharging periodically - still silence.

So I get out the charger and put the starting battery on. Only gets up to 20% charged. Sure, I was expecting that. I'll need another battery. Put the first marine battery on: will not charge past 60%. Take the starting battery out of the VW bus to throw a charge on it - also bad.

The batteries checked out ok at the FLAPS, so the charger had gone south (I'd rather spend $60 on a charger than $300 on new batteries). Got a new charger, the batteries charged up.

Now, the newly rebuilt engine had been sitting for a while while the tanks and lines were done. I understand that it is not desirable to have it sit like that, and was worried about getting oil pressure up before the engine fired up...

Turn the key: RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh stop. OK, oil pressure now 80 or so - so there is that.

Again: RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh

Still good oil pressure, I'm sucking that fuel down 15 feet of pipe, so it might take a few tries. I had just resurrected two fuel injected vehicles recently that had sat, and both required at least one battery recharge before they fired off, so I was not worried.

RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
Rruh... Rrruh ...Rrrruh

Ok recharge. Engine is well lubricated now...

Next day try it again:

RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh
Rruh... Rrruh... Rrrruh.

Starting to get a little suspicious. No fuel??

While recharging, I disconnected the fuel pump at the front of the engine - no fuel. Hooked up the electric that I used to drain the tanks. Nada. Let it run a while - no dice.

Cr@p, I must have crossed the lines or something. Called it a day and went back to consult the photosite. Unless I was completely drunk when I put the tanks in (I wasn't - that came later), I had connected the lines correctly. Maybe the fuel selector is bad, maybe the new fuel pump is bad...

In pondering, it occurs to me how much fuel had to be removed after the tanks were pumped "dry". Added another 5 gallons of premium, hit the pump, and within a second or two fuel came streaming out.

Lesson: The tanks hold at least 5 gallons of fuel that are not accessible. I am sure I read that somewhere on the site.

Buttoned it all back up, and hit the switches:

RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh - Oil pressure 80.
RuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuhRuh,VROOOOOOOOOM!

The thundering is Awesome. The 455 is roaring, women and children are screaming, little animals are running for their lives...Forgot to install throttle return spring in all of the excitement of getting the engine back in.

Manually modulate throttle, check watch, just need to monitor for 20 minutes to get the engine run in.

It made it to 5.

Coolant started bubbling out from around the base of the water pump in large quantity. Did I mention its a high volume water pump? It seems to be living up to the hype...

All stop.

Yep, its doubles tonight for sure...

Well at least you know it runs...

As I recall there 2 different water pump gaskets. The wrong one will surely leak.