Rebuilding a 1979 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II 'non rebuildable' fuel pump

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civicious

Buck Futter
VIP
So I've been doing some work on a friend of mine's dad's pair of Rolls Royces (74 Corniche and 79 SSII). Both of them have been sitting for several years, and need a LOT of work - carbs rebuilt, hoses replaced, random broken shit fixed, etc. A local Rolls Royce repair facility quoted him $11k to repair ONE of them (the Corniche). Parts for these things are scarce, and typically take several WEEKS to acquire if they have to be ordered - and even still, are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. They even require a special 'mineral oil' brake fluid that is around $30 per litre, and ONLY available from a Rolls dealership.

I, being the badass that I am, am going to repair BOTH of the cars in the span of a few (hopefully less than 3) days, and for CONSIDERABLY less than was quoted. For instance, the Corniche (which was allegedly $11k and several months to fix) took me and a coworker about 4 hours to have driving around, idling smooth as glass, running, stopping, etc. like new - with less than $100 in hard parts. Best part is, it's fixed RIGHT, and has not been band-aid'ed in order for us to make a quick buck off of the guy. Don't get me wrong, it was an immense amount of work to get it done, but I've just got skills like that (and I'm broke as shit, and have to have a big chunk of cash in order to pay my attorney in 2 days. Don't drink and drive, kids.).

Once the Corniche was finished, we moved on to the Shadow. The owner told us that he had been told that it needed a fuel pump, among other things. Great, now we're balls-deep in something that's going to need a part that's going to take at least a month to get, IF it's even available (I haven't been able to locate one as of yet). The service manual states the fuel pump is 'non-serviceable', and must be replaced if it's faulty.

Non-serviceable? It's got screws on it, that means it'll come apart SOMEHOW!

Granted, I COULD just go buy an electric fuel pump from Napa...but if you're the type of person who would seriously consider putting a Mr. Gasket fuel pump on an otherwise all-original 79 Rolls, you shouldn't be working on that caliber of a vehicle in the first place. That, and even generic fuel pumps are kinda pricey (read: more than 'free').

So I decide to have myself a Diet Dr. Pepper and dig in...


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Here she is, next to one of the carburetors. Grungy, caked with 30 years of 'ick', and working about as well as...well, something that doesn't work at all. It's got screws on it, though, so that means I can take it apart. And what's the worst thing that could happen, it's already broken - not gonna get any worse.

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Got the top half apart (the bottom wasn't anything exciting, so I didn't bother to take pictures). Lots of nifty little bits and pieces, I wonder what they all do?

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Started cleaning everything up, polishing the rotors/blades, cleaning the muck and gunk off of everything. I also noticed that the fuel pump was a nice shade of dullish red...nifty!

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Here's the inside of the thing, what actually makes it spin. Electricity goes into it and makes the li'l magnet uncomfortable, so it starts turning and turning trying to find a more comfortable spot to rest - kinda like a dog about to go to sleep. That makes the li'l rotor thingamabobs stick out, and whirl around in the gas (or liquid of your choice), and sucks it in one hole and out the other. Pretty cool shit, huh?

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Everything cleaned up and almost all back together - hopefully everything fit in there right! But, again, what's the worst that can happen?

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All back together - sure does look a lot purdier than when I started...wonder if it works?

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Non-serviceable? Nay says I!
 
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Hearing you say what's the worst... An airplane could fall on you. With you, who knows....
 
its amazing how so many lux and exotic cars that cost so much money brand new, can be found with such low millage, and in need of such basic maintenance. good luck

jon
 
Went to factory training with a guy who used to work for Bentley/Rolls (pre BMW/VW). Said wiring was a nightmare and some older Rolls used a British-only proprietary bolt and fastener size.

Props to you.
 
Good shit, of course they will say its nonserviceable to get you to buy the overpriced part.

My last job we pissed off the manufacture of one brand of machines we used. We would have to do stuff like this all the time and reverse engineer parts.
 
The wiring isn't a nightmare, once you get used to the way Lucas electronics tend to work...once you figure it out, it's not AS bad as people make it seem....


Some pics of the cars...got the Shadow put back together today, had both of them running and driving around by 7:30pm. That's 2 cars in 2 days, that would've taken just about anyone else WEEKS and THOUSANDS of dollars. W00t!!!
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Very sexy.

I do the same thing with just about everything around here that "breaks".
 
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