1966 404 Coupé Injection Restoration

4 minute(s) of a 255 minute read

Today I pressed the new bearings onto the motor shaft with a vise and then the pinion gear after it was inserted into and through the grease seal in the underside of the motor mounting plate.  Checked the length of the original brushes: 6 mm and 9 mm....too short, so I looked in my spare parts stock and found two new or nearly new ones, both 12 mm long.  Then the motor was tested and it was SO smooth!

Next task: the hydraulic part of the pump, which sits below the electrical part.

5-25-2020

Today I reassembled the hydraulic part of the AEG/KF PLF5A fuel lift pump.

Bad surprise: despite the excellent condition of the electrical part of the original pump that equipped my car, the same could not be said of the hydraulic part.  The idler pinion inside the pump chamber was seized to its shaft!  The last time I ran the engine was about 2005 so the seizure occurred after that....I presume after I disassembled the car in 2016.  Also, the lower plate that covers the pump chamber has a regulation valve that is supposed to be removed and checked during a rebuild like this and it too was seized!  Anyway, all was not lost...

...because I have a spare lift pump from a car I used to own in 1981-1985 and its hydraulic portion was perfect.  All it needed was a thorough cleaning.

Cleaning nearly done and the last bits about to go back together....

And it's together.  I did another dry run test with it all assembled and it sounded good.  I should try a pump test, I suppose, though I have no reason to think it won't pump.

After I had finished assembling the pump that will go on the car - and cleaning the fuel line banjo unions that are now on it - I had a closer look at the seized pinion. 

I got a brass punch and gave it some gentle taps and it began to move.  Sprayed some WD-40 and it moved some more...then I was able to get it out.  Cleaning the shaft and inside of the pinion made it work again when I reinserted it.  It was not rust that caused it to seize.  So I think it could be made to work.  Although the driven shaft seemed a bit graunchy compared to the one I used, maybe graunchy isn't the right word, but at least less smooth.  That too could be cleaned up with a full disassembly.

The seized valve adjuster is a bit more of an issue.  I suppose it could come out if I had the perfect screwdriver for it.  I soaked it in WD40.

The commutator is shot as seen in an earlier post in this thread but a kind soul in Hungary is sending me a spare new one he had made locally, for free no less!  So perhaps one day I could put together a second well functioning pump with what's left.  I also found another nearly new set of brushes inside the second motor....