So I got my new Motorcraft Fuel Pressure Reg. today. In the FPR box comes a rubber gasket that does not obviously look like it will fit any part of the regulator itself.

If you've changed one of these out, may I ask what I'm looking at in as far as:
1.) What tools to use and how tough it would be to change out while leaving the air plenum in place?
2.) what is the gasket/seal I'm looking at?

It almost looks like I can use a 4mm allen 3/8" socket to get the hold-down bolts off (at least I'm sure I can for two of them), but the one is awfully close to a tight plenum space and to the FPR's body, so I'm wondering if how best to get that one off. Ideally I guess I'd be able to find the 4mm Allen in a 1/4" socket, but I've never seen one.

Please give me some ideas if you've got 'em.

 

I've swapped mine with the plenum on before. It really isn't that bad and only takes 10 or 15 minutes. I just used regular L shaped allen wrenches.

The gasket thingy you are looking at probably goes around the two fittings at the base of the regulator. There is one about 3/8" diameter and one about 1/4. There should be an O-ring on the larger one which is the high pressure side. The little gasket is mainly just there to prevent leaks from the low pressure return side. If the gasket isn't figure 8 shaped, I don't know what it is.

 

1)You can't do it. The upper has to come off. Do yourself a favor and get the gaskets for the T/B EGR valve and the IAC valve as well as the upper to lower MF gasket. Take the opportunity to get some coating safe T/B cleaner and clean all the accumulated crap from the EGR out of your upper manifold and T/B and soak your EGR and IAC with the stuff to free them up and get them working properly. When you put it all back together, make sure you get the torque right on all the upper to lower manifold studs, it's critical to getting it to seal. Specs are 12-18 ft-lbs. DO NOT overtighten.

2)The flat ring sits in a recess in the regulator mounting pad on the fuel rail. It seals the return port of the regulator to the fuel rail. The pressure port is sealed by an o-ring on the regulator shank

 

the gasket is weird... it has one triangular hole, and the end of it is cut in a half-circle that almost looks like it would seal around the one fuel inlet or outlet on the FPR, but its only a half-circle, so obviously that won't seal anything.

You got a regular allen wrench in under the plenum? I played with it a little before the sun went down to see if that would be an appropriate tool, and I guess as long as the bolt comes undone easily I could get the long end of the allen wrnech in there.

Thanks!

 

It can be done. I installed my Crane Adjustable regulator without pulling the upper. I know I didn't pull the upper because I swapped it in the machine shop parking lot and didn't have a gasket.

I'm pretty sure I used a regular allen wrench because that's all I own. It's possible I borrowed a tool from the shop to do it, but it was a student machine shop that didn't have much other than regular hand tools. If I remember correctly I had to have someone hold a flashlight for me because the sun was going down.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-Jun-02 AT 11:13 PM (EST)]Well crap, if I had known a Crane adjustable would have worked...

I thought that with the different fittings a typical aftermarket adjustable FPR wouldn't work. Did you have to do much to it to get it to work?

Thanks for the encouragement. I really don't want to take off the plenum if I don't have to. I spray enough high-quality air plenum cleaner in there that I don't think it's that imperative I take it apart to clean it at the moment.

& thaks for the input StrangeRanger - everything helps. I may have to go that route if the one bolt is seized.

I know I have a set of allen sockets around here somewhere... but I lost 'em. Maybe I loaned them to my buddy who moved to Idaho? dang it.

 

I used a Crane FPR for a 5.0 Mustang. It drops right into the fuel rail, but doesn't bolt down to the stock locations. I cut a bracket out of 1/4" aluminum plate that bolts to the stock holes and clamps the regulator to the rail. There's a post about swapping to 19lb injectors in this forum that has a posting of a different type of bracket that would be easier to make and clamps around the crimp of the regulator. That is what I initially wanted to do, but I didn't have a hole saw the right size and I didn't have the right screws to bolt it down with. I was teaching class and got bored, so I did what I could make work righ then while the students were building their projects.

 

You're good Silver Streak. My dad always sems to be able to replace parts like that without taking off things that are in the way. I guess he doesn't mind working on bolts and nuts in cramped quarters. I'm not as good, anymore I just take everything off, I had to take my plenum off to replace my fuel pressure reg -- wouldn't you know it, that wasn't the problem anyways!

I did mess up by not cleaning the junk in my plenum. Everyone since then has said always clean the crud out when you have the plenum off--it'll run alot better.

 

Stephens,

A new can of something like BG "Air Intake System Cleaner" (part no. 406) typically has enough cleaner and pressure in a can to clean out most plenums (and still have some left over).

Spray it liberally in the throttle body on a warmed up engine (at varying angles), and use it to clean up the IAC valve.

With periodic use of such products I'm not too worried about build-up in the plenum. (Though my last car was a higher-mileage Mazda turbo and the plenum always had black stuff (carbon?) coming out of the plenum no matter how much I cleaned it (I tilted the car on a garage lift so a lot of the cleaner and gunk would run back out the throttle body). So perhaps build-up can get pretty bad if not addressed before the 100,000 mile mark.)

(* for that california trial today: what's a jury for if they can't convict as they see fit?)

 

I'll give that a try, thanks for the suggestion.

 

Silver Streak, what is that part number of the crane adjustable regulator and how much does it go for, is there a need to create a different mount?

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 23-Jun-02 AT 09:07 PM (EST)]Well, I did it.

I changed out the FPR without removing the plenum, but I did remove some smog air hoses and some valve for the smog air (held on by a 13mm bolt facing front and a 13mm nut down off of the plenum) to get at it better.

Silver Streak, thanks for the info and encouragement.

It did take less than an hour. It helped to have allen wrenches that had bevelled ends for angular work, and a tool-getter magnet for placing or pulling the allen bolts. It would have helped even more to have an assortment of styles of the right sized allen wrench for different angles.

I used the new O-ring that came with the stainless steel FPR. However, I did not use the new supplied gasket for under the FPR - mine was strangely molded with the full triangular hole for the small fuel inlet, but with only half of the hole for the larger fuel inlet (the one with the O-ring) - the other exact 1/2 of the gasket that would go fully around the large fuel inlet was just not there. It had the mold marks to indicate, or suggest, it was supposed to be this way, but I just used the old gasket to make sure I had a good seal.

Still need to road test it more though.

 

The stock number for the Crane FPR from Summit is 99471-1, don't know if that is also the Crane P/N or not. It currently sells for about $70, but was $50 when I bought it. If I was buying it now I would cough up the extra cash for the BBK or Aeromotive regulator which are only about $30 more. You will have to build a bracket to clamp it to the fuel rail. There is a picture of one in a topic regarding a swap to 19lb injectors in this forum.

I try to clean out my intake everytime I take it off. Typically there is anywhere from 1/4-3/8" of carbon buildup in it. It gets nasty quick.