After removing all of these items the fuel pump is relatively accessible and was fairly easy to remove. There are two fuel pipes and two bolts (which hold it to the engine) which need to be disconnected or removed.

I thought that the rebuild would be fairly straightforward. There are six bolts to remove and the unit comes apart. Well, all of the bolts were easy to remove except two. These bolts had gotten very stuck. It seems that they were the lower two and a bit of fuel seeped into the holes and became glue. One I managed to beat out with a hammer, which destroyed the bolt of course. The other I had to cut on both ends. It would still not budge even while using a metal punch and hammer to try to knock it loose. Whoever said that steel and aluminum don't mix sure got it right on this one. I attempted to drill the bolt out. After breaking two titanium drill bits I thought better of that idea. I will probably end up taking it to a metal shop and having them drill it on a drill press or perhaps they have a punch that will push it out. No, it is still not done. The lower portion of the pump (the part closest to the engine) is a "real work of art." [:-(] The instructions say to operate the pump mechanism after separating the main diaphragm from the body and insert a thin 3/16 inch open end wrench into the opening to engage some flats on the post under the bolt. Otherwise the bolt will spin and you cannot remove the diaphragm. Well, when they say "thin" they mean sheet metal thin and flexible. I don't have a tool as flimsy as what is called for here. I suppose I will look to find one. I saw no other way to remove the bolt, so if anyone knows of a better way, please let me know.

The fuel pump was filled with a mixture of rust and varnish which cleaned out easily. I think I will check my fuel lines as well to make sure they are clean and I may drain the old fuel out to the tank (both sides) as well, just to make sure that I resolve the problem.

First of all, the bolt which I could not get out due to the varnish gluing it in place� I took it to a machine shop and they tried to push it through on a large press. It broke the punch that they were using and didn't budge. The next thing they tried was to drill it on a very heavy drill press, but the drill bits of the proper size are simply too flexible and it went around the screw to the softer aluminum. I had them drill next to the bolt and ended up spending several hours and 5 dremel tool diamond bits grinding the bolt out. I now have it through with an only slightly enlarged hole which I don't believe will be a problem.

Secondly after many attempts to insert the 3/16 inch wrench (spanner) under the plates for the main diaphragm I ended up making a slot in the bolt so that I could use a wrench and a screwdriver to remove the nut. I ended up grinding away the nut as well since the bolt is brass and even with a fairly deep slot, the nut would not come off without tearing up the brass. Upon disassembly I found that the correct wrench for my fuel pump is a � inch, not the 3/16 inch as stated in the manual. However, even if I had known this, I don't think I would have been able to avoid slotting the bolt anyway. As with everything I have run across with my ferret, it was put together extremely tightly.

Putting in the new, main diaphragms (there were three installed and that is how many were in the rebuild kit, so I put all three in.) was relatively straight forward. The threads of the bolt were relatively tight on the new nut, so I don't believe I will have a problem with the nut coming loose.

I still need to sand the surface around the area that I drilled to take out a few scratches that I made, but I anticipate the rest of the job to be simple.

Today I replaced the fuel pump in my ferret. After mounting it to the engine I connected the input pipe and moved the priming lever to check to see if fuel would come out the outlet (as called for in the instructions). Well, to make a long story short... no fuel. I had only 1/4 tank and had the selector lever on the reserve tank and could not get the fuel to pump through. Knowing that many people have had problems with the reserve side of the tank, I removed the fuel pipe between the left side of the fuel tank and the selector switch. Of course this also drained my fuel which proved to be quite dirty. The fuel pipe was plugged with tar (varnish?) for about the bottom 5 inches. After much work with a wire I managed to clean it out.

Here is the lesson I learned (especially combined with the experiences of others). It may be a VERY good idea to run your ferret on the reserve side every once in a while to keep the fuel and dirt from settling in the fuel pipe and blocking it. Running fuel through should keep it clean. After seeing all of the dirt that came out of mine, I say watch your fuel gauge and rotate your tanks on a regular basis. I'm guessing that while in service the ferrets were kept full and rarely or never used the reserve tank which means you may have 45-year-old fuel in your pipe just sitting there. It makes sense that both sides of the "horse shoe" in the fuel tank could be used as a reserve but, only the side on the left (facing forwards) has the fuel gauge. Thus you have a choice to have your fuel gauge register total fuel or just fuel in the main tank by choosing which side you select for your reserve. A thought to consider when you are labeling them.