So today as I trouble shooted a fuel delivery problem which consisted of removing the fuel pressure regulator from the filter housing anyway to clean it, I wanted to try the advice I had picked up in another thread. It said you could shim the brass plug to achieve more fuel pressure. The thing is that my truck is stock motor to the best of my knowledge ( I bought it about 4 weeks ago). I shimmed it by using 1/8" industrial gasket material. When I got the truck running, I used a tire gauge and it showed 50 psi at idle. I had read you could use a tire gauge a few times before it would be trashed. Does anyone have any thoughts for or against this procedure? Did I just waste my time by doing that? It has a stock air filter and box, that I plan on putting an air intake on it soon. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

How did you shim it?

 

I shimmed it by removing the brass 7/8'' plug from the regulator and 'making' a washer to go between it and the body of the fpr. The material is used in the oil field, so it is oil/fuel resistant, and has high pressure capabilities. I will go back and change it out if I can find a washer that is about the same thickness.

 

most guys use a .177 cal BB...

 

well i guess that im not most guys. haha. I had seen it mentioned and when i hear 'shim' i think one thing. and that is just what i did. Nobody ever mentioned a bb. Im not confident that I understand how it works. I feel a little stupid now, but could you elaborate a little? Switch it out, or place it on top of the other ball with the spring in there?

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the article I had read on this subject mentioned not to go too far. 1/8" should be enough.

 

i hear ya, workin in the oil patch you hear "shim" you think a flat piece, not a round object. ok, pull the FPR housing off, leave the spring in the fuel bowl housing. put the BB in the FPR and then screw it back to the bowl. and wala! you just bumped the fuel pressure. if you need more than a 1/8" then you need a new fuel pump.

 

Oil patch is all ive ever known. Thank you very much for explaining that for me. I will work on that in the next couple of days. just for clarification, under the plug is a spring and ball that fit inside of a hollow plumb bob thing. the bb goes between the spring and the plug? or under the plumb bob thing?

 

what do you do in the patch? rig mover down there? ok, like a said, just pull the FPR off and the spring and put the BB in, then the spring, then the FPR. and then check pressure/ what was the pressure before?

 

Well with a tire gauge mind you, with my washer shim i had 50, stock was 88psi. I dont need to shim like yall are saying with the bb.

No, I am a Lease Operator for XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. We hire the rigs to drill the wells on the leases down here. Im sort of a Jr. Company man.

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I do have 1 more question though for you, I went through my 'no start' problem and it ended up just being some gunk issues and some loose hose clamps on the fuel pump. Every thing is cleaned up and fixed up with new fuel filter. She runs strong and good, but when she idles,,,,,i dont know,,,,, it's like she hiccups a little. the tach will go up a little and then back down. the tone of the idle sound will change to a not so smooth tone, then smooth out. This is with out the a/c on and it doesn't matter if she is warmed up or not. Basically I am worried that I may have damaged something, allowing the dirty fuel to get that far. I'm thinking of trying an ipr and hope that does the trick. Right now I am not so sure I can trust her to go out of town.

 

my 94 does that. put a fuel pressure gauge on it and watch it as it idles. or get a scanner like AE and see what comes up. if you got 88 psi then you don't need a shim.

how long does it take to punch a hole? just a vertical or horizontal too? what depth?