Vortec 7400 Injector/Fuel Pressure Regulator Replacement. No Virginia, You Don't Have to Remove the Distributor!

[Zulu Kono]

Hello gents!
Been gathering parts and info for months and this weekend I cracked her open. Went pretty smooth and with no major glitches so far. I'm now rebuilding the fuel rail.

Everything I've watched and read online says you have to remove the distributor to get the one fuel-rail bolt out that lives under it. I'm waaay too rebellious to listen to what everyone says I have to do. You can in fact get that bolt out without removing the distributor, and it isn't that hard. I got up there in the center of the engine bay on my hands and knees, well lit of course, and was able to get a 10mm ratcheting wrench onto that bolt by orienting the wrench so that it was pointing back towards me, i.e., parallel with the truck and with the business end pointing towards the front of the vehicle. Got that little effer out and of course lost it behind the engine, but thank God it fell to the floor and was easily retrieved.

Also managed to remove all of the old injectors from the fuel rail without breaking off any of the little square plastic nubs that hold the retainer clips in place. That was accomplished by exerting no lateral pressure whatsoever on those nubs. The key was slowly and patiently prying the two side crimps up with a very small screwdriver and working the clip off with a larger one.

 

[someotherguy]

Everything I've watched and read online says you have to remove the distributor to get the one fuel-rail bolt out that lives under it.

Where you been reading? Quit reading there.

I never read anything about pulling the distributor to do that job. It stayed in place.. no problem at all. (valve covers off because I was also preparing to do the adjustable rocker stud conversion)

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Richard

 

[Zulu Kono]

Where you been reading? Quit reading there.

I'm more of a visual learner, so YouTube is my main go-to.
Every video I've watched on the subject says to remove the distributor.
I didn't want to and I'm stubborn like that.
What are the benefits of the rocker arm conversion you did?

 

[someotherguy]

I'm more of a visual learner, so YouTube is my main go-to.
Every video I've watched on the subject says to remove the distributor.
I didn't want to and I'm stubborn like that.
What are the benefits of the rocker arm conversion you did?

Youtube is a great resource for a lot of things, and I'll confess to having looked up a few jobs on it that saved me some serious time - like how to replace the headlight capsules on my stepdaughter's Subaru. It's no big secret how to do it but the video just let me know it's possible to do without removing the whole bumper; you can just go in through the fender liners.

However, I'm usually more of a "look it up in the service manual", try to find some useful forum posts, or barring that just give the job a good visual evaluation and then tear into it.

On to the rockers: you may already know the stock rockers on these big blocks are non-adjustable. You simply torque the bolt to spec and that's it. If there's any wear in the assemblies, you cannot adjust it out. You also can't just throw rocker studs in there because the bolts are a different size. So, Comp Cams has a fairly inexpensive kit that has dual-sized rocker studs, lock nuts, and spacers that allow you to retain the stock rocker arms and pivot balls.

You can see the regular bolts on the stock rockers:

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Vs. the adjustable studs, and also some Comp roller tip rockers (which are of debatable value - this is not a recommendation) as well as the new Bosch injectors and SMP regulator:

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Richard

 

[Zulu Kono]

Got the fuel rail rebuilt and went to reinstall it but it doesn't seem like the injectors go far enough down into their ports. As you can see the new injectors have two grooves on their neck whereas the old ones have only one. I mounted the injectors with the retainer clips going into the lower groove, which seems like it would match the old one, but they don't seem to have enough reach. Please advise. Thanks!

New and old injectors pictured side by side:

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[Zulu Kono]

I accidentally had it right. It is the lower groove on the injector which takes the retainer clip, however I had to disassemble the fuel rail again to determine that. Turns out I needed to do it anyway because when I assembled it the first time I did not lube the injectors' o-rings or their ports along the rail, which I learned after the fact needed to be done. After I had it disassembled (again) I did a mock up on the truck with the rail in situ and one injector lubed and bottomed out on both ends. That revealed that it's definitely the lower groove, i.e., the one down farther on the neck closest to the plug-in. So now I've disassembled and rebuilt this fuel rail twice without having busted off any of the plastic nubs. Pretty sure I've used up all my good luck for the rest of the year. Most guys probably already know all this, but this is my first fuel injector replacement ever, so I'm learning the hard way how to do it.

 

[Zulu Kono]

Truck is back together and on the road.
Running smooth and with no SES light.
Hot start issue seems solved.
I'm probably into it around $600 including beer.
Feeling confident I could do it again, and I pray I never have to.
Thanks for all the help that was given!!!
And a big shout-out to Precision Auto Injectors!
He also helped me through it.

 

[Supercharged111]

Truck is back together and on the road.
Running smooth and with no SES light.
Hot start issue seems solved.
I'm probably into it around $600 including beer.
Feeling confident I could do it again, and I pray I never have to.
Thanks for all the help that was given!!!

$600? I used junkyard 4.6 4 hole Bosch injectors and a new AC Delco regulator. Way cheaper, same result. But 2 rounds with those clips and no breakage, may want to buy a lottery ticket.

 

[Zulu Kono]

$600? I used junkyard 4.6 4 hole Bosch injectors and a new AC Delco regulator. Way cheaper, same result. But 2 rounds with those clips and no breakage, may want to buy a lottery ticket.

For less than $600 I got the Bosch 4-hole injectors,
new Delphi FPR, new cap, rotor, plugs and wires,
Felpro gaskets, various stuff I had to run to the
auto parts store for, a new set of Channel Lock
snap-ring pliers, and it was about a one-case-of-beer job.
I'm feeling good about it.
But thanks for dumping on my victory.

Edit:
Just for the hell of it I did the math on the parts.
$420 for the injectors, plugs, wires, cap & rotor and gasket set.
Add in the beer and miscellaneous stuff and I came in under $500.
Kick rocks.

 

[Supercharged111]

For less than $600 I got the Bosch 4-hole injectors,
new Delphi FPR, new cap, rotor, plugs and wires,
Felpro gaskets, various stuff I had to run to the
auto parts store for, a new set of Channel Lock
snap-ring pliers, and it was about a one-case-of-beer job.
I'm feeling good about it.
But thanks for dumping on my victory.

Edit:
Just for the hell of it I did the math on the parts.
$420 for the injectors, plugs, wires, cap & rotor and gasket set.
Add in the beer and miscellaneous stuff and I came in under $500.
Kick rocks.

LOL! I'd already done this on the dually and learned that 5.0motorsport sells you the same injector for a 454 that they do a 5.0 or 4.6, so I just sniffed one of those out in the junkyard for the plow truck. Either way fixes that miserable hot start.