Hi All,

I recently picked up my '89 corvette as a bit of a project car. Since I had done some basic maintenance on my cars before I figured this one with 20k miles on it would be in relatively good shape and wouldn't need too much attention before it was mechanically sound. I was VERY wrong. I've already fixed 3 vacuum leaks, a broken belt tensioner, and an intake manifold gasket leak. I've already learned 10x more than I thought I was going to learn about this car's mechanics and really appreciate all the documentation you guys keep on this forum. It's made my life a lot easier.

I'm hoping to find some advice on installing my fuel injectors. Each time I try pressurizing the fuel rails I've gotten fuel leaks which look like they're coming from the top O-rings that fit into the fuel rail. I've replaced all the o-rings on the injectors, and made sure I pushed the injectors all the way into the fuel rail. Mine did not have retainer clips, but I've read those aren't super critical. I've ordered replacement clips just to try and see if there's a difference.

I think my issue is that I need to push the injectors out of the fuel rail a little in order to connect the wiring harness. I'm going to try connecting the wires before I push them into the fuel rail next, but other than that and ordering all new injectors, I'm not sure what else to try.

I'm using the same fuel injectors I got with the car originally - they look a bit short but seemed to have the car running just fine before I started the intake gasket replacement.

I'm still a little new to this in depth of mechanical work, and the car was left to me in a questionable state (mismatched bolts etc) so I appreciate any advice you can chip in. I'm hoping to share some pictures of the car once I'm happy with it working well. Thanks in advance!

- Jessie

 

Can you measure the length of your injectors for us and tell us what numbers are on them? You should not have to install the injector connectors before hand. Pics help as well. Short injectors are sometimes double oringed at the bottom. I had to double check it has been a while, install injectors in intake manifold first.

 

Just want to make sure you got the message to install injectors in intake manifold first.

 

Thank you for clarifying that - I’ll try putting them in the manifold before the rail.

here’s the injectors I’ve had - the only marking I can read on it say ACCEL 4357 and it’s 3 inches tall.

I have a chance to try again tomorrow and can report back.

Fuel injector is 3 in long

 

Is your engine stock ?? I am unsure of those injectors, but it is because of my lack of knowledge not neccessarily the injector. Make sure to clean the intake and fuel rail sockets for the injectors and use and small amount of motoroil as a lubricant for the orings. Injectors are usually loose enough to spin even when the rail is tight. Clean the injectors themselves and make sure the orings are new. As for the car not having many miles, you are not encountering mileage issues you are seeing age issues. The car is after all 36 years old. The good news is the parts are mostly inexpensive and the car itself is very fun to drive. Retainer clips are for ease of intallation but serve no purpose after install. The 4 bolts, torqued equally onto the fuel rail, will hold the injectors. Their length appears appropriate.

 

Thanks so much - putting them in the manifold first did the trick. I was able to pressurize my fuel rails and start my engine for a bit finally.

I believe I have a stock L98 but it has some more modern parts swapped out and a Holley EFI added on too. I think the aftermarket ECU is causing me a lot of issues but I am glad it has a new wiring harness since I heard the 89’s had worse wiring insulation.

I’m hoping it’s just a timing adjustment away from running great again, but I’m running into an issue with my fuel pump. Something seems to be blowing my fuel relay fuse once the engine gets running. I noticed I was able to turn on power to the fuel pump without blowing the fuse, but when I start the engine it will blow the fuse and the engine dies out if I let off the throttle.

I'm guessing it’s likely the Holley ECU so I’m going to have to read up on Holley’s electrical specs. It seems to have been taking over the stock relay’s control over the fuel pump’s power.

Any troubleshooting steps there would be appreciated but I can open a separate thread once I know a little more.

Thanks

 

As far as I can tell the manufactures number for that injector is 150824, 24.3lb injectors @ 43.5 psi. 4357 is not really referenced accept in two places that I could find and I would not stake my life on it.