What a father will do for his daughter...Fuel pump change-out

[mike2004tct]

Or am I one gene away from the three stooges;
This may be long....

The daughter (17) went to a Korn Family Values Concert today(what an oximoron that is), so I decided since she got a ride I'd change out her fuel pump on the '96 Sunfire. (140k miles, original pump,no codes showing,cleaned EGR,MAP,IAC,it stumbles at highway speed, and quits when warm at slow-down to stop)

Started at 8:30am, had the tank out by 9:00, pump out, cleaned out the tank,new assembly in by 9:15,new filter on, tank back up by 10:00.
Turned the key on,checked for leaks, none, Hooooorayyyyyy. Cleaned up, called the wife out to back the car out of the garage; started the puppy up and massive gas leak by the rear of the tank, must've dropped half a gallon before it got switched off. Jacked it up again, took a peak, and saw that the return line to the tank got crimped. So off to NAPA to by a foot of hose to scavange the broken steel hose. Couldn't find my tube cutter, so off to ACE to buy a new one. 12:00pm, done again. turn key to on, check for leaks; none. Start car up, runs fine, no leaks. Down to the local fuel center for some petro (3.3 gallons for $10.00 on DAD), the freaking gas gauge doesn't work.
Up on jack stands again, drop the tank, and the darn gauge connector is disconnected (only has a snap on fitting, the pump connector has a pin to hold the conn. on). button everything up again, no leaks, runs fine, GAUGE DOESN'T WORK. 2:00pm, drop the tank again(#3). Experiment with sending unit in 5 gallon bucket of fuel, the bugger sticks at empty when you slant it backwards. Of course, with the car rear-end on jack stands, it's tilted backwards. Re-assemble again, rap the tank a few times, turn on key, NOTHING. No whirring, no pressure, NOTHING. Drop the tank for the fourth time, I AM AN IDIOT.
I forgot to put the pin in the pump connector, an of course it was disconnected. Reconnect, insert pin, my arms feel like lead weights, but I get it back together at 5:00 pm, start it, an everything works. Hit the shower by 6:00, and I'm ready for bed. If I'm lucky, the girl might thank me for the work tomorrow.

Boy, do I ache. Just told the 13 yr old son, he has to do all his own work when he starts driving, I'm too old for this.