Tahiti Trip:
Engine update: It wasn’t an air leak in the fuel system at all! The injector pump is getting bubble free air at the inlet, but it seems some algae was knocked loose when changing the fuel filter. It was causing weird symptoms as it worked its way through the system to finally come to rest at the fuel injector pump inlet. So I could bleed the system, slowly filling the pump with fuel. Then I could start the engine but the restriction prevented fuel from flowing at a fast enough rate to keep up with the engine, starving it of fuel.
I took the coolant tank and hoses off, removed the exhaust manifold, disconnected all the attachments to the pump and finally removed the pump. After all that work I decided to not only remove the algae, but also refurbish the thing before I spend another day or two reassembling. I do most of my own work, but I’m not going to risk messing up the sensitive, expensive pump so I dropped it off at the shop a couple days ago.
I might have an engine ready for the Fourth of July Waikiki Flotilla!