At least we hope so.

The Deed: With the McNiel family dealing with Cori's serious illness, her first request was that someone help Devon get his truck, a 1995 C3500 Chevy dually pickup, running so he'd have the opportunity to go wheeling again.

To accomplish this, a group of us gathered at Ralph's garage today to see what we could figure out. Present were Ralph (of course), Dave Maulding who brought several pieces of test equipment and advanced technical knowledge, Skip Frans who brought his advanced technical knowledge, Shawn Edwardson who brought his knowledge and willingness to crawl around on the cold, wet cement struggling with dirty, heavy, parts and tools, and myself, who brought ... err, ... a diet Pepsi.

Skip and I were the first to arrive at Ralph's, where we pounded on the porch door trying to rouse Mr. Partytime. Skip finally called him on his cell phone and we were in business. Maulding showed up by the time Ralph had moved the extra vehicles out of his garage and Devon's rig in.

The first thing we were to check was the fuel pump pressure. Ralph pulled the fuel filter and inserted Mr. Clean's pressure tester and bingo, only 10-15 PSI. General consensus was this should be more in the order of 40-60 PSI for the fuel injected 454 CI bow-tie engine.

While Skip and I headed for the nearest Napa for parts, Ralph, Dave and Shawn dropped the fuel tank to get at the in-tank pump. Skip and I eventually ended up at two Napa stores to acquire the necessary parts, we then headed back for the garage.

Ralph installed the new parts and slid the tank back under the rig and connected the fuel and electrical lines. Now it was time to fire it up to see what we could see.

First indication we were on the right track was the rig fired right up instead of the coughing, sputtering, pedal-pumping starts the rig had become known for. Pressure was steady at 30 PSI. Not as high as we'd expected, but it didn't fluctuate when you revved the engine or put it in gear. "Looking good" as they say.

Shawn and Ralph made quick work of remounting the fuel tank to the frame, its associated hoses and filler tubes. We then took it for a short test drive to the gas station and it seemed to run fine. When back at Ralph's, we broke out the pressure washer, bucket, brush and soap and tried to peel at least a couple layers of algae and moss off the Chevy's white paint. (Sorry, Devon, I even managed to peel some of that white paint off.)

Shawn and Ralph agreed to take the rig back to Devon's while the rest of us called it a day. Barring Devon telling us otherwise, we'll consider it fixed. Good work, Ralph, Dave, Skip and Shawn.