Have You Installed Your Own Fuel Pump Into An R33 Gtr?

[lolorodeo]

Hi guys,

So i recently got a sard 280L/hr direct replacement pump for my R33 gtr and installed it quite easily. For those that havent seen these basically they fit in the standard position in the cradle and then you just attach the nipple and lower hose/sock from the original pump to the new pump. Now ever since then the car runs out of fuel at a quarter of a tank. Ive had the pump out 4 times...the first i thought maybe id curled the pickup sock up so that it wasnt sucking from the bottom so i reinstalled it and although you cant feel where it should sit in the tank i was fairly confident id got it in the ballpark but this didnt work, next i tried reorientating the sock to make sure it was definately pointing as low into the tank as possible, then it ran out at about the same point again. Next i lowered how low the actual pump sat in the cradle to try and extend it down into the tank but that didnt work and finally i rechecked all the hoses and joins to make sure it wasnt sucking air at any point...the hoses appear all fine and i thought that maybe the nipple wasnt sealed to the bottom of the pump because its a plastic on metal join so i got some fuel proof sealant and sealed the join but it still runs out at a quarter of a tank.

Now the other obvious thing is that the float is reading incorrectly but theres two things there. 1. i didnt touch the float and 2. the car is now only getting about 300km to that quarter of a tank mark where its running out when i used to get about 400-450km from a full tank.

So does anyone have suggestions, or better knowledge how to make sure that pickup is actually extending down into the right spot because you cant see down there and you cant reach under with your hand?

Thanks for any help guys, its driving me nuts having evo like fuel capacity!

[Beer Baron]

next time it runs out of fuel, go check if there is actually fuel in the tank. that will tell you whether or not it's a faulty level sender.

also, are you sure the cradle is located properly in it's bracket? or is it just floating around in the tank? you know the pump fits to the cradle and then the cradle fits to the tank right? actually wait, in 33s cradle is fixed to the inspection lid right, on a kind of arm arrangement that holds it in the tank? if so, don't mind me!

[lolorodeo]

Last-time i let it run down and then checked where the fuel was sitting, which was pretty much the bottom of the pump or the top of the pickup hose hence why i thought thats where it might be leaking air. There is definately fuel there though. The carrier is definately sitting in the bracket right i think though because ive had it in and out a few times and it looks and feels like its sitting down and home into its holder.

Its a shame the tank is such an awkward shape wince it curls around the drivbeline and under the rear seats so you cant see the pickup point. In my old sil80 it was great because you could see the pickup and sit the pump as close to the bottom as you like.

Anyone else got ideas?

[paulr33]

i remember when i did mine you slot it into the back kinda slide section and push it alllll the way down

it goes down a fair bit, so it might just be a simple as its not slide all the way, or not aligning flush and its sitting a few mm higher

ps would love to see more more pics of your car

[gotRICE?]

i remember when i did mine you slot it into the back kinda slide section and push it alllll the way down

it goes down a fair bit, so it might just be a simple as its not slide all the way, or not aligning flush and its sitting a few mm higher

ps would love to see more more pics of your car

With the standard sock arrangement, are you sure its pointing the right way? I tried to use the stock sock on my walbro to avoid this problem, but when sliding the pump home, the length and angle of the stock sock was stopping the pump sliding right to the bottom of the slot. By feel, it felt like it was home, but if you pushed it a bit you could feel resistance of the sock holding it up slightly.

The sock needs to (looking into the inspection hole) point slightly to the right (drivers side) and down @ 45'. As you said because of the shape it makes it difficult. I gave up in the end and used the dinky little walbro sock. Sat down properly low, and havnt had an issue yet. Well down past the 1/4 mark today. I was worried however haha.

EDIT, Also as above paulr33 said, triple check it is correctly sitting in the slot. You can get it 90% of the way down if you only manage to catch one of the slots. And it feels solid enough. I got caught a couple of times thinking it was fine but when you look into it you can see that it was only slotted in one side. Moved it over properly and it dropped down another 2 inches easily.

Edited April 2, 2011 by gotRICE?

[tk80]

I have the same problem with my sard in tank pump in my 33. Was 'profressionally' installed so thought it would work just fine.

My car will actually empty the tank (or close to) if I continue to drive the car. However, if I try to start the car when it has 1/4 of a tank or less, it won't start.

[fatz]

make sure the pick for the pump is at the bottom

make sure that the return line is still attached

also if you put the rubber bung back in sometimes it moves and can partially block the pic up( generally not a problem if you still use the sock as it cant move)

[lolorodeo]

Good to see someone else has this problem. Mine defiantely wont restart once its hit a quarter so at least it typically runs out once ive parked up. Ill have another look but im sure the two tabs that go into the slots to mount the carrier are definately lined up and in all the way because i did have a million goes at getting it to actually go into both slots. Ill recheck that though.

Its hard to know if the pickup hose and sock is sitting in 100% the right direction because obviously you can change the direction the hose and the sock both face but i did spend some time trying to get both facing as far down into the direction of that lower drivers side corner of the tank. I may just have to take it out one more time, recheck all the joins, maybe ill replace the hoses in case one of them has a small hole and then ill have one final go at pointing it at the bottom of the tank. Im loathing having to though because that essentially what ive done the last 3 times and nothing has helped.

Fatz whats the rubber bung your talking about?

Attached is another photo of the car for you paul:). Thanks for the help so far guys, ill see if anyone else has ideas before i get around to pulling it back out.

[lolorodeo]

anyone else have any grand ideas before i rip this sucker back out again?