Upgrading B4 Fuel Pump?

[chadza]

Hi all,

After tax time in a few weeks I will be getting a tune for the B4 as I've had enough of the VOD and dont want it to ping when it comes to Summer. I haven't decided whether to go the Ecutek big $$$ route or the piggyback ECU route which seem to be the only 2 options here in SA.

When I got a quote for the Ecutek from S&J they recommend a 500hp fuel pump be installed at the same time, I have done some research and some say it is needed, some say it won't be any different without a better fuel pressure regulator. Obviously the flow rate of the aftermarket pump is much better at 210L/hr vs the standard B4 pump at 130L/hr but do I really need this much flow? When the tune is getting done I will have a Dump pipe back exhaust and a CAI. The only other engine mod I will down the track is a better TMIC. Not interested in big power past this, more in an all around good tarmac car.

Any opinions on this? I am probably being a bit of a tightarse in debating over a fuel pump, but $400 could go a long way toward my house deposit down the track!!

As an aside....Hopefully a few more posts start popping up here from the B4 users on this site. I have had enough of Ozlib and will now be spending my liberty forum time over here!!

[jdm rsk]

ask phat gt (micheal) about a fuel pump he should be able to help you.

[B.C]

from all accounts ,99% of people i've spoken too suggested getting the pump up graded when doing mods such as yours on the b4. that many people can't be wrong.
only thing wrong that comes to mind is the $400 fitted price tag. buy one and fit that sucker yourself,,peice of piss. there are plenty of threads on how to do it.
straight forward job. on the end of the new pump there is a white pick up filter bag looking thingy on a 45 deg angle. take that off and put your old 90 deg one on the new pump and it will fit like a glove inside your fuel tank.trust me if i can do it so can you.
but yeah proly should get it done especially if your already looking at future mods.

[benvw]

Let me know how you go. I looked into the fuel pump as well and thought I found that you could buy the 500hp pumps for about $150-$200 at Supercheap. I have my car booked in August as part of the group tune in QLD for a Pulse reflash. Would love to hear how exhaust goes etc...

[chadza]

Yeah will do mate.

Just purchased a Walbro 255L/hr pump off of ebay for $148...and as I type this its arrived after 2 days! Seems genuine....but you never can tell these days with car parts. Will be fitting it myself either this weekend or next. I found a DIY over at Ozlib.com and it doesn't seem that hard a job. It'll mean a saving of $250 vs getting a shop to install one! I'll let you know how I go this weekend.

Im fairly certain I will now just get the Ecutek 2 reflash done. Should be in late July/early August when tax money comes through.

[chadza]

Well i installed the pump today. Was a bit of a bigger job than I expected. Partly because the DIY thread I was using as reference wasnt very helpful in the area that I needed it to be!

This whole job is very straight forward apart from 1 thing- getting the longer pump to fit inside the standard pump housing. As the walbro pump is quite a bit longer, the end rubber cap and little nodes on the bottom of the fuel pump itself all need to be trimmed down to compensate. Its quite a fiddly job even with a dremel. I may do up a DIY when i have time and have thought about the process a little better to streamline it for in the future.

Question for those of you that have put the walbro in their cars though- how noisy is it for you? The new pump is very audible ALL THE TIME. Even with the rear seat reinstalled it is quite noticeable whine inside. Now I didn't want to bash the tank down myself as I wasn't too sure how much the tank can hold up to. So the pickup pipe for the fuel pump is resting on the bottom of the tank. Is this likely to be causing a lot of the noise or is the new pump in general just THAT much noisier?

[gordy]

From what ive read noise and Walbro's go hand in hand... I did read about someone who used some dynamat between the cover and the seat and reported a decrease in noise. I think he said he used 2 layers.

[benvw]

I've heard the same that the pump is much more noisy. Any diference in performance?

[chadza]

Mmmm, I reckon I will give the tank a bit of a bash out first. Then if that doesn't help look into getting some dynamat. Without the back seat on it was like a VCR on full fast forward! The seat did deaden the sound quite a bit, so any sound deadening stuff would certainly help I'd say.

As for noticeable difference- just the noise! Some people say they notice more response, but I think thats just the placebo effect of knowing you have done something to the car! I haven't noticed anything yet. It will certainly help for piece of mind that if the retune numbers come back good, then I wont be leaning out at high rpm.

[B.C]

is the pickup on the new pump on a 45 dergee angle. is the pickup on your old pump on a 90 degree angle. if so use your old pick up like i did. worked a treat for me, no tank bashing involved. that shiats a myth as proven by Kosti on ozlib ??????????!!!!!!!!!!!

[chadza]

Yeah, I used the OEM pickup, as obviously the new one wasn't going to fit at all. I am a bit miffed at how much stuffing around I had to do with the fuel pump isolator rubber piece. I had to absolutely butcher it to get the pump housing to clip back together. This was an area where Kosti's DIY didn't really have much info on what exactly I needed to cut to get it to fit.

When you did yours BC what did you have to modify to get the plastic pump housing to clip back together? Unless I got a different pump to everyone else (unlikely as its the same serial number) I have no idea how you could get it to fit without the pickup being hard up against the bottom of the tank.

[B.C]

hhmm interesting as mine was a lot easier to do than even Kosti's. i don't think i had to cut bugger all really to get it in and fairly certain it doesn't touch the tank. i don't know mate. sometimes the pumps come with a rubber sock to quite her down , mine didn't but my wifes did.
after a week i didn't notice the noise anymore anyway.

[adhar]

Don't worry about the noise, that's normal on ALL aftermarket pumps. It means its working!
You shouldn't notice any performance improvements OR response, it is an engine safety thing, making sure you get enough fuel when you bury the right foot and your engine needs more fuel!

[tabba222]

hey mate i had the works done on my B$ at s&j too.
fuel pump is noisy but i cant hear mine when driving over the exhaust and BOV
Very Very happy with the end results tho.
I had the stage 2 retune way before i had the other extras- 3" full exhaust, TMI,
now i wish as soon as bought it i took it there to get the goodies....

[djb]

HI Chazda,
was it my DIY that your read, or KOSTI's? I rewrote a newer one at about the time you did yours and am not sure whether you used it. I did have photos of the nodes you have to cut off, and I think they're up now.

Cheers
Darryl