Sorry guys- been limited on my Internet shute time. Thanks to sylvan for keeping an eye open!

I've been trying to upload some photos but it keeps erroring on me. I'll have to link then in. I'm still struggling with some height issues. Was a bit weird- I was trying to adjust my rear d side spring tension and when finished a certain adjustment it still seemed off- so I kind of leaned on the back a bit to encourage it to drop a bit and suddenly the car shifted a bit and then my front hood stand popped out. Figure something was hanging it up- no idea what though.

Figure maybe that contributed to the unseating of my fuel pump- though I checked all the screws and they all seemed tight. Heading to work today so I'll have more opportunity to dork with photos.

On a side note I had to move the car earlier and had the seat up and could see the port where the fuel pump is- and it was whirring away like I imagine it should- but there was a definite hissing sound- probably of air... I'm almost certain that's my problem. Any other ideas?

 

Sorry for double post but it happens.


A few photos to post!

 

the shop shoulda caught those issues if they had enough time to properly road test the build....

do you have a return system?

if you are talking about the big o-ring that seals the pump to the tank, you can just coat the o-ring with vasoline and it will ft right back into place

 

Yeah... I do have a return system.

And believe me your original post was in the back of my mind as we were getting pushed further and further behind with various setbacks. Then again, even money that the tank level would have been low enough at that point to prevent that from happening during the road test (I made it all the way back to Vancouver without a problem)... in fact if I'd filled the tank before leaving I probably would have cratered right outside of seattle... at 11pm. Not to mention that it made it for hours on the dyno (even with the tank quite full)...

You can see the O ring there in the FSM- and it clearly states about replacing it after any disassembly (included below.) A few things were pushed beyond the last minute and I do my best to be empathetic... I think overall they did a great job on so many things that I don't want to fuss over it.

It was brought to my attention when they were switching out the pump... and I did know about it... and they did try to torque it up a bit to keep things under control until I could get it replaced but evidently it was not enough to get around the full tank (when I got home). I suppose if we were going to do this over again I'd recommend that if you're going to do the work on your fuel pump- just go ahead and buy a new o ring. Seriously- just do it.

So- It is what it is but I think it's an easy fix. From what I gather about what they told me about the condition it was in from the Progressive install- I think we're past the vaseline solution- I'll need to get the new one anyway. I'm away at work for the week so I get to sit around and think about it for now and figure out of there are any tricks to the disassembly / removal. From what I'm reading in the FSM it's going to be really straight forward or downright easy.

 

weird, i'm still on the same o-ring that came with the car and i've have like 6 different fuel setups. vasoline puts it right back into place.

best of luck!!

 

Thanks str8... I'm not doubting that it would work- but for 7 bucks I'll do it the company way

On an additional note, I was having some debate about the Quaife / Tomei LSD... and we're going the Quaife route. A couple of things to consider there and I guess this isn't really an FI issue as much as to say that open dif and big FI numbers don't mix.

So when I go down for the final tune etc I'll get the boost controller put in and the Quaife. Sounds like a bit of work involved so I'm not expecting a quick in and out. This time, however, I'm going to get the time booked in!


On a side note- I don't see AF on this sheet but the HP / TQ are there. These are the numbers from the break in tune.

 

TBH a competent shop should have a boost controller and diff installed in a day... If one guy at home without a lift really wanted to he could do it in a day, although that could depend on what interior work you want done with the boost controller, but I don't see why it should take them long esp if they have the equipment an experience and workers other than laziness/poor planning.

Anyway looking good man! Bout to pull my auto this weekend and put in the alto clutches... should be fun...

 

Yeah I'm not worried about them getting it done- it's just a matter of getting the guy / guys to focus their efforts on it for that day is all. Sounds like they put a boost controller in the exact same spot on someone else's car recently and it doesn't sound like a challenge at all.

As for the Quaife it sounds like more prep to gain access... I've seen the DIY to get an idea of what's required and with the right tools and a lift it doesn't look TOO bad- and a little knowledge would go a long way. They'll get it done... I'd just like to see it get done by a couple guys who have the time booked so that they can concentrate on it and not be working around a bunch of other things.

 

little more time consuming swapping it from an open to a lsd aswell with all the seals and the stub and everything from what i gather. also they mounting ur gauges or is that done already?

 

Gauges are already in... though we're going to need to look hard into an ATF temp somewhere along the line. I might not get that done down there- might trust something like that to a shop up here. I won't bother talking about gauge locations because there are plenty of threads on it... The ATF gauge is going to be an important one for me so it'll get due priority... but I'm not planning on tracking it just yet either.

I have a boost gauge on my A pillar cluster and I don't think that'll be necessary once the boost controller is in. So that'll likely get replaced with the ATF.

 

Okay guys... I think I'm going to need some more help here for a bit. Hopefully, you'll weigh in.

I went in to Regency Infiniti in North Vancouver yesterday and picked up the O ring I needed- predictably marked up about 100% from what I could have picked it up for online. I get it, everyone's got to make some money. I picked up a few of those push in tabs as well for my fenders. 2x10 of them... total bill for O-ring and tabs= $32. A steal.

Back home to figure out if I can replace the O ring on my own. For those of you who haven't done it, or not messed around with your fuel pump before it IS a daunting concept but it turned out to be quite easy.

CAR GUYS CAN SKIP THIS PART
(First I ran the car and applied some throttle for a couple of minutes to identify where it was leaking. It took a bit for the tank to pressure up and actually leak- but I found it... it really started coming out. Not gushing or anything- but very noticeable.

I did the process a bit backwards- but ultimately you need to depressurize the fuel tank by undoing the gas cap completely. You can quite easily pull your back seat up (coupe)- I think it's just a pull forward and up and the seat pops right out. It'll hold on a bit because the seatbelts are fed through- but they're no problem. Once the actual fuel pump on the passenger side access is exposed, there are four little quarter turn brackets you twist and that pops the cover to the actual pump. Unplug your electric connection, I had an AN return line fitting to unscrew which was a bit of a pain because it was efficiently EXACTLY the length it needed to be) and then the fuel line itself with a push pull connector that was a bit deceiving. Once that was disconnected, unscrew the 8 9/16ths screws that are in there- being very careful with them as they are quite soft... and remove the round bracket holding the fuel pump in place.

I exposed the O ring- seeing it was pretty badly stretched and had a bad notch / tear in it. Not coincidentally- the tear was exactly where the leak was. Popping the fuel pump out is a bit tricky because there's a ribbed hose on the inside of the tank that connects to it and it keeps catching on the side of the tank until you disconnect it. Of course there's quite a bit of fuel inside the pump frame itself- so having a few rags around to catch the inevitable spills is a must. There's also the tank fuel level sensor- basically a metal arm with a floating end on it that will require you to pull the pump up and lean it over to the side to get it out. If you do it you'll know what I mean. Sorry I don't have pics.

I popped the fuel pump out, replaced the O ring and made sure it was properly seated in the gap- then did everything back in reverse. Screwing things back in again was an affair similar to that of an 8 lug wheel... going across and not applying too much pressure. Generally hand tight- I don't recall the exact specs in the FSM but it is surprisingly little.)


CAR GUYS PLEASE READ HERE

I ran the car again and the pump gurgled a bit at first to get rid of some of the air- but overall it was good. No more leaking!

So that was me thinking all my problems would disappear! I put everything away and went out for a drive... taking the same route I did when the problem first happened. I started out very gently at first- giving the car enough time to get up to operating temperatures before even slightly leaning on it. I accelerated a bit harder about 5 minutes down the road, but still not up to boost levels... and suddenly my VDC OFF / SLIP indicators both came on (which happened the last time that I had this problem) and the car started to sputter and cough again at anywhere over 2000rpm in any gear. Originally there was no throttle response at all for about 30 seconds... I switched over to tiptronic and tried shifting through the gears- which happened, but the throttle didn't work. When response finally came back- it was only to 2000rpm. I limped it to the side of the road again, turned the car off... turned it back on and tried again. This time it seemed to have reset whatever the problem was, the VDC off and SLIP lights were out... and I was able to accelerate normally. I didn't push it... but it would float over 2000rpm occasionally up to 3000 and wouldn't cough and sputter. I could hear the fuel pump whirring away behind me because I hadn't put the seat back and left the cover off to check for leaking...

As I was driving- barely coasting- the SLIP light came on and there was a slight vibration in the pedal- similar to if the VDC was actuating. It lasted a second or 2, then turned off. A few minutes later- the VDC OFF / SLIP lights both came on but the coughing and sputtering didn't.

I looked under the hood- there were some brownish droplets on the bumper and on top of the crash bar- but I couldn't see at all where they came from and might have just been a red herring- I tried to feel it and smell it but there was nothing remarkable about it. As the car was off and cooling down there was some pretty distinctive fluid movement sounds... gurgling and settling... Not 100% sure what that was but I have recorded the sound just in case.

I talked to the shop and it was a head scratcher the way I described it... but they recommended I go through and reset the ECU (which I hadn't done since last time) and at least take that off the list. I'm going to do that once I'm done here and see where things end up.

Thanks in advance guys... It's really frustrating.

It was suggested on driver I go get a code reader and that the car has just entered fail safe mode. Okay, well that makes sense. So, any suggestions on code readers? I think I'll ultimately hunt down a Cipher... but maybe just a quick, cheap USB OBDII would do until then.

Any better than others that I can get at any autoparts place?

 

Did your coolant tank overflow? If not, I'm not too concerned about the fluid in the bumper area. Did it rain recently? If so, make sure you aren't getting water down into your ECU harness... Shops can be very sloppy about sealing up that area after running wiring through it.

 

you definitely went into limp mode. I'd reset the ecu seal up that tank completely and try and start it up. Is your fuel pump really whirring? because if it is, it might be sh*ting out... esp if its a 255.
On a different note, pick up a bigger transmission oil pan. You can get em on the bay for 200 bucks ish, and they hold more AT fluid and have a built in sensor tap. The only downside to that mod is having to replace all the atf fluid (sh*t costs too much). You should be able to diy that yourself, and even install the temp gauge. You can also then check the cond of the tranny fluid.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Dash, it hasn't rained at all... but I think we got it figured out.

Apparently Uprev is currently being tailored for the GT-R... and have had some challenges with the ECU as it applies to the increased TQ. They're working on cracking that part of it... but until then have advised that pulling the fuse for the TDC is a work around for it.

I've acid tested that solution and it is holding...

Now then... the whole open dif thing. Apparently the Quaife isn't as available now in the US as it used to be- due in part because of the Euro vs. USD. Anyone got any leads?'

Speaking of tranny stuff... that actually sounds like a reasonable idea especially given that it seems to be the achilles heel of the AT. I'll have to see what the score is there...

 

IMHO i'd just get an lsd from an auto z. Save your self the time (and money), because lets be honest, the car isn't going to really get pushed THAT hard to do crazy wheel lock intensive things with an auto anyway...
I can almost drift with the auto, but not really. Its ok though, drifting is too jdm for me anyway

And I'll send you a link to the oil pan im talking about. I'm thinking ill get one too. adds a few quarts too! Tomorrow i'll start dropping my transmission hopefully

 

That's definitely worth a thought- I know one of the guys from the shop has a G35 TT setup with ridiculous power and he's only just upgrading as well from the VLSD- I'd like to stick with the 3.3 FD mind you...

I'll keep my eyes open.

Also, thanks for the lead on the new pan- I'll have to talk to the shop and see if they're planning to drain / refill the tranny fluid after this initial break in period- Might be a worthwhile upgrade!

 

3.3 with Quaife is the way to go - make it happen. I've tried a Carbonetics with 3.5 gears and prefer the Quaife for the street. Headache and hassle free - slightly better traction with the 3.3 gears...

 

Yeah... granted maybe I won't be drifting and pushing the car that hard but as recent experience has shown me... If I'm going to swap out the dif with a VLSD from an auto I might as well put in the extra cash and do it right.

A lot of the theme of this car is: No more wish list.

So I'll keep my ear to the ground but it does sound like that's going to be awhile before one comes around easy. Nevermind that I'm already to 1000kms and the drive to Seattle would put me at 1000 miles- and time for an oil change, boost controller, full out hellatune and- ideally the quaife.

BC / Tune / Quaife may need to wait- but that oil change is going to happen soonest as most would agree.

As a bit of a driving report- I'm very happy with the overall handling of the car. If you didn't tell me what's happened to it, I'd never know anything was modified. Driving around town is just like it used to be... so the TC I got from IPT is performing as I'd hoped. The tranny has been really good- but there is some suggestion that I'm hitting limp mode all the time because the fluid is getting too hot. Seems unlikely to me, with the cooler I already had installed and the fact that I'm not exactly pushing on it- at all. I wouldn't even call the driving spirited. But, the guy makes a point: I should be getting that ATF gauge in there soonest and at least then I KNOW what's up.

I'm heading over to a shop in Vancouver tomorrow morning to have a chat with some guys at Monkey nutz... I'll see what I can get done in town here in the interim... I know of a few things I need to get looked at and possibly improved on. Most of them are very doable: bigger ATF pan, maybe a better cooler... ATF gauge... paint touch ups... new KZ bumper maybe? etc etc. It never really ends, does it?

On the down side, I have been getting those shut downs into limp mode despite having the fuse pulled. It's only when I lean on it- and even then sometimes I lean on it and it goes like crazy- other times I lean on it and it shuts down on me. I haven't quite got my hand on when it happens- but I think it's transitioning from 2nd into 3rd.

Anyway guys- I'll shut the thread down once things get wrapped up on the FI side and that will happen once I'm into the hella tune, boost controller and hopefully quaife are in there. Then I can give a true review on the build and the different components in true noob language.

Thanks again for all your help where I've needed it.

 

Just remember that a higher stall converter naturally slips more than a lower one, slippage causes heat. I would look at the limp mode like this; if the car goes into limp mode while running hard on the highway, then its probably not the transmission temp. If it goes limp () from a dig or low speed pull its much more likely that its the tranny.
Also a good way to test this theory is stand on your brakes, bring the car up to the stall speed and hold it there for a little. If the car goes into limp then you can be sure its the tranny temp that is causing the limp.
I'm going to try running the stock tc, the alto clutches, a shift kit, and a cooler and see what happens. I'm really hoping that the tc doesn't blow up. lol, but i might change my mind and order a high stall tc...

 

Great point about the tc. I'd overlooked that and it makes sense if it's just in there spinning up and creating heat that would definitely cause a problem. That also matches with what the boys at monkey nutz said about my aftermarket cooler being on the small side. Small hoses, small cooler- tranny already hot... Yup. Sounds like badness. Also, the vdc / slip lights indicating a hot tranny... Maybe we've figured it out!

So solution is a combination ATF cooler / bigger pan... Looking at an oil cooler too (often done in tandem with ATF cooler).

Finally SAW my tranny cooler for the first time too- yes. On the small side. Fortunately I have a gigantic **** to make up for it