ATE BALLER
Member
- :
- MAZDASPEED 6
AH HA HA HA HA!!!!! SUCCESS!!! I am officially the first person to have successfully installed a Walbro into the speed 6! Well, unless that Boostedspd6 guy provides evidence, but I doubt that will happen.
First off, to get it to slide in there, I simply chamfered the edges of the step inside the sleeve, and then shot a heat gun in there to expand the plastic. But, that brings me to my first problem. Once you get it heated up enough to slide it in there, you only have so much time to get the pump in there before it becomes too tight, and since the plastic is softer at that point, it wants to bond to the pump. It's kind of a one-time shot to slide it in there perfectly lined up. I got my pump about an 1/8 of an inch from all the way, then I had to stop pushing to twist it a little to line it up. Once I got it lined up, it was then too late to push it in any more.
Since the nozzles weren't meeting up properly, fuel was not getting from the pump to the resevoir (the whole sleeve is a resevoir). It was instead coming out of the hole in the top of the sleeve where the electrical connector comes through. I needed to seal that entire portion, so I went to autozone and got a stick of plastic fuel tank crack filler and a dual mixture plastic welding agent. I filled the opening on top of the sleeve with the filler, then I "welded" two flat plastic shims over it all with a hole cut for the wires to poke through. It seems like overkill, but I read that the stock fuel pump supplies 61-65psi to the cam-driven one and this one is bigger, so I figured this would insure no pressure leaks.
The next immediate issue was that since I used the 341, the bottom cap would not fit back on. That didn't seem like too big of an issue at the time because I had a filter in the kit, plus the stock filter was f'n nasty. Well, after I put the Walbro filter on, I immediately realized that I had a height issue. Since I couldn't get the Walbro to budge inwards or outwards from the sleeve, when I would clip it down into the bucket, the opening inside the filter was being pushed down into the bottom of the bucket, literally choking the pump. I jogged it around in my head for a while until I figured out the best way I could approach this. I descided to leave off the piece that clips the sleeve to the bucket. I positioned the sleeve against the side of the bucket where I wanted it and drilled some holes to accomodate a few zip ties. I also drilled a few larger holes around the sides of the bucket and a couple on the bottom. I zip tied it elevated about 1" from the bottom. This left just enough room for the top portion of the assembly to slide down enough to tighten down the retaining ring.
So, I got it put back in (for the 12th time), turned the key, let it prime and started it. It fired right up! But, then soon died. ****! Took it back out (AGAIN), and through inspecting the assembly discovered that the valve for the pressure regulator had been blown out of it's seat, which is built onto the sleeve. Until then, I had thought it was sealed in there. I tinkered with it at the beggining of this whole thing, and it wouldn't move, so I didn't think anything about it. Well, as it turns out, the bottom cap for the sleeve has a portion attached to it that clips over and retains the valve in it's seat. So, I cut that fucker off the bottom cap, and put it all back together (AGAIN).
Finally, I got it started, and it stayed started! I let it idle for about 5 minutes and shut it off. I did that about four times before taking it for a spin. I intentionally didn't disconnect the battery because I didn't want any false interpretations of how it affected the vehicle. Yeah, I know it was a little dangerous, but every time I touched the electrical connector, the retaining ring was sealed down, and any time the gas tank was open, the electrical connector was wrapped up in a towell. So, I don't want to hear it. As for how it changed things, all tip-ins from all the rpm ranges I tried were much smoother and without that slight hesitation it used to have. It's difficult to explain, but it seems more consistant and responsive, like it's ready to go whenever you step on it. I have a very loud exhaust, and my car used to gurgle and pop alot, especially around 2800-3200rpm. It doesn't at all any more. As far as fixing the fuel cut, no such luck, although, it was 36*F during my post-intallation evaluation, as oposed to 76*F during my pre-installation evaluation. It did, however push it back a little more. I also removed my ATP "Boost Cut Killer" piece of junk between runs, and guess what, removing it actually made it more difficult to produce the fuel cut! All in all, I wish it wouldn't have been such a pain in the ass, but I'm glad I did it.
Advice to those who attempt this...
1. Stuff a corner of a paper towell in the female acceptor inside the sleeve before doing any dremeling or boreing in there. The whole sleeve is a resevoir with no filter between it and the CDFP AFAIK, so you don't want any particles or debris to get in there.
2. Dremel the step inside the sleeve down to the acceptor for the pump nozzel, but be careful not to take off too much material. If you compremise the resevoir, it might never be made to work properly.
3. There is a small white sleeve and a rubber ring that both need to be transfered from the nozzel on the stock fuel pump to the Walbro fuel pump.
4. Use a heat gun to expand the sleeve, but don't hold the heat still. It will melt the plastic. Make sure you have the pump lined up before jamming it in there. You only have one shot at it if you're doing it this way, and it is permanent once the plastic cools (about 5-7 seconds after heating). If you don't get it all the way in, you can complete the process as I had to as long as it's kinda close and it's lined up.
5. If you're using the Walbro filter, remember to remove the portion of the sleeve's bottom cap to retain the pressure regulator valve.
If anybody is giving this a try and runs into a snag, let me know. I can try to walk through it.
First off, to get it to slide in there, I simply chamfered the edges of the step inside the sleeve, and then shot a heat gun in there to expand the plastic. But, that brings me to my first problem. Once you get it heated up enough to slide it in there, you only have so much time to get the pump in there before it becomes too tight, and since the plastic is softer at that point, it wants to bond to the pump. It's kind of a one-time shot to slide it in there perfectly lined up. I got my pump about an 1/8 of an inch from all the way, then I had to stop pushing to twist it a little to line it up. Once I got it lined up, it was then too late to push it in any more.
Since the nozzles weren't meeting up properly, fuel was not getting from the pump to the resevoir (the whole sleeve is a resevoir). It was instead coming out of the hole in the top of the sleeve where the electrical connector comes through. I needed to seal that entire portion, so I went to autozone and got a stick of plastic fuel tank crack filler and a dual mixture plastic welding agent. I filled the opening on top of the sleeve with the filler, then I "welded" two flat plastic shims over it all with a hole cut for the wires to poke through. It seems like overkill, but I read that the stock fuel pump supplies 61-65psi to the cam-driven one and this one is bigger, so I figured this would insure no pressure leaks.
The next immediate issue was that since I used the 341, the bottom cap would not fit back on. That didn't seem like too big of an issue at the time because I had a filter in the kit, plus the stock filter was f'n nasty. Well, after I put the Walbro filter on, I immediately realized that I had a height issue. Since I couldn't get the Walbro to budge inwards or outwards from the sleeve, when I would clip it down into the bucket, the opening inside the filter was being pushed down into the bottom of the bucket, literally choking the pump. I jogged it around in my head for a while until I figured out the best way I could approach this. I descided to leave off the piece that clips the sleeve to the bucket. I positioned the sleeve against the side of the bucket where I wanted it and drilled some holes to accomodate a few zip ties. I also drilled a few larger holes around the sides of the bucket and a couple on the bottom. I zip tied it elevated about 1" from the bottom. This left just enough room for the top portion of the assembly to slide down enough to tighten down the retaining ring.
So, I got it put back in (for the 12th time), turned the key, let it prime and started it. It fired right up! But, then soon died. ****! Took it back out (AGAIN), and through inspecting the assembly discovered that the valve for the pressure regulator had been blown out of it's seat, which is built onto the sleeve. Until then, I had thought it was sealed in there. I tinkered with it at the beggining of this whole thing, and it wouldn't move, so I didn't think anything about it. Well, as it turns out, the bottom cap for the sleeve has a portion attached to it that clips over and retains the valve in it's seat. So, I cut that fucker off the bottom cap, and put it all back together (AGAIN).
Finally, I got it started, and it stayed started! I let it idle for about 5 minutes and shut it off. I did that about four times before taking it for a spin. I intentionally didn't disconnect the battery because I didn't want any false interpretations of how it affected the vehicle. Yeah, I know it was a little dangerous, but every time I touched the electrical connector, the retaining ring was sealed down, and any time the gas tank was open, the electrical connector was wrapped up in a towell. So, I don't want to hear it. As for how it changed things, all tip-ins from all the rpm ranges I tried were much smoother and without that slight hesitation it used to have. It's difficult to explain, but it seems more consistant and responsive, like it's ready to go whenever you step on it. I have a very loud exhaust, and my car used to gurgle and pop alot, especially around 2800-3200rpm. It doesn't at all any more. As far as fixing the fuel cut, no such luck, although, it was 36*F during my post-intallation evaluation, as oposed to 76*F during my pre-installation evaluation. It did, however push it back a little more. I also removed my ATP "Boost Cut Killer" piece of junk between runs, and guess what, removing it actually made it more difficult to produce the fuel cut! All in all, I wish it wouldn't have been such a pain in the ass, but I'm glad I did it.
Advice to those who attempt this...
1. Stuff a corner of a paper towell in the female acceptor inside the sleeve before doing any dremeling or boreing in there. The whole sleeve is a resevoir with no filter between it and the CDFP AFAIK, so you don't want any particles or debris to get in there.
2. Dremel the step inside the sleeve down to the acceptor for the pump nozzel, but be careful not to take off too much material. If you compremise the resevoir, it might never be made to work properly.
3. There is a small white sleeve and a rubber ring that both need to be transfered from the nozzel on the stock fuel pump to the Walbro fuel pump.
4. Use a heat gun to expand the sleeve, but don't hold the heat still. It will melt the plastic. Make sure you have the pump lined up before jamming it in there. You only have one shot at it if you're doing it this way, and it is permanent once the plastic cools (about 5-7 seconds after heating). If you don't get it all the way in, you can complete the process as I had to as long as it's kinda close and it's lined up.
5. If you're using the Walbro filter, remember to remove the portion of the sleeve's bottom cap to retain the pressure regulator valve.
If anybody is giving this a try and runs into a snag, let me know. I can try to walk through it.
