My new gtp - many questions

[polopharm]

As most of you know I got the red and grey gtp, from Cali.

Have a question - how do you all jack your cars? Where do you place jack stands?

And now now a few issues

I have a super strong gas smell in the cabin, all lines from the tank appear tight and not cracked and or are new. Any thoughts?

I am am having what feels like fuel cut out at around 2800 rpm's. I thought it was related to the turbo, but is getting worse rapidly, and coming at lower and lower rpm's I am planning on replacing the fuel filter ,first although the previous owner just replaced it and the fuel pump. I also have a very noisy fuel pump. Loud electric buzz, which reverberates thru the firewall and drives me insane in the cabin. I would like to know what the stock filter and pump look like and where they mount as I think I have aftermarket parts.

The bushings on what I would call the control arms (the aluminum frame that attaches the coil overs to the wheels) are toast, plan on asking Johnny if he makes those
PO replaced the end links and bushings. I need to check the shocks as they are wet on the bottom,
i get a clunking sound when turning the wheel close to full lock, not sure what it is.

On the positive the car handles great, is a blast to drive, the ac works. It was quite quick till the fuel problem started

on a totally different note - does anyone know who bought the track time car that was sold at the rossion auction?

Thanks in advance.

[Johnny]

The bushings on what I would call the control arms (the aluminum frame that attaches the coil overs to the wheels) are toast, plan on asking Johnny if he makes those

http://www.polybushings.com/pages/2410.html

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I have a super strong gas smell in the cabin, all lines from the tank appear tight and not cracked and or are new. Any thoughts?

check the filler tube hose clamp.
mine wasn't even there. Added it and smell went away.

[Johnny]

Have a question - how do you all jack your cars? Where do you place jack stands?

I use just behind the front wheels and right in front of the rear wheels. I use a small piece of plywood between the jack and the car.

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I am am having what feels like fuel cut out at around 2800 rpm's

Change the fuel filters (both). Check the strainer right before the pump.

[2.216VTurbo]

Polo, I am out in Cali and know the PO and the PO's Mechanic. I asked him about the fuel smell, he confirmed that the lines are all new though the filler neck hose was not replaced. He suggested a new piece there. Also he said the fuel gauge did NOT work properly though he had worked on the sending unit a couple times. Is it possible you are lower on fuel than you might realize and that leads to the cut out? Is it still overboosting like you mentioned in a previous post?

[polopharm]

I am going to put some fuel in shortly. I thought this originally, because it started while turning sharply under acceleration, as happens in an un baffled fuel tank. Not sure if these tanks are baffled.
Also what is the capacity?

[Johnny]

It says 12 gallons on my tank.
There is a couple baffles in there.

[Johnny]

A few photos of inside my tank. Hard to see.

[2.216VTurbo]

If I solved both issues of yours in a single post are you sending me a cookie?? Or a horse maybe

[player1up]

x2 Johnny.. I place the jack right behind the front wheel or right in front of the rear wheel.
I put jack stands under the engine frame close to the control arm mounts, but I have to take off the lower engine cover... something makes me queaszy about suspending the engine box with the body.

I too have the fuel smell but only within the first few miles of filling up, and mine likes to have more than 1/4 tank or it does the same thing as you're describing after a few hard corners. I know the tank is baffled ( and from Johnnys pics there should be no way for the pump to run dry ) but I suppose it could be fuel aeration as it sloshes around.

One thing that stands out from your post is the loud pump. Even with the 255 walbro in there during testing it wasn't loud enough for me to hear over the engine. I do hear it at key on, but it's drowned out as soon as she's fired.
When the walbro did fail on my Duster, it was loud enough to hear over the 360 from 10 feet away. It failed volume wise, not pressure wise. PSI was only a few psi low, but get on the throttle and the engine would about die.

I've had bad luck with EFI pumps. 2 replacement pumps on 2 cars about 2-3 weeks apart.

[168glhs1986]

I believe I'm the only one of the new owners that flushed their tank out with acid to remove the gobs of rust at the bottom of the tank from the rusted fuel level sender.

I would examine both your fuel filters very closely.

I can't comment on your fuel pump because I don't know where it's located.

My fuel pump is an ENORMOUS Weldon racing pump. Mine's located in the passenger side vent behind the AC Condensor.

Does the fuel cut occur at other RPM's greater than 2800 or just there and lower?

Check the shifter and electrical wire tunnel to the engine bay and make sure it's sealed with something besides carpet. I stuffed a large piece of foam there and it all of a sudden became a lot less noisy.

Granted I don't have carpet.

[Johnny]

Here is my fuel pump....and one of the filters.

[polopharm]

So the fuel smell is coming from the filler hose , that will be easy to remedy.
Today I had over boost for sure. I had been driving the car primarily at night and the gauge light is marginal, but today it spiked to over 15 psi, then maxed out gauge before cutting out , I laid off the throttle and in 2 seconds it's like normal. I just got a grainger valve in the mail today. Will install ASAP.

Interestingly I think I have both over boost and a bad pump/ filter, ( I am waiting on the correct filter to arrive) but when accelerating from 1st to second gear I get what feels the same as over boost but the boost gauge will read close to zero. For some reason it happens most between 1-2 gears then any other shift including aggressive down shifts.

Another question- do these cars have rev limiters ? If so at what rpm ?

[boost geek]

I still have yet to see a real gtp. you lucky guys

[player1up]

So the fuel smell is coming from the filler hose , that will be easy to remedy.
Today I had over boost for sure. I had been driving the car primarily at night and the gauge light is marginal, but today it spiked to over 15 psi, then maxed out gauge before cutting out , I laid off the throttle and in 2 seconds it's like normal. I just got a grainger valve in the mail today. Will install ASAP.

Interestingly I think I have both over boost and a bad pump/ filter, ( I am waiting on the correct filter to arrive) but when accelerating from 1st to second gear I get what feels the same as over boost but the boost gauge will read close to zero. For some reason it happens most between 1-2 gears then any other shift including aggressive down shifts.

Another question- do these cars have rev limiters ? If so at what rpm ?

Over boost causes are pretty straight forward ( in no particular order ):
- wastegate ( either actuator sticking, binding, not hooked up, blown diaphragm )
- vac lines ( cracked, mis-routed, missing pieces ) -- if this is the case, the g-valve wont help
- bad electrics ( map, baro, wg solenoid ) -- if it's a single piece, cool, if it's the wiring that's a deep rabbit hole.

Cars that sit for a long time can have all sorts of issues with soft parts and electrical components. If the map is reading low the ECU could allow it to overboost, could also run lean enough to cause some of the hesitation you're feeling.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the car should shutdown lower than 15psi if the MAP and baro are reading correctly even if there were a problem with the wg solenoid. With the 2bar MAP , my car would overboost shutdown BEFORE 15psi ( like 13 or 14 on the gauge )
That is telling me that the MAP sensor is bad.


Fuel cut feels the same if it's caused by the ECU due to overboost or just a bad pump...but sounds like you know that already.
Aaron was chasing a low voltage problem for a while. He was getting less than 12v to the pump at idle ( initially ). Seems like these cars have a less than optimal ground plain
One of the very first things I did was clean as many connections as I could find , including replacing the relays. The connections inside can get corroded, especially after sitting for as long as most of these cars have.

They do have rev limiters, not sure the actual number but it's something like 6500. I only hit it once before I put the boostbutton SMEC in.

Wow, my post is all over the place, hope it makes sense.

[168glhs1986]

The stock head and turbo pretty much die after 6 grand. I would shift right around there

[polopharm]

Replaced fuel filter today. Didnt get to drive it yet we had 6" rain today. Definitely aftermarket in line filter. Not sure if this is the stock pump.

[Johnny]

Did you pour out the filter to see how dirty it was?

[polopharm]

It wasn't terrible , BUT the outflow post was broken , and maybe was sucking air. I gotta check the in line filter , I think it has a replaceable filter inside the housing.

[polopharm]

I went for a spin today .with the new fuel filter I know have no problem up untill I hit 5k rpm n 5 psi of boost. If I hold it there it acts like it's not getting enough fuel. I need to replace the pump or test it. The car did not over boost today.

Also I am having an intermittently sticking throttle. Foot off gas pedal but continues to increase rpms.

[Johnny]

If its not an issue at the throttle body, you'll have to look under the center console op by the throttle pedal. I just had mine apart. There are return springs there also. Also the area there might need a little lube.