Car wont stay running I believe the it is the fuel filter

[blakerman]

Hi my name is Blake. I am fairly new to the world of DSM's and I think that I may have made a stupid mistake. Here's my story. I recently purchased a 95 talon tsi in good shape with a remanufactured head and new timing belt (just for reference). I bought the car not running (bad fuel pump. Well I had to order the fuel pump and it took for ever to arrive and when it did the strainer did not. Well I installed the new fuel pump with out the strainer (or the oring.... I know I am an idiot but hey I am new to this) and the car ran like a champ for 2 days. Well on the second day I came to a red light and as I came to a stop the car simply shut off. I imediatley removed the fuel pump assembly only to find that the nipple on the fuel pump had cracked and was blowing fuel directley back into the tank. Well I was unable to find a replacement for the nipple to a took an entire assembly from a car at the local pick and pull. I now have a correctley installed fuel pump(although the pump is now installed via a fuel hose and clamps as that is how the new assembly was designed) with a strainer. The car will now start and idle very roughly but will not accelerate. I believe that the fuel filter is the problem as it is the origional unit and I was also dumb enough to run the car with out the strainer. I was just wonder if you guys would agree with my hypothesis. I have good spark, and I checked the timing just incase and the tick marks on the cam pulley's are aligned ( the head and timing belt are new any ways). Well ant help would be apreciated. I plan to take the car to the dealership to have the filter installed ( I have been unable to remove the bottom fuel line from the filter. Sorry for the long post but any help would be greatly apreciated. Have a good night.

Blake