How to upgrade a DEADHEAD fuel system?

bling5tatus · Mar 5, 2019

When I turbo'd my Lexus IS300 last year I was presented with an interesting problem to overcome. The stock system uses a dead head fuel supply. I did not change the motor to a factory turbo one that had a return style fuel system. What I instead opted to do, to keep the stock ecu happy, was to upgrade the dead head in a way that would allow more fuel to be used and support 1:1 rising FP for boost.

I will share how I did this, but I got to thinking about it this morning and wondered what the wise DSM community here would say to do. I'm just curious, the problem is already "solved" so I don't actually need any help. What would you all do?

mods please move this if it isn't in the right section.

dustyboner · Mar 6, 2019

if you know of a way besides removing the OEM regulator from the fuel pump assembly, adding an aftermarket regulator to the feed line and a return line from the new FPR to the tank, I'd love to know.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Marchev · Mar 6, 2019

Interested in what you did. I was having issues on a return less style older mustang that I supercharged. Couldnt figure out to keep the ECU happy with the stock style system.

dustyboner · Mar 6, 2019

Marchev said:
Interested in what you did. I was having issues on a return less style older mustang that I supercharged. Couldnt figure out to keep the ECU happy with the stock style system.

try a kenny bell Boost-a-Pump

bling5tatus · Mar 6, 2019

My solution was a little bit pricey.... but I think it worked out fine because the AFR was right when I was done setting it all up.

The stock IS300 fuel pump assembly has a single hose connection on the top since it's a deadhead. The Aristo came with the same fuel hat/pump but with a return line attachment on it. This solved the problem of getting a return back into the main fuel tank.... but did not solve the problem of being able to increase the fuel capacity of the system past what a stock turbo aristo pump could do. To do that you have to modify the OEM hat and make a larger pump fit in there...... which is fuc kery. I did not want to do that because if I had, i wouldn't have got an Aristo pump to begin with and would have just drilled a return line into the IS300 fuel hat.

Ok, so I have an oem location fuel pump now that has a return line. Next step was getting big fuel to the rail. The oem FPR is in the pump hat and cannot really be removed from what I understand on a deadhead.... it just dumps fuel directly back into the tank AT the pump.... it never makes a full circuit up to the engine bay and back. This is also good for keeping the fuel cooler.

The next part involved a Radium Engineering surge tank. This has 3 ports on it and an FPR built into the tank so that it dumps excess pressure directly back into the surge tank. OEM Aristo pump became a lift pump for the surge tank. So it feeds the tank and the tank drains back into the aristo return line. The 3rd fitting on the surge tank feeds the dead head to the stock rail. The lift pump also should have a long life as a lift pump since it doesn't fight any pressure anymore just sending fuel to the surge tank. The other benefit is that if my fuel system fails because of the walboro inside the surge tank, it's very easy to service now. This worked out beautifully and it was an idea I came up with on my own. I'm sure I'm not the only person to ever solve this problem in this way but I was really proud of myself for achieving my goal without doing ANY hacking to get there. As I've gotten older I've come to appreciate OEM style things and lack of hacked crap in cars.

Questions/comments?

bling5tatus · Mar 6, 2019

Marchev said:
Interested in what you did. I was having issues on a return less style older mustang that I supercharged. Couldnt figure out to keep the ECU happy with the stock style system.

This is a little tricky because unless there's a fuel pump/hat that just fits in the stock location w/ a return line on it you'd have to modify your stock hat. I still think turning the oem pump into a lift pump for a surge tank is great way to ease your future maintenance and upgrade your system beyond what it's currently capable of.

Marchev · Mar 6, 2019

dustyboner said:
try a kenny bell Boost-a-Pump

Did that, it still didnt cure the fuel starvation in between shifts, since the fuel pump gets turned off, and once you floor it in the next gear, it ran lean as hell for about 2 seconds into the next gear

Marchev · Mar 6, 2019

bling5tatus said:
My solution was a little bit pricey.... but I think it worked out fine because the AFR was right when I was done setting it all up.

The stock IS300 fuel pump assembly has a single hose connection on the top since it's a deadhead. The Aristo came with the same fuel hat/pump but with a return line attachment on it. This solved the problem of getting a return back into the main fuel tank.... but did not solve the problem of being able to increase the fuel capacity of the system past what a stock turbo aristo pump could do. To do that you have to modify the OEM hat and make a larger pump fit in there...... which is fuc kery. I did not want to do that because if I had, i wouldn't have got an Aristo pump to begin with and would have just drilled a return line into the IS300 fuel hat.

Ok, so I have an oem location fuel pump now that has a return line. Next step was getting big fuel to the rail. The oem FPR is in the pump hat and cannot really be removed from what I understand on a deadhead.... it just dumps fuel directly back into the tank AT the pump.... it never makes a full circuit up to the engine bay and back. This is also good for keeping the fuel cooler.

The next part involved a Radium Engineering surge tank. This has 3 ports on it and an FPR built into the tank so that it dumps excess pressure directly back into the surge tank. OEM Aristo pump became a lift pump for the surge tank. So it feeds the tank and the tank drains back into the aristo return line. The 3rd fitting on the surge tank feeds the dead head to the stock rail. The lift pump also should have a long life as a lift pump since it doesn't fight any pressure anymore just sending fuel to the surge tank. The other benefit is that if my fuel system fails because of the walboro inside the surge tank, it's very easy to service now. This worked out beautifully and it was an idea I came up with on my own. I'm sure I'm not the only person to ever solve this problem in this way but I was really proud of myself for achieving my goal without doing ANY hacking to get there. As I've gotten older I've come to appreciate OEM style things and lack of hacked crap in cars.

Questions/comments?

That's a smart way of solving the problem. Good thinking!
Did you wire the surge tank pump to an independent relay source so it turns on with key on?

bling5tatus · Mar 6, 2019

I was going to do that but I opted to make the big pump in the surge tank be on a manual push button. I did this because it's a great theft deterrent when you cannot drive off in a car you just stole and because it allows me to shut off the main pump in the event of a collision or anything like that. You know, turn off the fireball.

bling5tatus · Mar 6, 2019

Marchev said:
Did that, it still didnt cure the fuel starvation in between shifts, since the fuel pump gets turned off, and once you floor it in the next gear, it ran lean as hell for about 2 seconds into the next gear

I wonder if a capacitor to keep the voltage high would help this issue between shifts.

dustyboner · Mar 6, 2019

the last mustang i did a fuel system on was a 95.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

and ended up adding a fuel pump speed controller

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

f

donniekak · Mar 6, 2019

Do it right. Install a return fuel system and standalone ecu.

bling5tatus · Mar 7, 2019

Me or dusty boner? My setup holds fuel pressure exactly where it should with no funniness in afr. This is with ID1050x injectors fed my a 450lph pump and controlled by a proefi128 ecu.

The Top DSM Community on the Web

How to upgrade a DEADHEAD fuel system?

bling5tatus

dustyboner

Marchev

dustyboner

bling5tatus

bling5tatus

Marchev

Marchev

bling5tatus

bling5tatus

dustyboner

donniekak

bling5tatus

Similar threads

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds