What should my next move be?

[Speed3]

So it's been a while since I've posted mainly because I've been saving up for possibly internals which brings me to my question.. I monitor my knock most of the time that I drive and try to monitor my A/F and fuel pressure as well, but i'm still scared to go WOT in mainly 1st and 2nd gears just because idk how well my fuel pump/internals will hold up and i seem to get little blips of knock in those gears. It's kinda taking the fun away from my car so i'm not sure what to do next? People say internals are EASIER/CHEAPER than a fuel pump so i was looking into that.. What do you more experienced guys recommend? I have intake, turboback exhaust, and stage 2 tune on my accessport. I just want to have more fun in my car without worrying about something going wrong constantly.
Thanks in advance!

[DISIindaHead]

Speaking from a Gen2 owner, that was an upgrade I did even before I got AP. I'm on 12,000 miles with the Autotech internals. KMD makes them as well but heard rumors at the time I was looking for and upgrade about KMDs failing left and right. Think they solved the issue now, was reading it on MSF.org. For now just monitor knock and DI fuel pressure closely. Also upgrading your intercooler will lower your BATs which,in turn, will help reduce knock.

IMO, save and get internals. Its worth it in the long run, especially if you plan to go bigger turbo.

[Speed3]

yea i took a look at kmd a while ago, only 320-330 for em right? some other people were telling me about other brands but i can't remember what they were called, about the same price too.. but that's another problem, i haven't really worked on cars besides me and my dad putting on my turboback exhaust, which was a pain in the ###. how hard are internals gonna be? and what're the chances of me messing it up? lol I have a few guys who do full builds on their cars like a 400 hp turbo civic, should i get their help?

[DISIindaHead]

Sorry for the late post. Ill explain more tomorrow at the meet but its a simple install as long as you follow the directions(well the Autotech Internals came with really in depth instructions). My tips?

1. Ensure you wear gloves
2. lube the internals before reinstalling (i used bar and chain oil, but you can use reg engine oil)
3. If your not sure....read,read,read. On MSF.org there is a how-to for internal installs.

[dsm_luck]

Is your fuel pressure dropping below 1600? If not your internals are working fine. I ran the stock internals with full bolt-ons and 30% E85 and even then only finally saw a drop in pressure in 20 degree weather. Our high altitude gives us a bigger cushion on the stock internals.

That said it is a solid idea to upgrade and doing the internals like mentioned above is relatively easy. I ran KMD V2 for 10k miles on a gt3076r and had my pressure bumped to 1800psi. Would see 2000psi sometimes and NEVER dropped below 1700 even when I was pushing past 400whp and 50 to 100% E85 (found the fuel injector limit, 100-110% IDC at around 75% e85 and 26 psi of boost). So I only have good things to say about them.

[Speed3]

^My vvt is acting up so i have to go in and get it fixed in a couple weeks :/ i'm gonna take it easy until then but i'll post logs once it's fixed! thanks for the info though!

[erod550]

Yea what dsm_luck said. I never had problems with my stock pump either but upgraded when I went stage 2 just as a safety blanket of sorts and saw the same pressures he saw. 1800-2000, never below 1700 at WOT. But if your fuel pressure isn't dipping below 1600 on you at WOT then your pump is fine for now.

Btw, internals are definitely not easier than replacing the full pump, as you have to pull the whole pump out anyway, so it's much easier to just pull off the old one and bolt on a new one. But internals are much cheaper, especially since PTP went away. So unless you want to spend more money, internals are probably the way to go.

And you could probably get a nice bump in power out of an upgraded intercooler as your next mod. Don't see one in your sig.

[Speed3]

Yep DISIindaHead suggested an intercooler as well so I might do that in the summer to avoid heat soak. I was leaning towards internals because I want the cheaper route haha but like i said my vvt is messed up so i gotta get it fixed soon then i'll do some logs and put em on here for you guys to check out. Thanks for the input keep it coming though!!