…following on from this update.

Well after much cursing and swearing, I got the old fuel pump controller out, and what a disappointingly plain object it turned out to be. Thanks Nissan, for locating the mounting screws underneath the parcel shelf trim – spent a good hour or so carefully removing the rear shelf speakers, the rear seat backs, and all the christmas tree clips – whilst trying not to break anything in the process…

Oh yes. Silly little thing.

The one from squid (which replaces the faulty unit you see here) wasn’t quite as torturous to remove, being located on the inside of the rear wheelarch behind a trim panel… but it still took more time than it should have (plus I had to drive 150km down the road to another city to fetch it). Ah well, the joys of old cars – typically, the parts which break the most often are always the hardest to remove and replace.

anyway, my plea still stands: if anyone happens to have a fuel pump controller in working condition that looks like the one above, PLEASE let me (or Michael) know and I shall arrange to buy it off you. As before, I’ve heard musings that L20ET, VG20ET and VG30ETs use the same part, made by JECS. The plug has a rectangular 8-pin layout and the numbers on the controller itself read as follows:

17001 R2200
A63-000 100
3823 (may be a serial number; squid had a slightly different one)

And the verdict? the coupe definitely drives a lot better with the replacement controller in place; no more low-down hesitation and strange surging on acceleration. clearly the old one was faulting to the extent that the voltages being supplied to the pump were less than optimal.

It seems that my DR30 coupe (in all its awesome ’80s Nissan reliableness) has unceremoniously shat the fuel pump controller, which is a little silver box that lives in the boot and is supposed to vary the voltage to the pump based on engine load.

unsurprisingly none of the Nissan wreckers here in Auckland have one spare, let alone any R30 parts

I would really like to get the damned thing running again, so on the off-chance that anyone reading this happens to be wrecking a turbo R30, or knows someone who is – giz a shout…

nb. from conducting a bit of research it turns out L20ET and FJ20ET pump controllers are the same, as are the fuel pumps themselves. Which is fortuitous, because I’ll wager there are about a squillion times more L20ET powered R30s here than FJ20ET ones.

Two years ago I embarked on a mission to restore one rather beaten-up Ford Laser.

As of today that mission is now complete.

there are still a couple of things left to be done, but it’s all window dressing compared to everything that’s come before (for the record: fit new wheels, apply factory decal kit, and get some replica side badging made up). The car starts, runs, drives, and looks the part, so by all accounts IT IS FINISHED.

The bonus round shall commence in another few months’ time when the Link V5 ECU gets shoehorned into the engine bay… but for now, I shall bask in the glory. very happy ammo added!