Fuel system? Where to start.

Hi my name is Jon, i am building a ae86 corolla with a RB25DET. My car was origanally carburated and now going fuel injected. what fuel pump and what size line should i go with? i would appriciate any help.

walbro 255lph? I've seen those used on numerous amount of rb's and other nissan motors. I like my 4age , but that was an sr5 eh? should be a sick car, we'll have a little ae86/sr5/aw11 club crew going ha.

talk with Mike... aka doodiehead. he just got done building his fuel cell setup for his subie, I am sure he can shed some light on the subject.

I know you have lots of motivation with this project and are trying your best to move forward... so don't just write me off as being a dick... But I think you need to take a hard look at your car and decide how much time and money you are willing to put into this thing. The only reason I bring this up is so maybe you will look at things before you go down a long road that may have no end, or a long expensive journey.

Just today we have pointed out that the fuel system needs to be redone, the rear end needs to be replaced and the wiring is going to be a major challenge... this all seemed like "new" news to you. So here is my best off the top of my head estimate on what you have left to tackle with this car before it will ever run.


Have all the engine, tranny and firewall mounts/retro fits completed
Fuel system - a few days of work and probably $300-$800 (this is a guess, never built a fuel system)
Rear end - find a good gt-s rear end and then install a good lsd - $1100 to $1500
Wiring - A couple weeks to several months depending on how much dedication someone has. - Parts probably will be $200-$400 labor could be any range.


This would get you a car that ran on stock suspension and maybe depending on how the wiring goes would give you all the basic functions of a stock car.

If you can do all this labor and parts finding yourself, might not be a huge deal and hopefully by next season you could have it all together and running. If you don't have the skills to tackle all of this you need to be ready to pay a pretty penny for this type of work since it will all be custom built made from scratch type stuff.

Again not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to give you a realistic opinon so you don't get yourself into something that you didn't see coming.

My biggest tip for the wiring, so you or someone can even begin to try and tackle the project is get the wiring diagrams for your engine harness and then get a wiring diagram for your car. Once you have those you can start sorting things out on paper and then try to match things up with whats really on the car.

thanks jake that is the realization on it all. But i am ok with it not being anover night swap.i have 2 years invested in this car and your knowledge along with nels has helped me a lot.

About the rear end.... I'm not even sure I'd go with the gt-s rear end anymore, especially since an rb would probably tear that up in a while as well. I know there are a few guys out of cali that build 8" rear ends that swap right into these car (as in all the 4-link mounts are perfect). You might want to get on club4ag and just search "rear end swap" and see what folks are doing... who knows, with the way people throw money at these cars and then realize they're in over their head, you might be able to find someone parting out a fuel set-up as well. And finally, for the fuel system, you could check out some of the sr5 to gt-s swap threads on club4ag as well, because they have to deal with the same carb to FI swap. Good luck dude!

My fuel system cost me right about $1600. Included in that would be 20ft of -8 line, Aeromotive A1000 pump, 10gal fuel cell, 2 filters, and about 20+ AN fittings. There are cheaper routes, such as a Walbro, but I actually had really bad luck with those pumps as burned up 4 of them, 2 of which were in a 3 month period.

If you are looking for an alternative, there is actually a company called TRE that makes identical pumps to Walbros and they are about 20 bucks cheaper and come with a 1 year warranty. I actually burned the first pump I had and had an exchange with no issues at all. They are a very good pump and dont make the noise the Walbro is famous for.

If you have any fuel questions ask away. The fuel system is the last thing I did on my car, so it is pretty fresh on my mind right now.

make sure it draws fuel from the bottom back of the fuel tank. a warblow 255 will supply pleanty of fuel and a a1000 are well very nice but spendy. also i would reccomend a magnafuel fuel pressure regulator.

well what i have inquired is a 10 gal fuel cell and a 2010 slp camero fuel pump which is good to 600 hp i believe. where is a good place to get all the fittings and lines at?mike would it be better to have the pump in the tank or in line?

RB25 COROLLA wrote:

well what i have inquired is a 10 gal fuel cell and a 2010 slp camero fuel pump which is good to 600 hp i believe. where is a good place to get all the fittings and lines at?mike would it be better to have the pump in the tank or in line?

the camaro fuel pump is a intank only. should be a gss340.

Ok thank man. i will just build a fuel sending unit for it.

Also you shouldn't need to go with 8-AN lines thats pretty big for an RB, 6-AN or 3/8" hardlines will be fine. Another thing to consider if you plan on making a lot of power is a dual feed fuel rail. I know they make em for the SR so I would assume they also have them for the RB.

THanks guys for all the input. its been a huge help.

I like having an external pump as you dont have to screw around in the tank if something goes wrong, but they serve the same purpose. I also recommend a dual rail setup as Jason recommended, that way the last injector in the fuel cycle does not get less fuel than the others. This is also a big problem on the Subaru fuel setup and I would highly recommend it.

I get most of my fittings through Summit Racing, but if you would like to get them in town you can get them at DRW, which is on Highway 312 going toward Shepherd and also APC which is on Wyoming I believe, right next to the old Bull Wackers off Broadwater.

sweet thanks mike

No problemo, if you need anymore assistance dont hesitate.

How did those harnesses work for ya Jon?

Y9ur power goals is a big must know when dealing with a fuel system.

Walbro 255s are a great choice for pretty much anything. They're used in a ton of applications.

Havent gotten to mount them yet nik. but they will work fine.

I have been hearing a lot about the walbros, i might have to look into them for my next build.

If you are going to buy a Walbro, just get a TRE. Like I said, they have a year warranty and replace them no questions asked.

Most of my Walbros that I had went out in less than a year. Have had half a dozen of those stupid pumps.

i think i am gonna go with a 2010 slp camero fuel pump it should hold up to what i am doin.

How much power are you looking to make? If your building a full on drag car I would go that route, if not put a simple fuel cell in, a walbro 255 and run some new hard lines or steel braided 6-AN lines. The fuel setup shouldn't be that hard.

Why dont you go with megasquirt EFI? I'm running it and its cheap. Its a great engine management system. I actually have my old ecu built and ready to go if your more interested.

hes talking about a fuel pump not a engine managment system. mega squirt is old news, just as well go with bs3 (big stuff 3).

old news eh? how about MS3? that just came out.

if you want to talk ecu and managment systems there is a spot for that in here. we dont want to go off topic in his thread .

im not trying to hijack this thread... Im just saying megasquirt aint old news.

ok you know i am only trying to get 300 hp out of it for now. so i think i will go with the walbro 255s. once i learn how to drive it then i will go for more power.

Thats a wise choice even 300hp in an 86 will be nuts.

I think so too. but hopefully i can learn to drive it.