Knurled. said:
Back to OP, after seeing some "interesting" results with drop in high flow fuel pumps, I wouldn't run the stock wiring at all. Run 14 or even 12 gauge wire through a passthrough, bypassing the OE small wire and tiny pins entirely, and stick a relay as close as possible with 12 or 10 gauge wire coming straight from the battery.
The voltage drop can be ridiculous with some of the newer pumps, and I've seen browned/blackened OE wiring and pins after a remarkably short period of time.
That would matter if I were looking for a pump upgrade, which took more power than the original pump. But I'm not- just want the same pump that has lased 205k miles and 14 years of constant use.
So a quick follow up.
Before anyone posted about just getting the parts from dealers- which makes a LOT of sense, BTW...
I found a pump on CarParts.com. It was $10 for the pump $10 for the strainer filter, and $15 shipping. For that price, one would expect that it would also be a splice job, as it's so cheap. But it's not. If it was, I would have spent a lot more money finding the right part.
Ignoring the quality of the pump (which I have no idea about), those two parts that I ordered were really good. In appearance, the pump is identical to the one I took off. Same color, same size, same orientation, same everything. The kit also included a new hose, and a new spacer that were identical to the old one. And it also included a brand new harness, which was identical to the one I took off. Same color, connector, covers to the lugs on the pump.
And the filter even turned out to have a little detail that keeps it attached to the bottom of the pump.
First, it's interesting that it's not that easy to find a plug and play replacement pump. But it's REALLY interesting that the one non-OEM pump that I did find that is an actual direct fit pump, was also the cheapest one I could find, anywhere. $35 for what looks to be the OEM pump, hoses, connector, etc- delivered to my door is pretty darned good. So good that I may buy a second pump, seal it up, and keep it in the car.
Are you confusing OEM and OE? It may be an OEM pump, and you took out OE.
The aftermarket ones you're finding are likely generics, as fuel pumps are semi-standardized but the connections don't appear to be. You stumbled on to one that may be OE NOS or maybe it's a pump that's shared with a bunch of other Mazdas. Good find regardless. That price makes me think someone's trying to offload some inventory, as you're not going to make much money if that's your MSRP.
BTW, take a good look at that new filter. The OE ones tend to be better than most of the aftermarket, although if your pump was direct fit the strainer may be as well.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
It's not quite the same, but it seems pretty darned good. The original one has some structure in the middle of it- so that it does not collapse down on it. The one I got seems to have some structure in it. But it's more like a quilt instead of a bag. I'll try to take pictures tonight.
OE, OEM... same thing... lol.
The pump *may* be generic, but every single other generics that were supposed to be for a Miata were nowhere near the original pump- this is virtually identical. The only difference are the hose clamps- Mazda put the spring loaded hose clamp, the replacement uses the screw hose clamp. (I have no idea what they are called.)
OE - original equipment. Came on the car, or an identical replacement from Mazda. It'll come from the Mazda parts supply chain.
OEM - manufacturer of OE parts. Should be the same as the OE, but it will be labelled differently and it may be a different manufacturer than made the one on your car. It is an aftermarket part.
Subtle difference, but it is a difference. That's how I see it. Lol.
The only part that probably isn't right is the rubber spacer at the bottom. And I'm not 100% on the new strainer, but I may give it a shot, and keep the old part.
Kind of surprising how much comes in what I found, and there's no real work to make it fit.
Thank you, alfadriver, this was very pertinent to my needs as my 2001 NB fuel pump died Thursday. I fired up the computer to see about the wiring and decided to check the GRM forums for my daily fix first. Glad I did!
alfadriver said:
The only part that probably isn't right is the rubber spacer at the bottom. And I'm not 100% on the new strainer, but I may give it a shot, and keep the old part.
Kind of surprising how much comes in what I found, and there's no real work to make it fit.
So this isn't quite accurate. The white connecter that cam with the wire was wrong- the alignment pin was on the wrong side. So what I did was take the connector off the old wires, and install it on the new ones- which just took a dental tool to take the connector apart.
Put it in the car, one prime, fired right up. Pretty sweet.
Actually, a minor but important moment in our car owning history- today marked the first time ever that all of our cars ran at the same time. Epic.
That's not going to last long as I start the restoration.
