I am sure you all know what I mean when I say every month there is more and more problems with my car.

Right now I have the smell of fuel in my car, so for safety and my 7's sake, I am just going to go in and do a bunch of replacements/simplification.

I am considering doing the
- rats nest delete
- FPD delete
- replace/upgrade ground wires
- replace fuel lines
- replace/relocate fuel filter

and while i have my UIM and whatever is underneath it taken apart, since i am still a noob, what else should i replace/simplify/delete?? i hate to keep taking things apart, changing something small and putting it all back together only to have to do it again 2 weeks later!!!!

 

I think alot of people like clearing up their engine bays...

mmm basic removal stuff
AC, PS, AST, battery relocation, filter relocations (besides fuel), I've even seen switch relocations (I believe it was scrubs).

 

Not sure what you mean by "rat's nest delete". And the fuel filter is above the rear differential, not the UIM.

But other things that come to mind to consider...
*vacuum hose replacement to silicone or viton.
*inspect check valves or replace
*Test solenoids (see dgeesaman's recent how-to)
*Double throttle and AWS delete
*Good time to replace plug wires and coil harness if they're old.
*Clean and flow-test injectors
*Inspect and re-wrap any parts of the engine harness that looks suspect or crispy. I like the silicone self-fusing tape.
*If your on a standalone or will be going to one soon, it's a good time to consider re-locating the IAT.

 

You said yourself that you're not very experienced... because of that I'd be very wary of trying to undertake all these simplification processes you're talking about. I can promise you that you will end up causing yourself more headaches in the end trying to simplify the sequential system than if you just fixed your fuel problem and left the rest of the car. If you smell fuel it can only be a small number of things under the UIM, take it off, fix the issue and leave it be. Once you replace the motor or have the ability to have the car down for an extended period of time is when you should go forth with all the simplification and mods.

 

Tear the engine down to the point where you just have the UIM/Turbos left attached. Replace your wiring harness, injectors, fuel lines, delete pcv, FC thermoswitch, Delete or replace FPD, Remove rats nest and all emissions junk and install block off plates, relocate your coil packs, install new plugs/wires. Then simply enjoy your car.

These cars get a bad rap because people dont replace the things that should be replaced after damn near 20 years. More times it isnt the design of the rotary that causes these engines to fail or the cars to run like ****. It is all the external stuff that gets overlooked that everyone cheaps out on.

 

Fuel smell can be something as simple as the $20 metal check valve. Why would you go through all that time, effort and expense w/o first properly diagnosing the problem?

Heck, it would be cheaper to pay a competent rotary shop to diagnose and fix it than go through all that and still have a poorly running car.