Putting A 040 In A 20l Fuel Cell

[samstain]

I wanted a simple fuel setup for the 180 track car I have been building up... Standard tank + surge tank + extra pump, lines, filters etc seemed way too complex so I though I would try something different.

Since the car is mostly to be used for drift, hill climb, motorkhana etc I didn't need a huge tank, 20L should be enough. I managed to pick up a standard plastic fuel cell from a mate for the right price and thats where the fun started.

It looked something like this:

These are designed for drag racing with twin external pumps & filters - again it seemed way more complex than it needed to be and all those fittings aren't cheap. So after a bit of quick measuring I worked out a 040 will just fit inside the tank. I just needed some way to hold it in there, get the power in and the fuel out... I came up with this as a first consept:

which evolved in to this:

having recently purchased a 16tool CNC mill and a TIG welder it took no time to whip it up

Using the part as a template the tank was pretty easy to drill in to so it could be mounted:

After that I had to add an extra return line to the top of the tank, make some insulators for the power supply to the pump and the low fuel sensor and seal it all up with some fancy blue stuff that I have forgotten the name off....

Currently its sitting in the back of the car with the floor pan cut out to make room for it:

Next up I have to mount it and the battery, re-route the exhaust and then make a fire wall over the top...

All up so far it has cost me just under $350 - including used tank, used 040 and all new speedflow/earls fittings - oh and about $25k for the mill and tig =(

Edited April 15, 2010 by samstain

[Duncan]

good thinking!

gong to foam fill the tank?

[samstain]

yeah the tank came with a couple ~80mm sheets of foam, ill trim at least one of them so it has clearance for the pump and slide it back in the tank.

[samstain]

almost finish mounting it in the back of the 180....

got to finish the support for the battery box, then can skin it all and make a hatch for the fuel filler.

[daisu]

I like your style, but I don't understand why you needed to remove so much of the floor pan?

[BezerkR32]

this system works well, i did a similar thing with 2 040s in an alloy cell. keeps pumps cool and no excess plumbing.

[bigmikespec]

Bezerk would you still need to have a surge tank to prevent fuel surge doing it that way?

[zebra]

If you mounted 1 pump on either side of the tank with a 1 way check valve for each pump it would work well in a bigger tank.

[Craved]

you simply incorporate baffling around the pickup, creating an internal surge tank - same principal to a sump baffle system

[samstain]

I like your style, but I don't understand why you needed to remove so much of the floor pan?

Once it is all finished you will see why... there is some more stuff to fit in there yet. But it was also easier to just trim it back to the rails then re skin it in flat alloy, otherwise you end up with floppy edges of the original metal work that you have to weld something to to stiffen it.

[samstain]

I keep forgetting to take photo's, but the back has now been skinned in 1.2mm alloy.

I made up this cover with access for filling the tank to complete the 'fire wall'

what it looks like from the rear:

Exhaust tip will be added once bar is chosen and fitted.

Its first track session for it in quite a few years.

Tank setup performend perfectly all day - as you would expect it to, its only supporting about 170rwkw at the moment, Ill turn it up more later once the motor has done a few more track days.

Edited August 11, 2010 by samstain

[bLaQ.bOi]

holy crep i f**king love it!

im in the midst of making a fuel cell custom setup for MY drift 180!!!!!

stupid me posted a thread on ns.com clearly sau guys know wtf is going on!

when you say you bought a cnc... you mean your work right? haha

also i see your in adelaide? im moving there start of next year. to cherry gardens! is there many track days up in adelaide?

im in the middle of fabricating a bn sports hatch for my 180sx!!!

also bezerkR32, if you dont mind can i have more info on your setup? im wanting to do something like that!

have the fabrication skills, but zero knowledge on what goes where!

thanks for the inspiration guys!

[samstain]

Nah, the mill is my personal one... at my last job I had access to one on the weekends that I would use when ever I could. But I changed jobs about 2 years ago and not being able to make stuff was killing me. So I have since bought the Mill & a tig welder, will be getting a plasma cutter shortly.

There is a fair bit of stuff going on in adelaide as far as track days - drift practise nights at mallala are pretty much monthly (I haven't been to them yet), there is a motorkhana series through winter that I compete in, and Tailem Bend has just re-opened. They will be having a fair bit of drift stuff going on, I have also organised a few private skid pan days down there, hopefully next year we will be having a superkhana series (if we can get the regs through CAMS). There are also hill climbs at collingrove and plenty of grip days at Mallala.

Edited August 17, 2010 by samstain

[Beer Baron]

great work mate.

pretty cool having your own CNC.

you did the right thing cutting the floor out. it adds a fair bit of weight but bugger all strength, very easy to regain any lost rigidity with just a few bars.

[bLaQ.bOi]

Nah, the mill is my personal one... at my last job I had access to one on the weekends that I would use when ever I could. But I changed jobs about 2 years ago and not being able to make stuff was killing me. So I have since bought the Mill & a tig welder, will be getting a plasma cutter shortly.

There is a fair bit of stuff going on in adelaide as far as track days - drift practise nights at mallala are pretty much monthly (I haven't been to them yet), there is a motorkhana series through winter that I compete in, and Tailem Bend has just re-opened. They will be having a fair bit of drift stuff going on, I have also organised a few private skid pan days down there, hopefully next year we will be having a superkhana series (if we can get the regs through CAMS). There are also hill climbs at collingrove and plenty of grip days at Mallala.

OH MY f**kING GOD!!! CANNOT f**kING WAIT TO MOVE TO ADELAIDE!!! ARRRRGHHH!!!!!