Jump to content
HybridZ

Fuel cell mounting pics and questions...


JMortensen

Recommended Posts

Installing the fuel cell I got for Christmas. Here's where I'm at right now:

 

DSCN1574.jpg

 

DSCN1573.jpg

 

DSCN1572.jpg

 

DSCN1571.jpg

 

I had previously tried to get the thing angled 7 degrees, and was only able to get about 4 and had almost given up on the angled cell idea. Then I thought about doing it this way, and it turned out pretty easy to do. The cell is almost exactly flush with the bottom of the fenders, which makes me think there might be some fairly interesting things that could be done back there from an aero perspective.

 

With the cell installed like this there is JUST BARELY enough room for the cap to get screwed on and not hit a flat plate that covers the hole back there.

 

So questions are:

1. Does anybody make a premade trap door type thing that I can just bolt into a flat piece of aluminum to cover up the hole and allow access to the fuel cap to fill the cell?

2. Are most of you guys using some silicone or something to seal up the cover? I'm not ready to seal it permanently yet, but I'd like it to be reasonably tightly sealed, just wondering what people are doing.

3. I think I know the answer to this one, but I have a VERY STRONG temptation to put a nutsert right in the corners of the can. That's not allowable I would assume... the idea here would be to make a big plate that would wrap around the rear and attach to the cell and fenders and the rear panel in back. This would make a fairly gigantic diffuser...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 48
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Oops, forgot a question.

 

4. I can slide the cell back or forward a considerable amount. I figured this spot looked about right to allow for access to the diff bolts and that stuff. It doesn't have to be there though. I know moving weight to the rear is good for autox, not so good on the road course. Any opinions as to where I should mount it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a 12 gallon the part number is ED112, you can see it up in the corner there. It is an enduro cell. I got mine from http://www.speedwaymotors.com/xq/aspx/display_id.2271/itemNo.fuel+safe/qx/Product.htm and it was $430. You can get a cheapo cell from Jegs or Summit, but this one is FIA and SCCA approved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great! Im hoping to get a plastic fuel cell from summit, do you know if the plastic ones are any good compared to the aluminum considering price also. I wont need it for scca or anything like that.

 

Once some kind of fuel cell is added in my car Im planning to have either dual exhaust similar to the srt4's or two pipes coming out the center.

 

Also did you totally remove all the sheet metal around the spare tire area? I couldnt quite tell from the picture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There have been other threads that give the pros and cons of the plastic cells. I think if you mount them correctly they should work fine. I haven't used one myself, but that was the impression I got after reading some of Tim240z's comments a while back.

 

I did totally remove the sheet metal. Wasn't sure what all was going to happen there, so I cut it back to the frame rail lip all the way around. I think I'm going to use a bunch of nutserts all around the perimeter to screw an aluminum panel down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im jealous

 

That looks like it will work great, I gotta toss my plastic cell soon.

 

You can get an aluminum trap door from Jegs, that what I have on my fuel cell cover. Also on mounting it at an angle, im sure you dont really care, but your not going to be able to put as much fuel in it and any kind of sender if going to be off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jon, the only thing I would question is putting the mounts lenghtwise like that if you ever plan on road racing at all. If you will never road race it, it's fine for auto-x, but if there's a chance you might road race I think you might end up regretting it. All it would take is one shunt in the rear and you might end up having to repair a lot more damage than would be done if you mounted the cell frame work cross wise between the stock rails in the rear. Most of the Z racers I know always put the mounting rails across the car to the rails, and most of us even put another small tube behind the rear valence since we all know a stock 240 bumper is basically useless in a rear end accident.

 

As far as the lid for fueling, I used a flat piece of steel sheet, and spot welded it to some small diameter square tubing to make a strong lid. Then using some scrap angle, I went around the opening and spot welded that to the sheet of steel I used for the opening cover. I did it this way so that the lid sat inside the L of the angle and just used some cheap stick on weatherstrip to seal it and used a strong spring loaded latch like they use to mount body panels on some GT cars to hold it. In case the car ever ended up on its roof, it would at least prevent the majority of any gas that might leak from coming in the car, and in case of fire, it would help contain it to some extent since it would have to make a couple turns before it got inside the cockpit.

 

I used steel sheet to cover my opening and spot welded it in places and used bolts in others and used ribbon seam sealer to make sure it wasn't going to let in exhaust fumes.

 

As far as where to mount the cell, without having a set of scales to set the F/R weights the way you want it, I think I'd be inclined to keep it as close to the diff as possible while still giving you plenty of room to get in and work on the diff. I've got a cell in the ITS parts car that is so close to the mustache bar that I have to use an open end wrench on the diff mounting bolts and that is a major PITA but that is also a larger

cell too....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm... never thought about bending the frame in an accident. I was just taking a cue from John Coffey, who had his frame front to rear. Looks like the main reason to do this would be less material use. I think it will be more difficult to get the angle with the frame mounted sideways... have to consider that one a bit. Thanks for the warning! Might have to change it up a bit...

 

Any ideas regarding putting nutserts in the corners of the can? Is that going to be a big no no?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The main reason I said anything is because you have two straight tubes which would transfer the load of a rear hit thru the lip of the cell and if those two short tubes didn't give, you might end up with them transferring the load right into the chassis rail. At worst, you could end up tearing out the chassis rail which is holding the rear upright in place or even have those straight tubes driven into the diff or mustache bar.

I think I'd rather repair bent body panels than to have anything like that happen where you could possibly end up having to re-do part of the suspension.:wink:

 

If you mounted those rails transversely between the two chassis rails, you could just weld a flat tab on the rail so you could raise or lower the cell mount to whatever height you needed.

 

I wouldn't put any holes in the metal container, not only because it probably wouldn't pass Tech, but because you would be introducing a raised section (even if it's a fairly blunt object) that the bladder would be riding on and could cause it to fail prematurely.

 

I was just looking at your pic again, and was thinking if ran the tubes side to side between the rails, and did both sides like you have your front mount, (kinda like the diagram below) you would be able to not only tilt it the way you want if you put tabs on the rails, but you could a piece of flat aluminum or flat steel(making a _/ under the cell) and use that as a mount for a diffuser or whatever you planned. You could also vary the distance below the floor as well as the tilt depending on how long you made the / sections.

 

FWIW, when I made the mount for my cell years ago, I welded the tubes across the opening to the chassis rails, and then used angle to mount the lip of the container to, then welded the angle to the cross tubing to set the distance under the floor. Then across the L of the angles on each side, I welded flat steel that was wider than the angle, and welded the top (notched out) section of the flat to the main tubes and then welded the angle to the flat to strenghten the angles on each side of the can. Of course the bad thing was, then I had to drill holes in the flat piece along the side and put grommets in so I could run my hoses to the top of the cell....:eek::banghead:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Thought maybe I should follow up and post the final results.

 

Here is the completed frame. You'll see that I cut the front posts too short, so instead of recutting them (I had everything lined up PERFECTLY) I just put a little diagonal cap piece on to seal the tubes up. This isn't going to be very heavy so I wasn't too worried about strength.

 

DSCN1601.jpg

 

DSCN1602.jpg

 

DSCN1603.jpg

 

DSCN1604.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
No sender. I think you can get a different fill plate that allows for a sender. I'll just fill it between sessions since this it isn't going to be on the street anymore.

 

Thanks buzy!

 

 

do u have a link to a fill plate and a sender for that fuel cell u have there. It looks great and i would like to do something similar but i would need the guage because the car would be driven on the street as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, I'm sorry. I haven't looked into it because it just wasn't an issue for me. Try Jegs, Summit Racing, etc. I believe most of the fill plates are interchangeable.

 

 

ok thanks. also do u know what length i should get the sender unit for a cell like that. 8? 11?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...