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Vapor canister into a Surge tank


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Hi All,

 

I had a welding shop turn a metal vapor canister from a 240z into a "surge tank" for racing (coped from an example I found - see attached, the photo without text is mine), only to find that I can't use it in my wheel-to-wheel class. Turned away by the tech inspectors.

 

Should I post it for sale? Can it be used in other cars?

post-7528-12749031198169_thumb.jpg

post-7528-12749031286748_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Whats wrong with mounting a surge tank in the car? It is the same as a fuel cell with less capacity.

Er.........

 

Does the term 'firewall' have any meaning? I don't know of a single sanctioning body which will allow a single walled fuel ANYTHING inside the passenger compartment. Generally the requirement is secondary encapsulation with sheetmetal of a specific gauge, or construction of a firewall to 'segregate' the fuel section to someplae NOT directly accessible to the driver.

 

What you do on your cobble-job streeters is your business, but in a sanctioned racing series where a tech inspector, or worse yet a track or sanctioning body will be possibly held accountable for someone's bone-headed self-immolation you got to realize they take it kind of seriously.

 

I would say putting it behind a properly segregated firewall would make it acceptable, but with as little details as was given for being 'turned away' it's hard to say what their objection was. I have seen fuel cels in the spare tire area, but they have always had secondary containment (another layer of sheetmetal minimum) to keep any chance of a ruptured cel from splasing willy-nilly into the passenger's compartment.

 

With a surge tank mounted that high, outside of any roll structure, I could see where containment and proper leak segregation would get a non-compliance ruling.

 

I mean, am I the only guy who sees that?

 

For the street, you can do what you want and get away with it until something terribly tragic happens and nobody's the wiser. For a race series...expect to have your logic scrutinized from an impartial level (and in some cases be ready to be viewed with a prejudiced eye...)

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Is fuel starvation even an issue with the stock fuel tank?

 

Absolutely, it will starve with a stock L24 and SU's given the right circumstances on the track. With EFI it's even more acute as any drop in fuel pressure registers immediately as an 'engine cut'---not what you want on the power exiting a turn!

 

None of the stock S30 tanks are acceptable for serious competition. Even Nissan recommended a surge tank setup for triple mikuinis in their competition preparation manual for the Japan Market racing series. They even had a part number!

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  • 6 months later...

you can have a surge tank and fuel cell mounted inside of the hatch, but the fuel lines cannot run through the cabin, and if you have fuel system inside the hatch, a rear bulkhead must be used.

accord to scca/nasa/formula-d/d1 rules

ie:

Fuel-System-tech-04-690x460.jpg

note that this system is in the trunk of an s14, with a firewall instead of back seats.

 

Lloyd

Edited by rbpowered280z
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