Fuel tank foam, good or bad?

[hollowpockets]

Hi knowledgable people out there.

Would like some info to act on really, I know a few of you have swirl pots/double pumps or fancy in tank baffles but not got the funds to go down that route and the car would nevr get finished.

So had a look at tank foam, anyone know pro's/cons of this stuff? Bear in mind that I'll only do a few track days a year and will eventually do a swirl pot set up. It's more for short term.

How much is needed to be effective in a noble tank?

Does it need to be one large block or can several smaller 'cubes' be stuffed down the filler neck?

Does it sink to the base or float around up top if the blocks are too small?

If it was to sit in front of the tank outlet would it restrict flow to any real effect?

Thanks!

G

[andygtt]

Good stuff, but just pushing it through the ffuel filler and sensor would be a mistake IMO... It needs to cover the base of you tank to be effective which means cutting the tank.

Just don't run the tank below half a tank on track is by far the cheapest option.

[andygtt]

Good stuff, but just pushing it through the ffuel filler and sensor would be a mistake IMO... It needs to cover the base of you tank to be effective which means cutting the tank.

Just don't run the tank below half a tank on track is by far the cheapest option.

[hollowpockets]

Ah right i see. Is the sensor in the tank a lever type? I guess it would affect that too.

I noticed pro alloy do a race tank with collector and outlet on the other side which looks good but no price on they're page, anyone know how much? would that save having another pump and swirl pot?

Cheers

[GTO600]

hollowpockets said:

Ah right i see. Is the sensor in the tank a lever type? I guess it would affect that too.

I noticed pro alloy do a race tank with collector and outlet on the other side which looks good but no price on they're page, anyone know how much? would that save having another pump and swirl pot?

Cheers

The Pro-alloy tank is mine & to my design, it has a proper fuel collector inside with a dip tube sensor & is foam filled via the cover plate at the top, fuel exits on the left hand side as viewed from the rear & the finished tank is insulated.
Kevin

[hollowpockets]

GTO600 said:

The Pro-alloy tank is mine & to my design, it has a proper fuel collector inside with a dip tube sensor & is foam filled via the cover plate at the top, fuel exits on the left hand side as viewed from the rear & the finished tank is insulated.
Kevin

Cheers Kev, tank sounds good, what sort of money are they asking for one including foam and sensor?

[GTO600]

hollowpockets said:

GTO600 said:

The Pro-alloy tank is mine & to my design, it has a proper fuel collector inside with a dip tube sensor & is foam filled via the cover plate at the top, fuel exits on the left hand side as viewed from the rear & the finished tank is insulated.
Kevin

Cheers Kev, tank sounds good, what sort of money are they asking for one including foam and sensor?

Not exactly sure now but think around £900 inc vat for everything, will require a VDO fuel gauge also.
Proven down to less than 3 Litres on track.
Forgot to mention that it's approx 70 mm lower than the standard tank so holds approx 5 litres less fuel but you can use all the fuel in the tank !

Edited by GTO600 on Tuesday 19th July 23:08

[andygtt]

The tank I had made cost me 500 but only because I kept changing the spec... recon I could get the std tank modified to be same spec for 300 ish... like Kev's mine has collectors inside as well as a swirl pot and I have totally ran it dry (58 litres) and car was still ran fine as it has another 5 litres of fuel in the swirl pot.

Changing the tank is not a cheap option but does mean you can use all your fuel and not worry about surge... just stuffing foam into the existing tank is unlikelly to work IMO and will cause you other issues, such as debris in the fuel filter (as foam does shed over time) along with your sensor issues etc... yep the std sensor is a float on a bar type

[R0162]

Just to give you a third option, with the other options you have to modify the fuel tank anyway, so this is a tank/baffle modification which is effective and cheap.





Taper the tank, baffle with plate and change the outlet position.
This allows the filter and pump to live in under the tank keeping things tidy and fuel hose routing simple.
The pumps being gravity fed need the fuel level to always be above, so the tapered design means that even with 5 litres of fuel the level is higher than the outlet.
You are losing approx 15 litres of capacity, but the normal tank requires a minimum of 35 litres to avoid fuel starvation on track days, i.e. 1/4 tank + 20 litres left on empty, so you are permanently carrying 30 litres of dead weight, unusable fuel.
So although my design is 15 litres down on capacity, it actually has 15 litres more of useable fuel over standard, i have tested this tank with 5 litres under hard acceleration and cornering, whereas 5 litres barely covers the outlet height on a non tapered/standard tank.

Below is the baffle design, there were two of these fitted with a small gap underneath, there is one more baffle about 10" up the slope of the tank to combat surge on acceleration, just a 80mm horizontal strip.




The entire modification was just cutting and welding and cost about 150 euros, the main cost being the welding.

[F.C.]

If your serious about changing tanks ..............

http://www.atlltd.com/indexuk.php

FIA date marked but are good waaaaaaaaay beyond.