Discussion
Tony427 said:
When you build your fuel tank you need to put the fuel pump in a simple swirl pot inside the tank because unless you do that the fuel will surge under braking and acceleration, and the resultant fuel starvation will eat the fuel pump ( if mounted externally) if not cause damage to the engine by running lean.
I am the founder of the " Destroy two Bosch 44 fuel pumps in very quick succession " club by not doing this. Happily the BMW 4.4 V8 I was abusing had an ECU far cleverer than me and stopped me doing any damage at all internally.
Use a standard Lexus fuel pump in the tank in a simple swirl pot, basically a square open topped box with a couple of 10mm holes on two sides with the fuel pump within it. The standard Lexus LS400 pump already has a really neat gasket arrangement on its mounting flange to the tank, which will work well. Depending on the depth of the tank you may have to shorten the in tank mounting bracket. Lexus Cobra 1 did pver 12,000 faultless miles with this arangement.
BTW the Lexus has an ECU to reduce pump voltage depending on speed and engine load. It was done to make sure that Mr Yamamoto being driven by his driver to the office was not disturbed by the fuel pump noise when sitting in the rear seat reading his paper.
Don't bother using that, just stick the pump on permanent 12v. It will do no harm and makes the wiring easier.
BTW my Mrs who had a Focus 1.6 as a daily driver for 120k, and who has also driven one of the Lexus Cobras down the Mulsanne straight at stupid speed, like really, really, daft speed, she's absolutely terrifying at times, ( anyone who uses her Cadillac as a battering ram to stop some Audi driver cutting her up on the Perry Barr Flyover must be given credence) gives her full approval to the conversion.
She was looking over my shoulder as I was typing this and said,
" Does he know it will take off? "
Nuff said.
Cheers,
Tony
Yeah I know the basics but actually doing it is a different thing. I’ll give it a go though for sure. Unless I can find a tanks that’s already done.I am the founder of the " Destroy two Bosch 44 fuel pumps in very quick succession " club by not doing this. Happily the BMW 4.4 V8 I was abusing had an ECU far cleverer than me and stopped me doing any damage at all internally.
Use a standard Lexus fuel pump in the tank in a simple swirl pot, basically a square open topped box with a couple of 10mm holes on two sides with the fuel pump within it. The standard Lexus LS400 pump already has a really neat gasket arrangement on its mounting flange to the tank, which will work well. Depending on the depth of the tank you may have to shorten the in tank mounting bracket. Lexus Cobra 1 did pver 12,000 faultless miles with this arangement.
BTW the Lexus has an ECU to reduce pump voltage depending on speed and engine load. It was done to make sure that Mr Yamamoto being driven by his driver to the office was not disturbed by the fuel pump noise when sitting in the rear seat reading his paper.
Don't bother using that, just stick the pump on permanent 12v. It will do no harm and makes the wiring easier.
BTW my Mrs who had a Focus 1.6 as a daily driver for 120k, and who has also driven one of the Lexus Cobras down the Mulsanne straight at stupid speed, like really, really, daft speed, she's absolutely terrifying at times, ( anyone who uses her Cadillac as a battering ram to stop some Audi driver cutting her up on the Perry Barr Flyover must be given credence) gives her full approval to the conversion.
She was looking over my shoulder as I was typing this and said,
" Does he know it will take off? "
Nuff said.
Cheers,
Tony
Yeah the fuel pump is already wired to a 12v instead of using the variable voltage but the focus has a pwm module that runs its pump too so there’s some complication there wrt wiring anyway.
I’m aware it might fly. I might put some wings on it lol.
I’m bored of sheet metal work though. I’m not very good at it and my welder is playing up so Im losing patience at the moment
To get things moving forward the Lexus tank with the Lexus pump will be bungee strapped in the boot so the engine will work and I’ll test it up and down the road. I can shakedown the brakes, suspension, propshaft, gear selection, clutch and general carworthyness of the thing before having a proper balanced propshaft made and build a proper fuel tank.
If the shakedown goes well then I’ll start looking at making it roadworthy.
Perfection may be the goal but I’m also not in the habit of wasting my time so I’m happy to cowboy things together to make sure things work before committing to building things that would otherwise be wasted money and possibly time
If the shakedown goes well then I’ll start looking at making it roadworthy.
Perfection may be the goal but I’m also not in the habit of wasting my time so I’m happy to cowboy things together to make sure things work before committing to building things that would otherwise be wasted money and possibly time
Partofthechaos said:
Would something like this work?
http://www.mksportscars.com/6-5-gallon-alloy-kit-c...
With the shape it would probably fit behind the seats quite nicely, though that will require an additional box around it. They make them up in house, so ammendments to fit your under floor space, move fill point etc should be easy enough.
Could be an option to get a custom one made but I might as well make my own by that point so unless they have something off the shelf (which is unlikely) then it’s not worth the compromises I would have to make.http://www.mksportscars.com/6-5-gallon-alloy-kit-c...
With the shape it would probably fit behind the seats quite nicely, though that will require an additional box around it. They make them up in house, so ammendments to fit your under floor space, move fill point etc should be easy enough.
I’m also probably being really fking stupid by setting myself a target of keeping everything inside the car as standard as possible but it’s a goal I’d like to achieve.
Anyone can cut the floor out and weld in a Sierra floor plan but it feels much more natural to have the standard car have the things shoehorned in there
biggsy_ said:
Any update on this? interested to see the end result
Updates on YouTubeCurrently a work in progress.
Welder has been playing up so Ill be fixing some rust and rebuilding inner arches when I sort that out.
In the mean time I’m sorting oil feed and returns for the turbos, will be welding the exhaust up when the engine next comes out and hopefully sorting some brakes out so we can go for a joyride up and down the road to test it out
M4CK 1 said:
Never heard of an 800bhp lpg car lol
800bhp in a RWD FocusBraver man than me
Will you be considering methanol injection to keep temperatures down??
Phase 1 I recon will be 400 on the Volvo turbos. Easy upgrade to some T3’s which will do easy 800. Will have to upgrade the rods for that though. Not thought about methanol tbh, have thought about nitrous though lol.
Something to consider in the future
InitialDave said:
If you're going for that kind of power in the future, is it not worth at this point making sure the rear arches are tubbed out sufficiently to take a good bit of tyre?
Indeed - the rear tyres are 9” now if I remember correctly anyway so there’s a decent tyre on there for now. The inner arches are going to have plenty of room I think but the problem is actually the upright, so I may have to get creative with wheel offsets etc.Phase 2 also includes some RS rear arches too so that gives me another 1” I think for a wider wheel again
Fastdruid said:
At least have had the option.
What is annoying (for the Mondeo anyway) is that the option was there. The Mk1,Mk2,Mk3 and Mk4 can be converted with bolt on parts from "sister" models from other brands sharing the same "platform".
Focus mk2 was the same. If I had a choice again I’d use the mk2 to make it easier. What is annoying (for the Mondeo anyway) is that the option was there. The Mk1,Mk2,Mk3 and Mk4 can be converted with bolt on parts from "sister" models from other brands sharing the same "platform".
Won’t be as cheap as this though
does anyone know a south wales engineering firm or a back garage hobbyist that can machine some stub axles for em in the current climate?
I'm at a bit of an impasse and i need these made before i can continue but I'm finding it difficult.
preferably a hobbyist to keep the costs down, considering they will be prototypes.
I'm at a bit of an impasse and i need these made before i can continue but I'm finding it difficult.
preferably a hobbyist to keep the costs down, considering they will be prototypes.
Fastdruid said:
Try posting on https://www.machining-4u.co.uk/ ?
that's really useful! thankswill give it a go
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