Fuel tank capacity

[paulcundy]

Anyone know what the fuel tank is from full to fully drained?
Regards
Paul C

[gizard]

it's about 62 litres is it not? Although cars with the 6 speed box have a tank with slightly different edges on it so that it does not foul the gearbox - not sure whether this affects size or not.

[joust]

It's greater than 54l which I managed to put into it the other day.....

60 or 62l rings a bell - I'm sure it's in the owner's manaual.

J

[V6GTO]

I thought it was 60. It's not enough though, I had a high spirited blast today back from Marbella and neally ran out.(Was doing 150 most of the way though)

Martin.

[lucozade]

I can only ever sqeeze about 34-35 litres into my 3R.

Is there something wrong with my fuel tank?

[joust]

Noble's fuel guage is quite "generous" on where 0 is set, primarily to ensure no fuel starvation on track.

J

[SiRL]

I find that I can only get about £30 of optimax into the tank when I fill up, (usually fill up at quarter tank) so my guess is that the tank is about 40 litres on my 3R. (just as well its so small, if I was visiting petrol stations this regularly with a full sized tank I would be bankrupted!).

[Mr Noble]

lucozade said:

I can only ever sqeeze about 34-35 litres into my 3R. Is there something wrong with my fuel tank?

Me too. Would be nice to get mopre in as it only does 160-200 miles per fill up. I leave it till its between 1/4 and 0 too. Should it be fine to run it well into the zero then?

Micknall..........how big are they please??

GN

[silversix]

factory recomend not going below 1/4 if on track or driving fast. if cruising there is no prblem with running it lower.

[matt_fp]

The tank capacity it 60 litres from empty. At an indicated zero there is still a fair amount of fuel in the tank. Hence why if your refueling when the gauge indicates between zero and 1/4 capacity you can only fit 30 - 40 litres in. On the road its possible to run it well below the zero mark indicated on the gauge however on track or during fast road use DO NOT do this or you risk fuel starvation causing an engine failure. When on track we recommend you do not run below 1/3 tank as indicated on the gauge.

Matt

[Mr Noble]

So when are they going to make a track tank to go with our track sumps?

How do F1 ferraris cope with this problem, and other track cars FTM.

[paulcundy]

Thanks, all I needed to know.
Regards
Paul C

[lucozade]

However much I rationalise the logic in this it doesn't give me an accurate reading of how much fuel is in the tank.

Surely it would be better that the gauge tells the truth.

[joust]

Mr Noble said:

So when are they going to make a track tank to go with our track sumps? How do F1 ferraris cope with this problem, and other track cars FTM.

AFAIK Race car tanks have "foam" inside them to stop the fuel moving around. You can buy it here

www.nfauto.co.uk/fuel_tank_foam.htm

F1 cars are different as they use deformable fuel tanks made from puncture-proof Kevlar.

J

[matt_fp]

All,

Fuel tank capacity and amount of fuel remaining in said tank when the gauge reads zero are two very different things.

It is not unusual in the car industry to engineer the gauge to read zero when there is still considerable fuel in the tank. It protects from inadvertantly running dry, pulling debris from the bottom of the tank through the fuel system and fuel surge during high G cornering. Several large OEM's calibrate gauges the same way and it is very common on sports/track focused cars.

At the end of the day 2/3 of an 'indicated' tank will give you a considerable amount of time out on track - probably more than you can use without cooking your tyres and brakes

Best Regards
Matt

[JAZ 34]

Also.......don't over fill the tank.

Filled up at a local station last week and the clicker on the nozzle was not 100%. Hence an overfill and a rather large puddle of petrol on the forecourt!

The fuel never cascaded over the clam so i guess there is a breather hole at the top of the fuel pipe to allow excess petrol to drain out.

[Mr Noble]

Correct. I had the same thing happen the very first time I filled up. I thought I had killed it and I actually pushed the car a safe distance from the puddle before starting the engine again, for fear of blowing up the petrol station!!

GN

[V6GTO]

And don't hang around once you've filled up either. The heat of the engine makes the fuel expand, and if it's near the top anyway, it'll be on the floor in no time.

Martin.

[chillidog]

The overflow pipe didn't work on mine and I filled it *exactly* to the top of the filler pipe by accident. I had to ask for a sponge and bucket to remove the excess petrol so that I could put the filler cap on without fuel overflowing onto the clam. Rather embarrasing at the time and I'm more careful now.

As an aside, has anyone recorded the worst fuel consumption on track; one of the guys with another M400 at Bedford got 65 miles out of 3/4 of a tank which I reckon is around 13 miles per gallon. Bedford Autodrome has the most painfully slow process for refueling btw.
--
Richard

[paulcundy]

I get 6 mpg when I drive mine [Big smile].

The Snetterton race is 2 hrs long, which is why I'm doing the calcualtions as to how far/long we can go on a tank before refueling.
The pukka refueling kit; bottles and nozzles, is close on £1,000 - ouch, so alternatives being considered.

Regards
Paul C