Custom gas tank! *Pictures*
 

Havn't posted anything in a while, so I figured i'd share some pics of the gas tank i'm building! :) The tank is built from 1/8" aluminum. If memory serves me right, the factory is from 1/16" steel.

Just the top of the gas tank. I have to notch out a section in the top left hand corner to shift the gas tank over an 1" or 2. After that, I can make a cut out in the center of the raised area to have full access to the fuel pump. Once complete, the top plate will be from 3/8" instead of 1/8". It'll be alot easier to just drill and tap the top plate for a removable plate, instead of welding nuts, or something of the sort, on the back side. I'll be using bolts, instead of screws like the stock gas tank.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...2/f30ffca6.jpg

You can see on the side here that I put a 10 degree slope on the whole tank. This will insure that the fuel is always towards the back of the tank. I'll be welding a pipe where that cut out is, so I can attach the factory fill tube.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/f30ffc6a.jpg

The tank will have 3 seperate chambers. Each wall is placed 11" from either side. Forgot to measure how wide the center chamber is though. Each wall will have 2 1" check valves, and a 1 1/2" trap door. (4 check valves, and 2 trap doors in total) The trap doors will be located in the back corners of the gas tank, on the flat section of the tank. The check valves will be spaced equally along the length of the walls. There will also be a half circle cutout on each wall towards the front (closest side to the front of the car) for when I fill up, gas will flow from one chamber to the next. In the center chamber, there will be a cutout in the flat section, with a sump welded under the bottem of the tank. Although the tank itself acts as a sump, I just wan't to make certain that fuel is always in the designated place. :)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/f30ffc31.jpg

Just a diffrent angle of the inside of the tank.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d/f30ffbe9.jpg

Just a picture of the bottom of the tank. I was going to simple bend a sheet at 10 degrees, but decided to just weld 2 peices together.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d/f30ffb5c.jpg

Just a picture of the fuel pump and filter. The aluminum plate you see there will be welded on the bottom of the tank. Since alot of people say the A1000 is pretty loud, I figured i'd mount it in the tank to help keep the noise down. It'll also keep the fuel pump runner cooler. On top of that, I also purchased a voltage controller from Aeromotive for the pump to keep it running cool. (not pictured) The filter is a 100 micron SS mesh. It will be mounted inside the sump under the tank. I'll be placing a "door" under the sump so I have access to the filter for cleaning.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...5/f30ffad0.jpg

Here's a picture of the 1" check valves, trap doors, and -8 rollover vent valve.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...6/f30ffa86.jpg

The tank will be using the factory floater for the gas gauge. Access to the fuel pump will be from the rear hatch just like factory. Once the tank is complete, it will be coated with a Rhino liner to help even more with the noise from the fuel pump. With the sump on the bottom of the tank, the tank only sits ~2-2 1/2" lower than the factory tank. That's only where the edge of the sump is though, the rest of the tank wont sit any lower than the factory. The tank will also have 2 straps to bolt to the car in the factory locations. To make sure it doesn't rattle against the body, i'll be placing foam over the rhino liner on top of the tank to mash against the body when mounted.

-Alex

Hey Alex aka madd skillz boy lol. I got a ? for ya. I thought a check valve would cause considerable restriction in the flow...which is why a lot of people don't like to use them?

~Ramy

PS: You're crazy man...that looks great. :bigthumb:

The check valves probably arnt even needed. I spoke to a guy at Fuel Safe about what i'm doing and he said that the trap doors would probably be more than enough. Since i've never done this before, I was still somewhat paranoid about the trap doors not flowing enough into the center chamber, so I used 4 check valves too. :D As far as the check valves not flowing enough into the center chamber, i've never heard that. I can tell you this much though, one check valve will empty a 2 liter bottle in under 30 secs. ;) Another thing I was concerned about was driving straight to long. Since there arn't really any turns on the highway, fuel wouldn't flow into the center chamber, so the return line from the FPR flows into the center chamber. This way, i'll never have to worry about fuel starvation.

Thanks for the kind words! :)

-Alex

Edit: If your speaking about the one way check valves being a restriction when I fill the tank up, they arn't used for that at all. The one way check valves/trap doors are only used to allow fuel to enter the center chamber, and not escape. There will be a half circle cut out on each wall towards the front of the tank. These cut outs will allow the fuel to travel from the left chamber, to the center, then to the right during fill ups. Since the tank is set up like a sump itself, no fuel will really be by the cut outs, so fuel wont be able to escape from the cut outs. Only time it will be up there is when I hit the brakes hard, however there will still be fuel in the sump under the tank, so I still won't have any fuel starvation problems. I think i've thought of everything that could possibly go wrong! :)

Yea it really sounds like it!

About the check valves, I don't know too much about this sorta thing, but that's what I was told. Eg, Kevin Wiyyum ran a dual tank setup, one for race fuel and one for pump, and was using one-way check valves. I remember asking about that, and what I heard was if you're building a high hp car (ie gas guzzler... 1600s etc) the check valves are a restriction, and hence aren't something you'd want - hence why a dual tank setup wasn't ideal.

Hmm, maybe he will get on here and comment about that. The guy at Fuel safe didn't say anything about that, but he also knew I was running the trap doors. The doors will flow a SHIT load of fuel. If you take a look at Auto Illusions gas tank, all he's using is check valves. If I recall, he's running 6 of them, 3 on each wall. He also spoke with Fuel safe, and he didn't mention anything about them not being able to flow enough. They look kind of small in the picture, but they are 1" in dia., with 4 1/2" holes for the fuel to travel through into the center chamber.

-Alex

Great job on the gas tank. Only problem, pics aint workin for me.

Image Station seems to be down at the moment. :(

-Alex

Strange...

They were working an hour or so ago..

But not here now either..

damn all i see are red x's

Bump! Pics are finally back up!! :)

-Alex

Great job on the gas tank (again), now that the pics are finally back up. :bigthumb:

What are the reasons for buiding the tank?
Lighter weight?
Higher capacity?
Prevent fuel starvation at low fuel levels?

Main reason was to prevent fuel starvation at the power I hope to be making, and so I don't have to mount the pump externally. By having it inside the tank, it'll stay even cooler, and keep the noise down ALOT!

Once complete it'll weight ~ the same as the stock one. The stock tank is 1/16" steel, and this is 1/8" aluminum, so the added thickness of the aluminum pretty much out weights the weight benefits. It'll also have a coating of rhino lining, or something similar, so that's added weight to the tank also. I'm having it coated to help protect the tank, and to act as a sound deadener. Even if it was lighter, it'd only be by ~2 pounds.

I actually lost ~1-2 gallons, but hoping to gain a gallon back once I build the sump for the bottom. I plan on making a second tank in ~ a week, and hopefully I can get it to hold 2-3 gallons more than the factory tank.

-Alex

Some crazy fabrication going on there. I like it!! I'm not that good at TIG yet. Keep us up to date on your project.

Thanks for the kind words! I tried to keep it nice and simple for my first "full" fabrication project. The tank was actually welded by a local retired cert. welder. I think his welds turned out damn good considering this is the first time he welded aluminum in ~ the past 5 years.

Wait till I start the next tank! :) It'll be quite a bit diffrent and larger. In order to make it larger it'll take quite a bit of angles and several steps to utilize all the space under there.

-Alex

Your al1000 will be loud as a mother! Mine is.......

Do you have it mounted in the tank with ~1/8"-1/4" of sound deadening on the outside of the tank? :D Besides all that, the voltage controller will also help with the noise by running it at a lower voltage while driving around town.

-Alex

Edit: How far are you out of St. Louis? I'll be moving on ~30 acres in Washington in about a year. (The town, not county)

whats the results on this? How is the sound and did a lining that is fuel resistant work out? Warning three month old post.

thats so badass...

Don't really have any info on how it will work out. I aborted that tank a while back. Decided I didn't like how it looked, and the size of it, so i've started a 2nd tank. I ordered a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/8" 6061 aluminum, and i'm currently having another shop water jet each piece of the tank out. I'd do it myself, but I don't have a water jet, and don't have time to fool with putting it on one of my CNC mills/Wire EDM. Last time around I just cut each piece out on the band saw and it was a bitch getting everything to line up perfectly when I had it welded. Having them cut on a water jet should eliminate that problem. At any rate, i've spoken to both Aeromotive, and Fuel Safe, and neither see any problems with how the tank is setup.

One of the main things I changed is the size of the tank. The one pictured is smaller than the factory tank since it's not as wide, and also has that slope on the bottom of the tank. The new one will be a tad bit wider than the factory, along with having more depth. However, because of the slope on the bottom of the tank, it will still hold ~ the same as the factory.

The second thing I changed is the sump that will be on the bottom of the tank. I never loaded a picture of the original just in case your wondering where it is in the pictures. I was planning on having the filter that goes in front of the pump sit inside the sump. However, I had to make the sump removable so I could get to the filter and clean it. I didn't really like that idea, so i'll be welding 2 -8AN fittings on the sump, that will Y into a -10AN fitting. This will provide more fuel going from the sump to the filter than just 1 -10AN fitting. They will lead to the filter that will now be sitting on the side of the sump, or somewhere else outside of the tank. Havn't really decided where yet. The pump will still remain inside the tank to keep the noise and heat down. Because of this, i'll have to weld a -10AN fitting to the bottom of the tank that a line from the filter will attach to. On the inside of the tank, a line will run from that fitting to the pump. I'll leave extra slack in the line inside the tank so I can remove the pump from the top of the tank, through the rear hatch. (Just like the factory setup.) The feed line from the pump will run straight up just like the factory line as well. I'll be attaching the filter that goes after the pump on the top plate that will cover/seal the access hole to the pump for easy changing.

Last, but not least, I changed the dividers. They will have a radius along the top of them to help allow fuel to go from one chamber to the next during fill up. However, they'll be so high up, they won't really allow much fuel to escape the center chamber during hard cornering. PHEW! I changed quite a bit ehh? I'll be posting up some pics of the new tank soon, so all this will make since! :)

As far as the coating, i'll be using Rhino Liner. (Truck bed coating) It will be on the outside of the tank, so I won't have to really worry if it's fuel resistant or not.

-Alex

Sounds good. I am curious when designing center baffles why low hole position is not used with many very small holes that way in sudden turn it will not empty very fast but allow a faster refill than having a wall with higher fill point.
Keep us posted on the design set up & good luck.

bump, just wondering what happened to this.

I'm almost complete with the second gas tank, but have yet to finish it due to Jimlab's Cobra cradle. Because the "hoop" that bolts to the rear of the diff sticks out so far, it's hitting the gas tank. I'm in the process of taking over Jim's jigs/fixtures, so I'm hoping I can come up with a new design that'll clear the gas tank, along with a few other changes! :)

-Alex

bump again... dont you love it :)