manladypig
manladypig New Reader
3/15/19 8:21 p.m.

Can somebody recommend a good fuel cell 10-12 gallons with fuel sending unit and pump included with a flow rate of at least 320lph, ish. Baffles would be nice but im on a budget here, any other advice about fuel cells is helpful too, this is my first one

Brotus7
Brotus7 HalfDork
3/15/19 9:11 p.m.

Do you have any more specifics?  Is this for racing in a particular class?  Do you have an size restrictions?  Budget target?

If you're going racing, you might consider something with SFI/FIA rating.  ATL and Fuel Safe come to mind.  Pricey.

If you're less concerned with the safety ratings*, check out JAZ.  Most of the cells you'll find have foam and a single pickup - the foam helps to reduce/slow the sloshing.  Swapping the pickup to one of the new Holley Hydramat offerings will allow you to scavenge very well.  I've had good luck with the Fuel Safe trap door pickup in my old race car.  One the new cars I'm trying the fuel pickup pucks in each corner - we'll see how those compare.

Tom1200
Tom1200 HalfDork
3/15/19 9:19 p.m.

If your going racing your very very likely to need a FIA rated cell.

If not then one of the plastic cells will be fine; you can either buy or build a can for the cell. 

To really help you we need to know what the use will be.

When your on a budget there is a couple of things you can do.

Go smaller if you can. For instance in my car I use a 5 gallon cell, it gets 9 mpg on track. In a 30 minute I'll use a little over 3 gallons so I have to fill it after each session or come in a lap early during practice. Not a big deal either way.  

Fuel guage.......I use a notched wooden dowel on both my race cars. They're not street driven so the gas gauge is almost useless for me. 

My Datsun has a an ATL cell mounted in the trunk. The trunk floor was cut out and then a square box seam welded back into the floor. The steel ATL cell is mounted inside that box.

My Formula 500 uses an ATL bladder which I'm going to have to replace, which going to cost me $650. So yeah these things aren't cheap. 

I prefer a FIA rated cell but I'd have no problem using one of the non rated cell on a few conditions; the cell is mounted in a way that even if it failed the fuel could never ever leak into the cockpit, any insuing fire / super heated air / fumes could never get into the cockpit and the body work is not any sort of composite.

manladypig
manladypig New Reader
3/15/19 9:23 p.m.

In reply to Brotus7 :

going in the back of a 1976 fiat 124 so its small but its not that restricted back there, Im not building for any specific class just kinda of race/street car. Plan to street it and race it but not seriously. old fuel tank is disgusting and full of corrosion so im not gonna use that, and buying a stock one is very expensive because old italian car so, might as well do the upgrade. Looking for something 400 or less, like a said wont be doing super serious racing so im not too worried too much about slosh and scavenging, just something that'll let me have some fun and get me by

bentwrench
bentwrench SuperDork
3/15/19 9:35 p.m.

Also consider a fuel cell with a swirl pot built in.

There are some of these sold that use an oversized pressure pump and bleed off some pressure to run multiple venturi type pickups to fill the swirl pot.

Tom1200
Tom1200 HalfDork
3/15/19 10:21 p.m.

When you say race/street car are we talking track day, autocross or and actual wheel to wheel series? 

Assuming we're taking track days try  Summit or Jegs, again if it you don't have a sanctioning body to worry about one of the low bucks cells will work. Just put it in a can.

Also check 8 gallon cells if those will work for you.

maj75
maj75 HalfDork
3/15/19 10:24 p.m.

You can buy a replacement tank for less than $400...

 

EBay has one for $260. You would be nuts to put anything else in there for what you are doing.

manladypig
manladypig New Reader
3/15/19 11:19 p.m.

In reply to maj75 :

but I have to upgrade my fuel pump anyways because As I failed to mention I have an 13b rotary from an rx8 in the car so Might as well spend 400 on a fuel cell and pump with the correct lph that work around old Italian technology

TurnerX19
TurnerX19 Reader
3/16/19 8:52 a.m.

What no one has mentioned yet is that the foam baffling in a cell degrades so rapidly with current spec fuel that it needs replacement every 3 years to keep it from plugging the filter. The only reason to use a cell instead of a tin can is if the rules require it. Much less labor to adapt a reliable original Fiat tank to the new pump requirement than it is to adapt the Fiat chassis to a maintainance hog fuel cell. Less money too.

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess MegaDork
3/16/19 10:24 a.m.

Jaz Products will make a fuel cell to your specs, as long as the shape is something they already do.  So if you want some particular model of their fuel cells but want inlets/returns/filler in a different spot, you just tell them.  They send you a picture, you draw what you want where and send it back, they make if for you.  Not that expensive either. 

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