Surge Tank under Hood Safety Concerns
 

I am currently thinking about the safety concerns with having a 1 gallon fuel tank under the hood of the car, specifically at the radiator support in front of headers, etc...

Fuel cell is a 1 Gallon with 4 ports - I have removed the Rollover Check Ball from the rollover valve to use it as a return to rear tank. Car has a 17 Gallon fuel tank in the rear that feeds this front tank with a 140 GPH Booster Pump electric Aeromotive.

I have a Belt Driven C&S Fuel Pump ran off a mandrel that produces over 850 PPH to feed this beast, so I need a fuel source that is steady and never out of fuel. My thought is, I don't want a heat producing LARGE electric fuel pump out back handling all of the duty - or do i?

Fuel cell has the following Ports:

12AN Outlet - This gravity feeds the C&S Belt Driven 60psi capable Pump

10AN Inlet - Return from Aeromotive Boost Referenced regulator - could see 28 psi

10AN Inlet - Supply from Booster Pump - Aeromotive 140 GPH at 10 Psi

10AN Outlet - Return to Rear Tank - this is placed high on the top so it can push the overflow of the fuel cell and keeping the pressure inside what I condsider stable.

Is this factory lid capable of seeing some pressure or should I change it out for a 12-bolt O-Ring style screw on lid. Other option is to weld top completely shut. As a minimum, i plan to gorilla tape the top shut so nobody messes with this lid and leaves it unsecure.

Right now, I hear fuel slosh from the Booster pump and if it sat there and run, it would eventually fill the Surge tank, and start returning to rear tank via the 10AN return. This keeps that pump from being dead-headed and heating up. This system in my mind also requires less of a fancy pump and it could be a holley Blue or something like that if I was ever on a trip and pump failed.

I've had the car running for 10 minutes or so at a time as its a brand new engine, I just don't want to jump in and go cruising without having some sort of piece of mind I guess. I am not needing opinions on how dumb I am for running this on a street car, the engine has Aluminum Rods for Christs Sakes! LOL

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1779890021

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1779889900

I think welding it shut would be the best. The screw on style cap would probably hold though. With it tightened after some use they are usually so tight they are difficult to unscrew.

A large in tank pump with a controller that is demand based would probably provide cooler fuel than the surge tank.

Agree a large in tank pump out back is the way to go. I never liked the idea of an extra surge tank up front. Never had a need for it with a proper in tank setup sized appropriately for the HP goals.

Back in the day everyone had a Cool Can up front:)

Yup I have an old moroso cool can on one of the cars that has a lot of 60's vintage speed parts on it.

Passenger side core support Cool Can

I'm guessing it is one of the blow molded or sheet metal fabricated tanks? Any pressure at your slosh tank seems less than ideal for safety. The commercial ones all look very robust and for good reason. Just my opinion, but I would pressure test it to at least double what you think it might see if anything malfunctions and see what happens.

Other than already having the parts for the system on hand, did you give any thoughts to something like this?

https://aeromotiveinc.com/products/f...ual-6-10-depth

With modern tanks and pumps available, the need for surge tanks just isn't there, especially under 1500hp. Considering this is a drag and drive car, the multi-pump in-tank option to me seems the most reliable and safest.

I think its something I'll consider. The car has a Belt Driven fuel pump and I went that route to have less fail points since drag and drive requires a lot from Big Fuel Pumps. Of course the ease of a cooled in tank pump is probably the best option. I will have to look into this soon. As for now, i am installing a billet screw on o-ringed cap and praying that it stays in good shape till I can get an in tank option purchased.

There shouldn't be any pressure inside the surge so to speak because I have a large 10AN return line from surge back to rear tank.

I definitely get that. Hard to part with something that is paid for and working.

I'm by no means a fuel system guru, but my understanding and lived experience is that any pressure in the return side of the system is bad. If you start seeing pressure in the return line, it builds backwards and all manor of bad things can start happening.

Have you tried reaching out to Richard Guido? I think I can safely say he's probably the Pontiac drag and drive expert.

Im friends with Richard on Facebook so Ill give him a shout, hes very helpful in my Build. Knows a ton about oiling a Pontiac too!

What power level are you at? And do you plan on going to higher levels?

N/A or boosted?


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