so i'm gonna ditch my 60 year old gas tank (imagine that) for a 12 - 17 gallon aluminum Summit fuel cell. stock is the usual tank (20 gallons!) held under the trunk floor with a single strap. my plan is to drop that, chop the floor, make a decent "frame" to support it's mass then sheet metal box it for safety and an eye for crash details (eg. no liquid in the trunk, period). i run a carburetor, a Carter 3 PSI pump currently mounted level with the (stock) tank floor, pulling through a filter, pushing up to the engine compartment. i don't need the return line, i'll plug it. i'll run a tipover valve on the vent and run the vent outside. i want remote fill, don't want liquid in the trunk, period. the tanks i'm looking at are all not baffled and no way i'm running foam. the stock tank, 38" wide, sloshes like crazy, but even when i drive like a sports car, i've never had starvation due to dry pickup. so i'm wondering how y'all have handled the details of plumbing -- *** How do i handle the fuel pump stuff? the pickup comes out the top, so the pump must suck well, and impeller electrics don't work well here (my Carter probably won't). *** there's nearly no info on the filler neck business. i wanna remote it. they seem to come with stubby necks with a cap (eg. open the trunk to fill). i wanna replace with a "hose bib" filler neck and hose it off to the fender. i've built filler neck systems from... Filler Neck Supply https://www.fillernecksupply.com/ no problemo. but WTF bolts to the tank? Summit lists one Jaz part, but it's a hundred bucks -- seriously it's a tube welded to a plate. why are there no choices here? clearly i'll make my own but why? the devil's in the details -- i could sure use some examples!
Speedway has a remote filler neck for the cell and one for the fender as well as the straight hose. I've ran those Carter pumps in the engine compartment as a puller before I found out it wasn't supposed to work like that---it worked fine. And that was on a tank with an upper outlet like you describe. Might be a bitch to get it primed the first time though.
chassis doesn't matter. it's all got to be fabricated and there's nothing off the shelf. it's an engineering question more than a product question: how'd you plumb remote fill? does tip-over go in the vent line? where's the vent line terminate? general good-practice and safety stuff. the only candidate i can seem to find, in 12-bolt configuration, is this Jaz part: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/JAZ-Products-345-250-03-45-Degree-Fast-Fill-Fuel-Cell-Valve,449.html. it contains a flapper valve (i thought it was only tube and flange). i'm waiting to hear from Summit if it fits their tanks. they don't list a remoteable neck. lol, me too. my stock tank is only 7" or so deep, the pump's mounted low, but it still has to suck up and over, but 7" is fine. i know of other people who've used them underhood but they dont seem to last as long there, pulling. maybe i'm over-worrying this part. dunno.
Not quite your install. Used a RAC tank in the rear of my A coupe. Wanted filler out of trunk, and didn't like RACs filler. Used a "C" of 1/2" plate with threaded holes inside the tank and a 1/4" plate with a piece of exhaust tube welded on for the first part of the filler. The feed was the line with the shut off valve, up from the bottom of the tank and down to the frame with a filter on the frame. Fuel pump was stock engine driven unit on the Nailhead engine. All worked fine, although filling the tank had to be done at less than full speed.
Oh man I went through it trying to do what you’re talking about on my ‘54 dodge pickup. My buddy I got it from had an old jaz cell hanging under the bed with some pipe and radiator hose connecting it to a stub of filler neck sticking out of the bedside. You had to fill it on a hill or the gas would slosh back out almost as fast as you put it in. The old cell filler wouldn’t unbolt so it was almost impossible to change the fittings on it. It had a 1.5” filler neck and a vented rollover fitting in the top, with a dual outlet sump in the bottom. I was able to make a taller filler from marine fuel hose and a marine fuel filler cap in the back of a tub/fender. The problem was that once the cell was full it would pour out the rollover vent since the filler was higher than the vent, and the filler bolts were stuck so I couldn’t screw in another fitting and run a vent up high with the filler. It’s such a simple plumbing problem but the remote fill stuff is sooo expensive and doesn’t seem to be standardized. You can’t just buy a $200 cell and some hoses and make it happen- an angled remote filler neck is like another $100, etc etc and it ends up looking like $600 for a stupid plastic tank. I’d love to find out about a simple answer to this problem- I know a plastic cell isn’t traditional but I don’t care when it comes to my safety- I don’t want the tank in the dash or bench seat base...
oh no, thanks, your experience is exactly what i'm looking for. i was considering one of two placements; between the wheel wells like yours, upright, or chopped into the floor as mentioned. that's a clean install! is there enough flexibility in that fill tube to handle vibration? probably. the filling issue is one of the things i am concerned about. .... i was assuming "fuel cell" mainly because they're so configurable and use standardized components. but trying to use them outside of their default configuration is a PITA, and/or crazy expensive. i'm reconsidering the whole thing. as it is now, i have no rear bumper, and a 20 gal tank is only 6" away from the rear valance, not confidence-instilling. OEM gas tanks, esp. before evap control, have a 2" + filler so that it can act as air vent and filler at the same time. *fill* vent, separate from the thing called "vent" that allows for expansion and 80's up have a 3/4" or bigger discrete vent tube to allow air to exit. they're evailable for fuel cells, like this one here: https://pitstopusa.com/i-12071385-pyrotect-4-x-6-fill-plate-45-3-remote-fill-w-flapper-valve.html. but then you've got basically two "gas caps" outside or a valve etc. (i'd plumb the vent line parallel to the filler hose, then plumb an elbow back into the filler just behind the cap, so that the gas pump nozzle would fit past it.) the basic cells with in-tank filler are cheap'n'easy but not the friendliest for street use. gas will inevitably dribble onto the top of the tank, never mind the occasional splashback or overfill. do not want. to properly/safely extend the filler and fill vent is expensive. maybe i'll fix the gas tank again and install a nerf bar.
There's a guy on e-Bay that sells RCI aluminum fuel cells for next to nothing. I've bought two from them so far and they were perfect.. I like to buy the dual sumped tanks and run two 3/8" steel ines to the fuel pump..
i think Canuck's location satisfies the point Elcohaulic implies... away from being crashed in the rear or side, protected by the axle and wheel wells. it has the general problem of being in the trunk area. the "rear seat" area could be skinned (thought of that) but then the truck could still stink of gas if the cap is loose or whatever. i would guess that overall, OEM solutions, like the tank hanging under the trunk floor, is the best overall compromise. it's totally outside the car with humans inside. we'd do well to steal their engineering where it's good. my use has me driving like a fool at speed on mountain roads. i think i'm keeping my tank under the car. a fuel cell hung in the trunk/tank space, open/vented on the bottom but capped to the truck might work.
looks like Tanks Inc's UT-N-2HT steel tank and accessories are a far better choice than most of the fuel cells (assuming under $1000 is mandatory). Summit sells 'em. not only, it's baffled, unlike any modest-cost fuel cell. I don't want an in-tank pump, and they have a dip tube type pickup assembly for $35. fuel level senders are generic, $35 also. 70-degree filler neck (for 2" hose) is 20 bucks. 2" fuel filler hose from fillernecksupply.com.
FYI: I bought the UT-N-2 and wow, it's great. for $250 comes-with everything except the fuel level sender which cost another $32. It is *baffled* unlike every fuel cell under $1000; there's a 'bucket' under the pickup. it's heavy steel. finish is great. comes complete with all hardware, filler neck, tip-over valve etc. I'm gonna add charcoal canister and evap control. for the short term i'lll fill from the trunk but there's a cheap 70-degree steel fill neck and I'll plumb that over to the fender "next". the description on Summitracing.com is wrong. it says the tank is not baffled; it is. I called Tanks Inc to verify; bought from Summit and it came with: filler neck, a pickup and vent assembly for external fuel pump (I already have), mounting brackets, gaskets and screws. I'll post some pics of the install details but it's a no-brainer.
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