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Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
#652069
03/26/10 05:40 PM
03/26/10 05:40 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
clownzilla
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
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Well I have had my fuel cell functioning for about 2 years now and seems like my foam is degrading and clogging up my fuel system. I changed my fuel filter today and had some junk in the cup that made it past the filter and my fuel pressure regulator is jumping all over from one minute to the next. I am not racing the car but I would like to keep the foam so the fuel don't slosh around. 1. Do you know who makes the best quality foam? 2. How long before I replace it again? 3. Is the stuff Summit carries any good? My tank is 20X24 with a fuel level sending unit. Here's a pic of the cell. [image]  [/image]
The early bird gets the worm, and the second mouse always gets the cheese.
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: clownzilla]
#652072
03/26/10 06:29 PM
03/26/10 06:29 PM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
70Cuda383
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
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along these same lines, I'm having trouble with my sending unit...are these tube style sending units with the floating foam inside the tube that moves a magnent up or down, reliable? my cell has taken on a bit of a "dip" shape to the top of the cell...is it likely that the dip in the top or the foam inside is causing problems? I pulled it out and moved it around manually and it seems to work ok, but I drop it back into the cell and it doesn't seem to work very well.
Today to test it out after "glueing" the magnet back to the foam with RTV (I let it cure for a few days outside the tank before putting it back together) it only dropped to 1/4 tank on the gauge when the tank was empty. added 10 gallons to a "16 gallon cell" that only ever took about 12 to fill up, and it only read 1/2 tank.
I am tired of having an inaccurate fuel gauge!!
can I pull the foam out of the cell? what are the risks of doing that? just having fuel slosh around like it does in a factory gas tank?
**Photobucket sucks**
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: 70Cuda383]
#652073
03/26/10 06:58 PM
03/26/10 06:58 PM
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,257
acworth / N. georgia - south e...
cheapstreetdustr
master
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master
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,257
acworth / N. georgia - south e...
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i yanked my foam as well.
if that blue an fitting is a vent..
youd better get an extension line on it..or youll have fuel in the trunk floor..
i put a loop in my line then a vent elevated above the highest point in the trunk..
fwiw.
cheapst
365" Iron J heads,,3480lbs best 1.39 60ft on SS springs.10.54,124 mph ...6.67 1/8th et.average 60fts 1.46 w/ small cam &.063 no2 pill tagged & insured
[image][/image]
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: cheapstreetdustr]
#652074
03/26/10 08:05 PM
03/26/10 08:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
clownzilla
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
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I just talked to two of my buddies about this as well and everyone seems to be telling me the same thing...yank the foam out and leave it out but Just make sure you have a vent with a loop.
I'm gonna yank it out tomorrow and flush the entire system, change the brand new filter again since I ran it already with the junk in the system.
Looks like a good time to run to Summit and get a new filter and that Holley gerotor type electric pump that I have been wanting.
Nuther question: The holley gerotor pump is internally regulated, but does this mean I should remove my existing regulator or just leave it in line so I don't have to mess with it?
I guess it won't hurt anything as long as it's not dialed in lower than what the pump is putting out right?
The early bird gets the worm, and the second mouse always gets the cheese.
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: clownzilla]
#652075
03/26/10 08:09 PM
03/26/10 08:09 PM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
70Cuda383
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
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you guys who pulled the foam out, you notice any increase in capacity? not enough to even calculate?
**Photobucket sucks**
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Re: More fuel cell questions
[Re: Prostock]
#652078
03/26/10 08:15 PM
03/26/10 08:15 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
clownzilla
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
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Quote:
The foam in the fuel cell in my super bee, and the fuel pump have been in it since before I bought it, and that was quite a few years ago. No problems with either.
I was thinking that exact same thing until yesterday LOL.
Last edited by cudaspaz; 03/27/10 08:42 AM.
The early bird gets the worm, and the second mouse always gets the cheese.
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Re: More fuel cell questions
[Re: clownzilla]
#652079
03/27/10 08:45 AM
03/27/10 08:45 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
clownzilla
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
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Another question. I sanyone using one of these? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-220020/It is a vent/filter. It says 8-an fitting but does not say where you install it. Would you just screw this directly into the top vent fitting coming out of the fuel cell and be done with it or would you route it somewhere much higher than the cell or what?
The early bird gets the worm, and the second mouse always gets the cheese.
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: 70Cuda383]
#652080
03/27/10 09:42 AM
03/27/10 09:42 AM
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,229
In The Hills
jughed
pro stock
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pro stock
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,229
In The Hills
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Quote:
along these same lines, I'm having trouble with my sending unit...are these tube style sending units with the floating foam inside the tube that moves a magnent up or down, reliable? my cell has taken on a bit of a "dip" shape to the top of the cell...is it likely that the dip in the top or the foam inside is causing problems? I pulled it out and moved it around manually and it seems to work ok, but I drop it back into the cell and it doesn't seem to work very well.
Today to test it out after "glueing" the magnet back to the foam with RTV (I let it cure for a few days outside the tank before putting it back together) it only dropped to 1/4 tank on the gauge when the tank was empty. added 10 gallons to a "16 gallon cell" that only ever took about 12 to fill up, and it only read 1/2 tank.
I am tired of having an inaccurate fuel gauge!!
has it always been that way?? did you test the sending unit with an ohmmeter?? the guage and sending unit could be ohm rated differently
i've also had to reattach the magnet..
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: jughed]
#652082
03/27/10 11:05 AM
03/27/10 11:05 AM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
70Cuda383
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
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Quote:
Quote:
along these same lines, I'm having trouble with my sending unit...are these tube style sending units with the floating foam inside the tube that moves a magnent up or down, reliable? my cell has taken on a bit of a "dip" shape to the top of the cell...is it likely that the dip in the top or the foam inside is causing problems? I pulled it out and moved it around manually and it seems to work ok, but I drop it back into the cell and it doesn't seem to work very well.
Today to test it out after "glueing" the magnet back to the foam with RTV (I let it cure for a few days outside the tank before putting it back together) it only dropped to 1/4 tank on the gauge when the tank was empty. added 10 gallons to a "16 gallon cell" that only ever took about 12 to fill up, and it only read 1/2 tank.
I am tired of having an inaccurate fuel gauge!!
has it always been that way?? did you test the sending unit with an ohmmeter?? the guage and sending unit could be ohm rated differently
i've also had to reattach the magnet..
yes it's always been this way, yes I tested the sender with an ohm meter, and yes it's the same range as the gauge. out of the cell, with the magnet re-attached, the float worked great as I flipped the sender upside down and right side up with an ohm meter on the terminals on top.
inside the truck, it just doesn't want to work! it acts like the float gets stuck inside the tube.
**Photobucket sucks**
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: Exit1965]
#652084
03/27/10 02:39 PM
03/27/10 02:39 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 10,384
Upstate NY
Bigcube
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 10,384
Upstate NY
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I don't run the foam in mine. For the street think about this... stock gas tanks don't have any foam, why would a fuel cell need it? I haven't noticed any problems with sloshing at the track with mine.
Jim
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Re: Fuel cell foam questions for street car.
[Re: Bigcube]
#652085
03/28/10 04:30 PM
03/28/10 04:30 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
clownzilla
OP
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OP
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,281
In a town not near you.
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Just an update. I removed my foam in the cell which seemed to have broken up a few bits but it seemed very pliable and did not break apart with me pulling on it to see if it was brittle but I decided to chuck it anyways. To answer 70cuda383's question, I drained the tank completely but the foam blocks retained about a half gallon of fuel by themselves so that much more drained out once I removed it. One thing I never thought to do which some of you guys may want to consider after getting an aluminum RCI fuel cell is remove the foam before you install the cell and look for metal shavings. Looks like when they drilled the bung holes for the sump and vents, they never cleaned out the shavings very well and laid the foam in there anyways. My sump area had about as much aluminum drill shavings as you could fit into a 2 liter Pepsi screw on cap. Once I got rid of all that crap I decided to replace my Jegs vane type fuel pump with a Holley HP-125 gerotor pump which is so quiet I was really blown away how nice it sounds.  No more, Gggggrrrrruuuuuuummmmmmmmbbbbbllll when I hit the switch. For the vent, I'm gonna use aluminum fuel line and make an upwards spiral coil coming off the vent with an inline roll over, flapper valve and an inline filter.
Last edited by cudaspaz; 03/28/10 04:33 PM.
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