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Author: Subject: Fuel tank baffles question
sdh2903

posted on 18/3/10 at 10:01 AM Reply With Quote
Fuel tank baffles question

Hi all.

I have a question about my fuel tank before i final fit it. I'm using a fuel injected engine in my build. The pump is the donor's in-tank top mounted pump/sender unit. The tank is approx 30 litres.

I'm a little concerned that the tank i have been supplied is not baffled. Also the pump is mounted to one side of the tank which i guess wouldnt help with starvation.

Am I going to run into problems with this? or is it a case of suck it and see?

Cheers for any input

Steve

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Miks15

posted on 18/3/10 at 10:31 AM Reply With Quote
Are you using a beemer motor? (just saw your building a gkd)

When i ripped my bmw tank open to have look inside, there was a small plastic tub glued to the bottom of it, that the filter bit on the bottom of the pump sat inside, this had a hole in the bottom of it and acted like a baffle plate kind of system in the BMW. I was originally planning on using this, but then decided to go to carbs so using the bike pump. So mabye you could reuse this and glue it inside the tank if its not already been built?

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sdh2903

posted on 18/3/10 at 10:52 AM Reply With Quote
My donor has now gone to the scrappy, never noticed the tub in the tank.

Yeah its an m42 lump. The tank has already been built. It does have 2 5" holes in the top for the senders and pump.

I was wondering if i could make some small baffle plates up fit them using some fuel tank sealant to hold them in place but i dont think they would hold.

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Miks15

posted on 18/3/10 at 11:11 AM Reply With Quote
Ahh if your using both parts of the pump, then i believe there linked, so it pumps from both sides of the tank doesnt it? so it might not be a problem.

I still have that tub thing at home i would take a pic toshow you what i mean, but im not home for another week or so.

There is a chance it will fit thorugh one of the holes, but getting it posistions might be tricky.

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davew823

posted on 18/3/10 at 11:16 AM Reply With Quote
tank baffles

You are going to have problems without any baffles. One option is to cut a section out of the bottom of the tank right under the pump and lower the fuel pump down into the sump. You could even add hinged or reed doors on the walls. The sump I made has walls that are about 2.5" above the floor and inch lower then the tank floor. While you are fab'ing it you might want to add a drain plug.
Dave W

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blakep82

posted on 18/3/10 at 11:42 AM Reply With Quote
can't you see inside if you take the cap off?
on mine, you can't see much, but you can see the bottom of one of the baffles, and by its position, i think i've got 2 in my tank

who made the tank?

edit:
you in renfrewshire?! where abouts?

[Edited on 18/3/10 by blakep82]





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craig1410

posted on 18/3/10 at 12:40 PM Reply With Quote
You could always buy a swirl pot and use a lift pump to fill it then take your main pump feed from the bottom of the swirl pot. If the lift pump draws air for a few seconds then it shouldn't matter as long as the swirl pot is big enough to keep the engine supplied. Obviously you would have your fuel rail return hose directed into the swirl pot rather than the tank.
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sdh2903

posted on 18/3/10 at 02:45 PM Reply With Quote
The tank is the one supplied by GKD. As there is'nt anyone who is driving one around i cant really get a first hand opinion.

I'm in bridge of weir, not too far from you.

The current tank is the correct depth for the bmw pump and senders. It has one pump/sender unit on the drivers side, and one sender unit on the pax side. When fitted on the bmw there are balancing tubes between the two units so I presume it takes fuel from both. Unfortunately i didnt really pay much attention to how it was plumbed etc as i was only after the units themselves. On the kit i was only going to use the one side (with the pump) and just blank off the second sender's pipes.

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procomp

posted on 18/3/10 at 02:56 PM Reply With Quote
Hi

The tank as supplied will never work unless half full.

The answer is to simply drill 2 1/2" holes in the bottom on the left hand side then add a sump to the base over the two holes. You will still have the fuel sloshing around in the main tank. But at least you will have a pickup desighn that will work. You will obviously have to run an external pump. But long term thats a better idea anyhow.

Or simply return the tank to supplier and have one made that will work correctly. which sounds like a far better idea as it will all be designed correctly and no compromises made.

Cheers Matt






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sdh2903

posted on 18/3/10 at 05:00 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by procomp
Hi

The tank as supplied will never work unless half full.

The answer is to simply drill 2 1/2" holes in the bottom on the left hand side then add a sump to the base over the two holes. You will still have the fuel sloshing around in the main tank. But at least you will have a pickup desighn that will work. You will obviously have to run an external pump. But long term thats a better idea anyhow.

Or simply return the tank to supplier and have one made that will work correctly. which sounds like a far better idea as it will all be designed correctly and no compromises made.

Cheers Matt


I think your being a little hasty, The bmw system works perfectly well in hundreds of thousands of car all over the world. I mereley need a solution to adapt it for use in this or a custom baffled tank. I would rather use the bmw pump sender as it will work correctly with my loom and guage setup.

Does anyone have a definitive guide for baffle plate design by any chance?

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procomp

posted on 18/3/10 at 10:00 PM Reply With Quote
Hi

Hi well you would still be using the sender unit as intended. Is it realy that much hard work to join two wires to another pump on the exterior of the tank. That is the easiest and guaranteed way to get it to work successfully.

Simply adding a couple of baffles is not going to fix the pick up problem.

Cheers Matt






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