I am looking into getting a fuel cell for my truck. I have looked a bunch over but i am not sure what the best option is. I was wondering what you guys have gone with or what style you recommend. I have been looking at cells that extract the fuel from the bottom of the cell, like the circle track ones, or drag racing cells. There are also the style that feeds from the top of the cell. I was also thinking of going with plastic with foam, i heard the aluminum cells crack over time from the stress of flex. What do you guys think is best. I am also not looking at spending a sheet load on a cell, just something that will work well.

Thanks

I just put a 22 gallon RCI fuel cell from Summit in my truck. Its plastic, red in color, and has the fuel pickup in the bottom.

I think it was like $129 and then another $40 or so for the AN fittings needed to plumb it in.
I made the hold down brackets out of 1 inch by 3/16 inch steel

Click the thread, shown some pics of my work....http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=691861

i saw your pics a while back. Is it a RCI or a RJS cell? Have you run it yet? Does having the pickup coming from the right corner have any affects when your on angles?

It is an RCI unit. And I been running off of it for a week now, haven't taken it offroad to test the angles yet. But hose is long enough it hits the bottom of the cell and curves down flat to the bottom, so unless I'm down to a couple gallons, (which I don't plan to be when I'm 'wheelin) I don't see it being a problem.

I hope :)

good to know bud. If it is a rci cell why does it say rjs? What did you use for a breather? Did you just hook it up to the stock line that runs to the charcoal canister or used to run there? Dont know if you still got it in. Thanks for the info.

I'm lookin' for one too. I want one with a sending unit and that seems to add another $150 compared to the plain plastic circle track kind.

I'm wanting something fairly shallow but big around to run flush mounted or recessed into the bed right by the tailgate.

I'm lookin' for one too. I want one with a sending unit and that seems to add another $150 compared to the plain plastic circle track kind.

I'm wanting something fairly shallow but big around to run flush mounted or recessed into the bed right by the tailgate.

yea the ones with the sending unit are a lot more expensive. My gas guage doesnt work now so i am not worried about it. I just dont know if the circle track kind will work better or not, have the line connecting to the right side of the cell, compared to it pulling from the top where it is more centered .But like GMCTRUXRULE said, unless you are down to just about nothing maybe you wont notice it. The 22gal, RCI or RJS units look good and are cheap.

I'm lookin' for one too. I want one with a sending unit and that seems to add another $150 compared to the plain plastic circle track kind.


Just cut a stock one out of your tank and bolt it in to the poly cell.

That is a great idea. Have you seen this done?

Don't you need a different size sending unit for different depths of tanks?

I read the Fuel Cell thread by Billavista the other day and it has great tech.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Fuel_Cell/

I'd like my gauge to be fairly accurate. I don't wanna run out of fuel in a crappy situation.
I missed out on a sweet ebay deal for a 22 gallon with sending unit and foam. Bid with 20 sec left and was winning and got beat with 2 left. It still went for like $180.

That is a great idea. Have you seen this done?

Yep but mostly with farm equipment. I don't realy worry about it with my rig... I have a sender but no guage ;)

Yep but mostly with farm equipment. I don't realy worry about it with my rig... I have a sender but no guage ;)

what cell do you use?

Don't you need a different size sending unit for different depths of tanks?


Depends on the style.

If it's an arm style you can bend the arm or shorten/lengthen it similer to and self adjusting perportioning valve arm on the rear of a truck. On the slider type you can build a spacer at the top to give it extra clearance. But personaly I would just find one that is close to the height of your cell and run that. It can come out of any chevy from that time period as I understand it there are only a couple of different ohm resisters used in US vehicles...

I'm going with aftermarket gauges anyway.

Are there any disadvantages of the plastic circle track tanks mentioned above as opposed to others? Mine will not be in a location where it is susceptible to damage.

I don't mean to thread jack. I figure I'm just adding to the tech discussion.

what cell do you use?

On my main wheeling rig I use a tank from a 79 blazer and put it inbetween the frame rails centered above the axle on a 74??? Blazer frame with a toyota cab. I build the cab truck 9 years ago and have never had fuel starvation issues. Never bothered to put a guage in it... Simple and cheep.

I have used severial of those poly tanks however. Personaly I don't bother with sending units anymore. I prefer a site guage setup using clear fuel hose.

Biggest thing you have to worry about is the top of the tank sinking. Here is what I did to the Mother-N-Law's jeep's tank. It's just one of those cheep poly ones that they had sitting around. It sunk horably and was getting water in there every time it rained.

http://www.m4x4a.org/gallery2/d/42544-2/Picture+008.jpg

http://www.m4x4a.org/gallery2/d/42538-2/Picture+006.jpg

Are there any disadvantages of the plastic circle track tanks mentioned above as opposed to others? Mine will not be in a location where it is susceptible to damage.


Biggest thing is the sinking of the top...

They don't have a realy good sump. They are designed for drag racing where you know where the fuel is going to be (at the back of the tank).

Make sure you put in a FATS breather system. I have knowtised most roll over valves don't work very well on their side. In the one above I used the FATS system, a check valve, and a fuel filter as an air filter for the breather.

They also don't allow those cells in most "fast" racing. You have to use a hard sided cell with a seperate flexable bladder. They are $$$$$

what exactly causes they sinking? And what type of cell can resist the sinking? How do you go about hooking up a site tube for your fuel level? Also i tried searching for the FATS breather system but couldnt find anything, where do you get that?

mine is sinking because the hold down brackets are to tight and the tank has expanded enough to not sit properly in the tray we made for it.

Other then that my 16g rci works fine. With these tanks allways figure that your going to lose a gallon or 2 due to it not getting to the pick up if your on an angle. Ive had to unbolt the cell once recently to get off the trail because i ran 3 days of wheeling and didnt fill up :P

I was thinking, if i got one of those circle track cells with the pickup in the right corner. i could always drill another hole on the left side and add a fitting and pickup line. Couldnt that work? What do you guys use for pickups? What works well? Also i have read that the poly cells warp if exposed to sun light. Would it help if it was put in a metal box. They cell th epoly's that have a metal cell they fit right in, would that fix that problem?

Ha ha...good catch:laughing:

I guess if you tell yourself long enough that Santa is real, then when you lay in bed on Christmas Eve and hear something walking on your roof, you automatically think that its Santa and the 15 tiny reindeer, or however many he had, instead of the neighbors cat up there getting chased away by a couple burglars getting stuck in your chimney to rob you blind while you sleep...I am not sure where I am going with this....

Oh yes...the sticker does say RJS, not RCI....:laughing:

Oh and I know my fuel level by taking the cap off and looking to see how empty it is....:smokin:

If you were to cut a hole in the bottom of the cell where the pickup is and add an aluminum sump of some type, how well would if seal up? I don't know how much the cell expands when it gets hot which might cause it to warp and not seal correctly.

what exactly causes they sinking? And what type of cell can resist the sinking?


I bet it is mostly that the top is flat plastic with very little ribbing. No plastic likes UV but some are better than others. Flat plastic also tends to warp with temperature changes. The AG industry has also had problems with fuel additives causing the tanks to swell/distort in the past couple of years.

EDIT: all the poly ones I have seen with a wide flat top tend to warp.


How do you go about hooking up a site tube for your fuel level?


Most have 2 lower ports. Just run your line to one of those or add a T and tie it into the top somewhere. The top can be tied into your breather or fuel fill area. The jeep one shown ties into a catch can style fill at the top. Just make sure you use fuel safe hose. I think I usualy get mine from speedway. The small clear stuff is hard to find for some reason....



Also i tried searching for the FATS breather system but couldnt find anything, where do you get that?

Here you go... searching FATS should have brough up a bunch of info on it...

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243815

I was thinking, if i got one of those circle track cells with the pickup in the right corner. i could always drill another hole on the left side and add a fitting and pickup line. Couldnt that work? What do you guys use for pickups? What works well?

Nope that would be worse. Your system will pull from the path of least resistance...witch would be the air side. But they do make some great multi pickups that shut off when uncovered. I think they are called Hisbro or something like that ... they start with and H anyway. Do some searching for fuel pickups over in the generial forum. I have seen a half dozen posts with links to get them cheep.

If you were to cut a hole in the bottom of the cell where the pickup is and add an aluminum sump of some type, how well would if seal up? I don't know how much the cell expands when it gets hot which might cause it to warp and not seal correctly.

They expand quite a bit. But with a mounting/backup ring that was stiff enough I bet you could get it to work. Aluminum will match the plastics heat expansion characteristics better than steel. There is a bunch of info on here about making sumps that are effective off road.

I have a 16 gal plastic fuel cell w/sending unit and outlet in bottom right rear, purchased from Summit. I've been running it for 6 yrs or more, what a piece of crap. I cant wait to get rid of it. It was in for about a month and the sides started to bulg and the top started to sag. You can blame UV light or what ever, but I think its the weight of the contents pushing on the sides, which is causing the top to sag. The sagging top allows water to sit in the low spot & seep thru the top flange. At $4 to $5 a gallon it just ain't worth it. I have had to drain the tank several times because of water. If I were to do it
again, I'd spend the $ on aluminum or steel, Good Luck!!! I'm going back to stk.

do you guys think a cell like this is durable (or more durable than the poly cells) http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/15513/10002/-1. I am guessing they are using the poly cell inside, but with a steel container does it hold the shape of the cell any better to prevent leaking? About the FATS system, i searched google and found nothing, didnt search pirate.

That looks like a great price for a good style cell. I would much rather have one of those than a poly cell or even one of the cheep aluminum cells!

The link I posted above prety much tells you everything you need to know about the FATS system. You might not find much info anywhere else than pirate since the sport of rock crawling is so small.

FATS was originally developed last year in an effort to address and help manage the problem of fuel spillage and associated safety issues of fuel spillage during ERoCC off road Rock Crawling Events.

Yeah, i think that is the cell i am going to go with. I am just wondering about a good way to mount the cell since it will be in the bed. I am not sure that the normal starps will work because of the overhang of the can. But i will cross that bridge when i get there.

The Baha/race guys use them all the time. Look around in that area and you will find alot of info on mounting that cell. Try desertrangers or racedesert also.