Fuel Tanks & Mods

[ksimpsy]

I wish i had some computer skills to make a nice pic but all i can operate are crayons and a pen so sorry but you will get the picture.(hopefully if it works)

drawing

[Kinarfi]

no problem Ksimpsy

Being as I have an extra tank, I like this idea, I rearranged a few parts, I like the idea of filtering the fuel after the pump and the surge tank supply pump can be light weight, low pressure, low flow pump, it only needs to replace the used fuel in the surge tank.

kinarfi

[4x4x454]

Thank you Ksimpsy and Kinarfi I need a pic to understand what your talking about.

[Kinarfi]

Surge Tank, I built a surge tank today, it's 18" tall, 5" diameter and holds 1.53 gallons. I plan to mount it above the right rear swing arm pivot, It will have a 1/2 npt X 1/2" barbed fitting for the fuel pump and a 1/4 npt drain valve in the bottom, a 1/4 npt X 5/16 barb about mid point for the return, a 1/4 npt X 1/4 barb for the vent in the top and a 1/4 npt X 1/4 barb low on the side for visible fuel level indicator. I'll get some photos out as I progress.

Kinarfi

[Guest Lenny]

Kinarfi, looks pretty good. The pump between the original tank and the added tank only needs to be a small pump to keep up with actual consumed gas. I think that two outlets on the main tank could allow the pump to draw from the outlet accessing air. This would be the line with the least resistance. The smaller the pump the better for this. You might consider using the shuttle valve I gave you to keep the lines independent. Another thought would be to use just the rear outlet and tip the tank so the front is as high as possible and the rear low.

I guess if I can go downhill for a mile or two on my pipe gas, you'll be able to go 20 or 30 miles. Not fair.

Lenny

[Kinarfi]

What I hope to use, if I win it on ebay, is a 4-5 psi, 30 gph pump that should let my tubing prevent drawing air because it's not pulling so hard, and if it does, it will just go into the surge and out the top. And like the old statement that electricity takes the path of least resistance, which has always bugged me because it's WRONG, It follows ALL paths!!!, not just the one with least resistance. Same with fuel flow, it may get some air but it will still draw fuel and pump it into the surge tank. I plan to put a couple of switches in the pump circuit so it turns on when about 1/3 empty and off when full, so it should only pump about a 1/2 gallon and rest until that 1/2 gallon is burnt. Worse case scenario, the pump can't get gas because of the slope, I have a gallon in the surge tank and I draw from the bottom.

Other good things: if I need to make a fire, boyscout style, One Match and some GAS, I can get some from the drain valve, I can also get rid of any water that may get in the system and if I run into a fellow tourist who has run out of fuel, I can drain some into a cup, can, or bottle for him/her quite easily. I quite like this system and see no real problems, you could even skip the switches and just let the excess flow back to the main tank out of the top.

Kinarfi

[ksimpsy]

The system on the sleds don't run switches the just try to keep it simple but i see no reason why you couldn't especially if you have the know how like yourself.

one other thing, the line from the top of the surge tank should go to the stock return port on the tank not the vent line. i think you will get an air lock if you do it this way, maybe not.

[Kinarfi]

Got it cleaned out, painted and mounted, waiting pump and plumbing. Now I'll start working on Cruise Control.

kinarfi

[ksimpsy]

Kinarfi, where do you get the aluminum weld on threaded bungs from?

[Kinarfi]

Kinarfi, where do you get the aluminum weld on threaded bungs from?

I think your talking about where I had the welder build up in the areas where I planned to drill and tap for my fittings. It's just a build up to give me more metal to tap into, worked well.

kinarfi

[ksimpsy]

Oh I see.

[Kinarfi]

Got it cleaned out, painted and mounted, waiting pump and plumbing. Now I'll start working on Cruise Control.

kinarfi

Got it plumbed and pumped, if you do something similar to this, fill the surge tank from the top, if your pump doesn't have a good check valve built in, the tank will drain back into the main tank unless you put a check valve in like I had to. I epoxied a magnet to a piece of float and put it in an aluminum tube and epoxied reed switches to the side, the epoxy protects the fragile little switches and keeps them in place. As the level drops in the surge tank, it trips the lower reed switch and turns on the pump and in about 1 minute when it gets to the top, it trips the upper reed switch, turns off the pump and the surge tank is full again, about 1 gallon added.

Kinarfi

[Kinarfi]

I Think I'm done, for now,

[Kinarfi]

I Think I'm done, for now,

Final comment, works well, no problem since I finished and the on off switch for the aux pump works fine. If you do this, have the fuel enter the surge tank at the top instead of the middle so that you don't need any check valves.

Kinarfi

[plumber]

Well it happen to me going down hill it ran out of gas so I'm going to put a surge tank on I have one question should I use a high pressure or low pressure fuel pump why is one better than the other one

[Guest Lenny]

Well it happen to me going down hill it ran out of gas so I'm going to put a surge tank on I have one question should I use a high pressure or low pressure fuel pump why is one better than the other one

You won't need high pressure to just move the fuel to a surge tank. High pressure would be if you were going to fuel to injecters.

Lenny

[Kinarfi]

Hi Plumber, on mine, I just use 5 psi fuel pump and made a circuit to turn it off when the surge tank was full and back on at around half full and had a 1.5 gallon surge tank, if you need any help that I can give, just ask, if you want the switch set up, I made a solid state set up and you will need a magnetic float in an aluminum tube, or just pump the fuel into the take near the top and return off the top to the filler tube and let it run all the time.

Kinarfi

[Kinarfi]

If anyone is considering using a surge tank, be it a gallon tin can, a plastic bottle or an elaborate round piece of pipe like mine, I found a fairly cheap, small fuel pump you could use. It's the Mr, Gasket S12 for about $45.00. I needed one for my recently purchased 83 motor home and it seems to be doing well.

Kinarfi