Fuel tank fabrication project

[Aussie Mike]

Hi All,

I haven't been working on the car for a long time what with family and work commitments etc. I've finally got stuck back into it. I have to say I'm enjoying working on it.

My current project is to fabricate a new fuel tank and re do most of the fuel system. The original setup is complicated with a lift pump in a donor Commodore main tank feeding a swirl pot which then feeds a big pump for the injectors. It should be possible to do the whole thing with one tank and one pump and do it better.

So the plan is to fabricate a tank with an inbuilt swirl pot and one Bosch 044 pump. I also wanted it to be a better fit for the chassis and look nice from underneath. Also wanted the design to clean up the rear aerodynamics a little. A diffuser Scotty ran at the nationals one year got me thinking about this.

First I made up a pattern out of thin MDF sheet in the profile I wanted. This is a job that's so much easier with a hoist. I bought a sheet of 2.5mm aluminum to make the body of the tank a sheet of 1.6 to make the internal baffles.

With my pattern I marked out the sheet and then used the plasma cutter to slice up the sheet into the right shape. I don't have a guillotine but the plasma cuts aluminum sheet nice and you can use a straight edge to run it along.

Next I took the pieces down to see Chris at Tool Time Engineering. He folded up the basic pieces on their big hydraulic pan brake. If you need any fab work like this done give him a call as they do some awesome stuff in stainless, alloy etc. They have nice CNC press brakes and guillotines and their welders are first rate. Give Chris a call on 0411047775.

The car originally had a donor VN Commodore tank which worked OK but wasn't very pretty and a bit asymmetrical when you looked at it from the back. The new tank is built to fit in the space available.

I'm also not keen on seeing the tank hanging down at the back. This looks good on a Bathurst A9X Torana with a drop tank but not my cup of tea on a Cobra. The new tank is tucked up out of sight under the back.



The new tank should have plenty of capacity but still try to keep the weight centralized by having the bulk of the fuel volume closer to the rear axle. The slope upwards will also work with the removable diffuser.




Cheers