Pinto Car Club of America

I'm sorry if this post gets a little long winded. I'm interested in making my 1980 Pinto v8 a bit safer from rear end collisions. Let me start by saying I don't buy into the exploding Pinto paranoya. I don't believe Pinto to be any more dangerous that any other similarly designed car of that era. Mustangs, Vegas, Mavericks etc. are all unibody cars with the gas tank in roughly the same place. I'm interesting in improving the situation and have a couple of theories I'd like to put forth.

Firstly, I'd assume a good set of sub frame connectors would go a long way in preventing the doors jamming shut in accidents. Beyond that I have two ways of going about this:

A. Keep the stock tank where it is. Add some shielding (beyond what Ford has already done by 1980) between it and the rear axle to futher prevent puncture hazards. Add some support behind the bumper to futher protect the tank.

B. Put a fuel cell in the trunk (I have a sedan). Fuel cells are far less likely to rupture and installed in the trunk, keeps them away from getting smashed into the axle. The down sides are that the trunk has no protection from the bumper if the car gets rear ended by something with a high bumper like a truck (which would ride over the stock bumper directly into the trunk). Also, the trunks is technically kinda in the passenger compartment. Since its gas fumes (not the actual gas) that are highly expplosive, this increases the risk that a ruptured cell would allow fumes to reach the occupant compartment.

Unfortunately, its not like I can run crash test to study the results. Any opinions on the the above theories or any other advice would be great. Thanks!

Saito,
If you are familiar with SCCA preparation rules, even for Stock classes, you'll know that unless you add a proper rear support and bulkhead at miniumum, the cell is marginally safer from a protection standpoint. It will leak if punctured severely, but most impacts will deform the bladder without puncture issues.
A Full 6- 8 point roll cage would add substantial protection and could be used to tie the subframes together. .

No free rides here. Even NASCAR has fuel cell leaks in big impacts.
Refer to the thread by 71 HANTO for a ATL Well Cell installation in a trunk car.

Cheers,
  Pintosopher

 :welcome: Here are a couple of direct links to forum treads on the subject:

http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,8877.80.html (http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,8877.80.html)
(Fuel Cell)

http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,11080.msg71276.html#msg71276 (http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,11080.msg71276.html#msg71276)
(Original gas tank safety info-see bottom of the page)

71HANTO