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Author Topic: Fuel Cells... (Racing)  (Read 11017 times)

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LincoPinto

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Fuel Cells... (Racing)
« on: February 01, 2006, 10:06:11 PM »
Every time I look up Fuel cells.. I get a bunch of hydrogen based stuff... but the "fuel cells" I see on this site look allot like gas tanks but with a battery by its side...
So what's going on.. can someone explain to me how it all works?

Because my girl wants me to do something about the gas tank... and I don’t know where to start..

Much thanks...

Travis
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Pintony

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2006, 10:10:05 PM »
Hello Reravis,
 Your 1979-80 Pinto was already FACTORY equiped with the ford ANTI-BLOW-UP kit!
So NO wories!!!!!1
This was called the August 1975 Campain KIT
Fom Pintony
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Offline turbopinto72

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2006, 10:42:51 PM »
go to Summitracing.c om and do a search for fuel cells. You will find them there.
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Brad F
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Offline 77turbopinto

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2006, 10:52:23 AM »
I can't tell from your pic if you have a sedan or h/b. Either way, you will need to do lots of cutting to install a cell to be properly protected by the bumper, and unless you know how to stiffen the rear of the car back to the way it was, or better, it might be even more of an issue in a crash. You can just drop it in the trunk, if you have one, but unless it is sealed off and secured, again more potential issues. Also it will not be easy use the stock filler location, if at all, with a cell, making you have to go INTO the car itself to put gas in, again, not the safest thing to do. Fuel cells can be damaged in a crash too, even the metal cased ones (never use the plastic ones un-protected by a steel box).

For ME, I like the tank "sealed" outside of the main body of the car, with the stock filler location, and in a way that has been tested for impact.

Do what you think is right for you.

Bill
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LincoPinto

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2006, 12:00:00 PM »
thanks much everyone.. but i do belive that Im going to just add more reinforcement around the tank... so there wont be any doubt.
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Offline Pintosopher

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2006, 12:32:55 PM »
Greetings,
 The Fuel cell installation is one that I have a real need for, as my 72 hatchback is a real engineering project. Since my car is a autocross and Hillclimb racer, I need to get that fuel cell put in before my luck runs out on some mountain road.
 I've looked at the ATL "well cell" as a possible option to cut installation cost, but in reality I will have to build a internal trunk and or bulkhead to isolate any possibility of the fuel getting to the driver compartment.
 Because I'm considering a Full Watts linkage rear axle, I'll have to build a rear subframe and tie that to a full rollcage. Now that is a "safety Pinto " for sure! Most of this destroys the Historic value of the car, unless the car was prepared to a set of vintage racing rules.
 For a street car, the Fuel cell is a big chunk of money ( and the internal  bladder has to be replaced every 5 years to avoid leaks) and maybe a bit of overkill. It will take a bunch of re-plumbing to install, and the filler issue is a real pain.

Reinforcement may be a bunch cheaper, Good luck..

Pintosopher
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Offline pintoguy76

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2006, 12:52:19 AM »
What about making your own fuel tank? Weve got two tanks at work maybe more that were custom made by a local metal shop....profes sional welders and such...Ones for diesel and ones for gasoline. Never had any problems with them....its an idea?
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Offline turbopinto72

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2006, 11:14:39 PM »
Take a look at my " 73 Pangra project" and you will see how I reinforced my fuel cell with a " cage". You might consider doing something like that.
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Brad F
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Offline pintoguy76

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2006, 12:21:57 AM »
Since my last post on this topic ive thought more and more about the idea of having your own tank custom made. That way you could have a new tank and keep your sending unit and fuel filler. Could be made of a nice heavy metal and maybe it would bend instead of tear open if hit.  Cant find a brand new pinto or MII Tank anymore. LOL!!  :lol: :text_yb_rotf:
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1974 Ford Pinto Wagon with 1991 Mustang DIS EFI 2.3 and stock Pinto 4 Speed
 
1996 Chevy C2500 Suburban with 6.5L Turbo Diesel/4L80E 4x2

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Offline 78pinto

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2006, 12:27:01 AM »
Don't forget to spend the money on a good checkvalve for the vent tube.....if you roll (god forbid) it will stop the fuel from running out the vent tube all over the place.
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Offline pintoguy76

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2006, 02:58:48 PM »
Yup thats a good idea too..are the original pinto tanks equipped with the roll over vent valve?
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Offline 77turbopinto

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2006, 10:08:23 PM »
Sort of, the later ones have a 'ventless' cap, and the vent is thru the char. can. in the front, and up to the engine.

That roll over thing is less of an issue when the tank is not IN the car.

Bill

BTW: I had my 79 rolled for me.
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Offline UltimatePinto

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2006, 08:04:01 AM »
Hi Travis,
I also have a 72 that I was concerned about having a rear end "incident".
I replaced my tank with an aluminum one from Jeg's that I had to modify for my application. (The hydrogen ones that you have read about are used for alternative electrical power sources.) It is housed in a steel tube frame skinned with 11 gauge sheet metal. I to will have to make up a bulkhead to separate the unit from the interior. After cutting a considerable part of the trunk pan and rear deck,
I installed a piece of 1/4" wall square tube across the back right in front of the bumper. The rear spring shackles attach to it, as will the bumper when it comes back from the body shop. The vent comes with a check valve and the fill has a check valve in it also.
My reasons for doing this, ( trust me, a LOT :hypno: of work), one, safety, it seems as though in my area those who know about the Pinto stories of old just love to climb on your rear on the interstate, and two, to make the rear of the car more heavy than the original stock version. The reason here is the chance of hydroplaning in heavy rains. It happened to me once and scared the living daylights out of me. I think that this is more or less confined to the early versions as the later ones started to get more beef in the rear.
Al
in Ct.
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Offline pintoguy76

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2006, 03:07:23 AM »
Im not personally worried about the rearend collision causing an explosion. On my car, it has the plastic safety shield AND the factory 8 inch axle which has no boltheads on the rear cover to gash holes in the tank. Supposedly there were 10 cars tested with different or no safety items installed to stop this rear end collision explosion problem. Of those 10 cars, 3 did not explode, one of those 3 was one that had this plastic shield installed. The same one that my 76 has. Between those two things i think my cars pretty safe. I am worried about my tank getting  rusty tho. I know its pretty rusty inside. And someones backed into something in my car b4 i got it because the bottom of the tank is pushed up inwards quite a bit.
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Offline 78jr racer

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2006, 05:09:07 PM »
in our ministock we use a portable 10 gallon air tank for airing up flats. i had a 73 chevelle that weighed over 4000 lbs. push me through the rail this season,car wadded up like an accordian and fuel tank wrapped around rear axle. no spilled fuel, no fire and walked away from crash.
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Offline oldkayaker

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2006, 10:10:06 AM »
It sounds like LincoPinto wants to reinforce the gas tank area some from rear collisions.  I reinforced my 71 runabout with 4 pieces of angle steel (about 1.5"x1.5"x1/8").  One was bolted inside the bumper (out of sight) connecting the two bumper mount brackets together.  One was bolted to the floor inside the luggage compartment connecting the two bumper mounting areas together.  The other two were bolted to the floor of the lugage compartment running from the bumper mounting area to just behind the rear seat (one on each side).  They were placed up against floor sides so that they did not interfere with the cargo area.  I used large washers so the bolts would not pull through the sheet metal.  This car was rear ended by one of those full size American sedans and totaled.  The car crumpled up just in front of where the angle steel ended (just behind the rear seat) and there was no gas tank damage.  The car did have the factory retrofit of the plastic shield and long filler neck, but they did not appear to come into play in this accident.

I actually added this reinforcement for towing trailers, but it seemed to help in the accident.  The 71-72 cars do not have much reinforcement in the back.  In 73, they added reinforcement inside the bumper and there is a front to back frame member on left side of the tank (filler neck side).  I looked under a 79 and in addition to the large bumper, they have impressive frame members across the rear and front to back on both sides of the tank.
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Offline MikeSVO

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Re: Fuel Cells...
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2006, 11:30:19 AM »
I got a cell in my turbo Runabout.  I'm thinking about taking it out though, since I've done just about everything wrong on the install.  There's no tip-valve, no filter on the vent, no emergency shut off (inertia switch), no box closing it off from the passenger compartment, and only a couple big zip ties holding it in place.   It's right next to the battery, too, which is in a battery box, zip tied in place with no lid on it.  It works really well though, and the car has pulled on my friends 92 Corvette from about 50 or 60.  I'm going to be doing a lot of work to the car in the near future, so don't worry...this horror show is going to be addressed. 

I want to put in a factory gas tank from a Fox car.  It'll fit under there, and the only issue I saw when planning this out was that the filler neck is on the wrong side.  I could just spin the tank around, but then the fat side isn't where it should be, and it might be really visible, so I'll probably just move the filler neck to the other side. 

Doing this does several things.  It will keep me from having to close off the back area, and I'll have some actual trunk space again (face, it hatches are AWESOME for moving stuff),  the car won't stink of gas all the time, the fuel guage can be re-hooked up, I can use a quieter in-tank pump, I won't have to fill the tank up by opening the trunk, I can use factory EFI fuel lines (it's 2.3 turbo) and it'll just be WAY less racecar-ish that way.  And cheaper, too!  Oh, and more safe.  I keep forgetting about that one! 

If I had thought of all that stuff when I first started the project, I never would have even bothered with buying the cell. 
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