fuel cell question

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D.Coulter

D.Coulter

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hey folks, I'm putting a fuel cell in my 67 pro street barracuda, do I need fuel cell foam in the tank or not? The car will be ran 100% of the time on the street. I understand the purpose of the foam for off road application, but not sure about the street.
 
The purpose of the foam is to prevent fuel slosh. This is more present on the street than anything. If you don't have foam, your fuel will slosh to one side of the tank in a turn, and you could suck air. I'd say at 1/8 - 1/4 capacity with no foam, with some cornering or bouncing you could easily suck some air.
 
Johnny Mac said:
The purpose of the foam is to prevent fuel slosh. This is more present on the street than anything. If you don't have foam, your fuel will slosh to one side of the tank in a turn, and you could suck air. I'd say at 1/8 - 1/4 capacity with no foam, with some cornering or bouncing you could easily suck some air.
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ok I see what you are saying, but is there foam in todays new vehicles ...
 
You don't need the foam if the outlets are correctly placed.

I took the foam out of my fuel cell after on trip to the track.
 
I have a cell in my car with a low sump . When hard cornering I had fuel slosh in the cell ,put foam in it solved the problem . What Johnny said is totally right . Put the foam in it .
 
Dale Coulter said:
ok I see what you are saying, but is there foam in todays new vehicles ...
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If you are going to argue against an expert's opinion after asking for advice, why even ask at all?

The foam in the cell also serves another purpose. To help contain a majority of fuel in the event the tank is ruptured in an accident....which is more likely to happen on the street than on the track.
 
RustyRatRod said:
If you are going to argue against an expert's opinion after asking for advice, why even ask at all?

The foam in the cell also serves another purpose. To help contain a majority of fuel in the event the tank is ruptured in an accident....which is more likely to happen on the street than on the track.
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It's not that kind of foam.
 
yellow rose said:
You don't need the foam if the outlets are correctly placed.

I took the foam out of my fuel cell after on trip to the track.
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Gotta go w/ yellow rose here, I have ran a couple of them on the street , w/ the dropped rear sump, both alum.. I had to pull the foam out because it was deteriorating in both !! Didn`t present a problem at all !
 
Dale Coulter said:
hey folks, I'm putting a fuel cell in my 67 pro street barracuda, do I need fuel cell foam in the tank or not? The car will be ran 100% of the time on the street. I understand the purpose of the foam for off road application, but not sure about the street.
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You are better off with a baffled cell than foam.

Foam breaks down and needs to be changed.
 
Today's cars the fuel pump sits in a plastic well, this does 2 things keeps it from sucking air when low and keeps the pump cool being submerged in fuel
 
RustyRatRod said:
If you are going to argue against an expert's opinion after asking for advice, why even ask at all?

The foam in the cell also serves another purpose. To help contain a majority of fuel in the event the tank is ruptured in an accident....which is more likely to happen on the street than on the track.
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really....lolmao
 
brian6pac said:
Today's cars the fuel pump sits in a plastic well, this does 2 things keeps it from sucking air when low and keeps the pump cool being submerged in fuel
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yes that is true brain and I agree with that. the reason I posted the question is because I can purchase a cell with or w/out foam for the same application. I wasn't sure why that is. because if its such a big deal to have foam in the fuel cell, then why sell the same fuel cell for the same application w/out foam. I was thinking it was some secret squirrel reason, but I guess it is what it is.
 
famous bob said:
Gotta go w/ yellow rose here, I have ran a couple of them on the street , w/ the dropped rear sump, both alum.. I had to pull the foam out because it was deteriorating in both !! Didn`t present a problem at all !
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Meant the rear sump cell didn`t present a problem, the foam did.
Of course I have always run elec. pumps too.
 
Dale Coulter said:
ok, thank you for the advise....I'm going with out the foam, don't need the added stress....building this thing is stressful enough.lol
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I doubt you`ll ever have a problem w/o the foam, unless ur car is built for constant corner carving.
 
I have foam in mine with a sump and I still get fuel slosh when braking and it starves the pump until I level out or start accelerating again. The foam is starting to deteriorate since I am starting to find pieces in my filter. IMO, the foam is worthless and should be left out.
 
I bought the summit brand 20 gallon with foam 5-6 years ago. I haven't seen any deterioration in the foam. I inspect it regularly and can stick my hand down in there and feel the foam. No fuel delivery issue either. That said, my new cell will be baffled and already set up for easy conversion to fuel injection
 
If it is a street car like my 68 Barracuda, you may want to consider a more street friendly cell like this one. Works great for me.

fuel system barracuda.jpg


fuel system barracuda-2.jpg
 
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Really, interesting, it doesn't look like it would holds 12 gal. How far can you go on that ?
 
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