More Questions

[trink408]

I'm looking for some thoughts or suggestions on how to set up my nitrous fuel system. I'm going to be running a separate fuel system for the nitrous, but I'm not sure where to put the fuel cell. I have an 88 hb, so that makes putting a cell in the car some work. I was planning on running the cell up front in the engine compartment, but the cell does not fit as good as I planned. I would have to notch the front frame rail to get it under the hood. I'm not sure if that is a good idea or not. I'm curious if someone sells a fuel cell specifically for the the engine compartment.

Otherwise I was curious what the rules are on running a fuel cell in the back of the hatch. I know I need a firewall, but I'm not sure on the specs to pass NHRA tech. I can't buy a pre-fab firewall because I have a 12 point cage and the back bars go all they way to the back of the hatch.

I know this is a lot of information, but any thoughts are greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get this set up right the first time, and I know some of you guys have done this before.

Thanks for looking

[RSNovi]

here is what I did for my car. I bought a Summit 5 gal fuel cell. It fits real nice in the rear spare tire well on my 90 GT. I welded in some bars so the cell would bolt down just a hair above the bottom of the cell. This way the bottom of the cell is fully inside the tire well and I didn't have to add any other metal.

For the fire wall, I bought the Wolfe pre fabbed one which is 20% off right now. Yes, it does have to be notched and modified to fit around a pre-existing cage, but it wasn't too bad.

[1slo5.0]

How about a sumped factory tank? I had a tank sumped for one of my cars and had 2 1/2" NPT bungs welded on it. I ran one line for the engine and one for the nitrous system. I used a -12 fitting in each bung to feed the fuel pumps and then -10 from the pump to the regulator. I also had a 1/4 NPT bung welded on top where the factory EFI pump module used to be. In that hole I used a -8 fitting for the return line. The factory fuel gauge sending unit was retained with this set up as well. I still have this tank if you are interested in it. Here are some pictures.

http://www.slapnuts.org/images/toys/Mvc-469f.jpg

http://www.slapnuts.org/images/toys/Mvc-471f.jpg

[trink408]

I was planning on running 2 separate fuel systems so I could run good racing gas(c-16) in the nitrous tank, and then just mix gas for the engine. I don't need that good gas for everyday driving around.

[trink408]

For the fire wall, I bought the Wolfe pre fabbed one which is 20% off right now. Yes, it does have to be notched and modified to fit around a pre-existing cage, but it wasn't too bad.


How did you go about making the Wolfe product to fit?

[RSNovi]

How did you go about making the Wolfe product to fit?

both the lower corners had to be cut of of the firewall so I could slide it down and let the bars pass through. Then I took the pieces I cut and used them as templates to make some "patches" out of the same thickness material. I made the patches slightly larger so I could pop rivet them on to the fire wall. Carpet it, and you will never no anything was modified.

[dave bandt]

I believe the NHRA rule book requires a front mount fuel cell to mounted within the frame rails. You need to read up on that one to be sure if you decide to go that route. Mounting aside, they make 1 gallon fuel cells that would work for what you are trying to do. The nice thing about mounting the cell up front is that you only need about half the pump that you would have to use if you mounted it in back because the pump doesn't have to fight the force of the car accelerating. In fact, the motion of the car acutally helps move the fuel whent the cell is up front. You also don't have to use as much fuel line....which helps make the car lighter. A BG280 mounted up front will feed just about any system you would want to put on a car whereas it will take a 400 or bigger if mounted in the rear. For a small system you could probably get away with a cheap ass Holley pump where i would NEVER recommend installing one of them on a rear sump car.

[BBATCO1]

Everyone I know has had great luck with holley blue pumps. My car is no rocket ship but mine are 4 years old and work fine. My buddy had his bigblock nova in the mid eights with 2 blue pumps, with absolutly no problems. For a street car they last forever and work great when deadheaded.

[dave bandt]

I have several friends that run dataloggers and have told me what they have seen with the Holley blue pumps. It is not good. For smaller systems you can get by with them but i have never been a big advocate of skimping on a nitrous fuel system because of what happens if the system burps. I have also heard of people burning their chit up using blue pumps......and i've heard of success stories. Take you pick....

[BBATCO1]

If you look hard enough you could find something wrong with every thing. Most product failures are due to improper installation,and use. Holley is a big company. They sell a serious amount of pumps. I would say you would hear more about them than others be it good or bad.

[trink408]

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the NHRA rules to figure this thing out? After what Dave mentioned I need to figure out about mounting in the engine comparment.

I was thinking a BG 280 for the nitrous would be fine wether it was in the front or back. This nitrous business is getting more expensive than I had planned, but I suppose Dave is right you don't want to cut corners on critical components.

[dave bandt]

Try www.nhra.com and look in the rules section. It's not as good as a book but you might find what you're looking for. I don't have a book here at work or i would look it up for you. Maybe someone else can help you out there.....

[1slo5.0]

This is a couple years old but should point you in the right direction.


http://www.slapnuts.org/nhra.html

[QTRMILE]

http://www.nhrasportcompact.com/2004/rules/index.html

Its the 2004 sport compact rules, but everything is the same save for the sport compact specific junk...