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Anyone mount a fuel cell in the engine bay

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powellds2

15+ Year Contributor
221
6
Dec 3, 2007
Baker City, Oregon
Was wondering if anyone was running a fuel cell in the engine bay. If you have pics post them up or explain what you did. I'm thinking of sticking one over there the overflow/ps res used to be. Not sure yet though, this is for my dedicated n/a drag car.
 
Well my first thought was "Why?". Obviously for drag racing you don't need much fuel, but that's the only thing I could think of on a positive side. Now on a negative note, it may be illegal by drag regulations to have it under the hood. That's just my guess. However, it would be a huge safety issue. What if you hit the wall and crack the fuel cell somehow? There's fuel being sprayed all over your hot engine just waiting to be ignited. Or worse yet, you really slam into the wall and it expodes. I honestly wouldn't do it. Fuel cells are designed the way they are for a reason, you should leave it in the rear for your safety. And although they really don't weigh much in comparrison to the factory fuel tank, you get to spread some weight out over the car's body.

I'm not trying to flame your idea here, but it makes no sense to me to do this.
:hmm:
 
Spyderdrifter has some very valid points. Safety wise, the rear would be better and just mount in a 5 gallon cell or something like that.

But, to answer your question, yes. It has been done before. The rolling chassis I bought was a drag car and the previous owner had a 1 gallon fuel cell up front. It was on the outside of the frame in the engine bay on the driver's side in front of the wheel well. I had the chance to buy it with the purchase of the car and thought it might be safer to just put a stock tank back in and only put a couple gallons of fuel in to race it.
 
It can and has been done. ;)

Here's what the NHRA rules say....

1:5 FUEL SYSTEMS
Location: All fuel tanks, lines, pumps, valves, etc. must be outside
of the driver’s compartment and within the confines of the frame
and/or steel body. Cool cans, fuel-distribution blocks, etc. must be
located at least 6 inches forward of the flywheel/bellhousing area on
rear-wheel-drive (RWD) vehicles, and on opposite side of
flywheel/housing area on front-wheel-drive (FWD) vehicles. Fuel
pressure gauge isolators, with steel braided line, may be mounted
on firewall.
Tanks: When permitted by class regulations, fuel tanks located
outside body and/or frame must be enclosed in a steel tube frame
constructed of minimum 1 1/4-inch O.D. x .058 chromoly or .118
mild steel tubing. All fuel tanks must be isolated from the driver’s
compartment by a firewall, completely sealed to prevent any fuel
from entering the driver’s compartment. All fuel tanks must have a
pressure cap and be vented outside of body. A positive-locking
screw-on fuel tank cap is mandatory on all open-bodied cars.
Insulated fuel tanks prohibited. When used, fuel cells must have a
metal box protecting the part of the fuel cell that is outside of body
lines or trunk floor, excluding hose connection area in rear. Nonmetallic
fuel cells or tanks must be grounded to frame.
 

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That's a good point, but it probably applies more to AWD/RWD cars. Having more weight up front is typically a good thing in FWD cars.
 
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