alcohol questions

[dbmx66]

what is the point of putting the fuel cell in the front? are there particular reasons?

car is either getting 1050 cfm alcohol carb or enderle bugcatcher injection hat on a victor ram

car already has bg400 pump and 4 port bg regulator.

car is running q16 right now.

anything else we need to watch out for?

[scooterskoolkustoms]

LOL sorry wrong king of alcohol question.

[raceman6135]

Fuel cells are usually mounted in the front of the vehicle when running alcohol for a couple of reasons:

- Many run a belt-driven fuel pump mounted to the engine, and these types of pumps are not very good at pulling fuel, but are very good at pushing fuel. With the tank at the front of the vehicle, gravity and momentum help the pump stay fed.

- Large volumes of fuel are usually burned when alcohol is the fuel, so fuel lines can be quite large, such as -12AN. If the cell was mounted in the rear, a hard leaving and hard running alcohol car will have a large volume of fuel in the line, which makes the fuel pump work extra hard. Also, if that large volume of fuel can't be delivered to the carb or injector, the engine could run dangerously lean.

- Most alcohol systems utilize a return-style fuel system, so it's less expensive to have just a couple of feet of feed and a couple of feet of return stainless steel braided line compared to 20 feet x2 of SS line for a rear mounted cell.

- Many alcohol cars are not meant for anything other than drag racing, so they do not require large quantities of fuel. A smaller cell mounted on the passenger's side places it close to where the majority of between rounds maintenance is performed anyway, simplifying the process.

- Alcohol engines often build more than enough torque and power to cause the front ends to come up easily, so having a bit of extra weight on the front means that suspension and shock settings don't have to be as extreme to keep the vehicle launching straight.

Those are just some of the reasons. I'm sure there are more and someone will chime in with them.

[BigDan3131]

Raceman you partly correct, they have belt drive tanks up front fed by a larger fuel cell out back with an electric pump. I remember a few guys running a hybrid mechanical injection setup that had carb float bowls mounted to it.

[Marv D]

Dan I'd have to say that's a rarity. Drag racers want to carry as least weight as possible, and knowing the exact weight is mandatory for most programs. Having and big fuel out back with changing volume (and weight) of fuel would be disasterous to a class where wins are made by 0.0001 seconds. (dang Speedworld fired up their new Accutime-II timing system with 4 decimal places,, going red or loosing by .0001 really stinks!!!)

[PGSigns]

Kinsler and a few others made a surge tank for running injected motors with the main fuel tank in the back. They hold about a gallon and they have a float bowl on them to keep them full. Dont work to bad on lower powered or street systems on gas. If you plan to run injected on alky a front mounted fuel cell is a must as far as I see it. When we get done for the day with the injected cars we drain all the fuel and spray all the parts of the fuel system with wd40. We do the lines, the bump, and the barrel valve. This makes it so the next time we go it will all work. With the front mounted cell all the lines are short, the pump is fed well and the bypass tuneup is not affected by the line length. You should also add the rons toilets, and terminators to your list. They work very well and are easy to tune.
Jimmy

[vin63]

Originally Posted by dbmx66

what is the point of putting the fuel cell in the front? are there particular reasons?

car is either getting 1050 cfm alcohol carb or enderle bugcatcher injection hat on a victor ram

car already has bg400 pump and 4 port bg regulator.

car is running q16 right now.

anything else we need to watch out for?

One of the reasons is that a column of liquid can contain a lot of mass and have its own inertial properties that can be tough to overcome during launches. Running methanol requires considerably more volume of fuel (and more pressure in the upper rpm ranges) compared to a similar gasoline combination. Those factors can be disasterous if your fuel supply stumbles for a moment. I would highly recommend against an electric fuel pump on a methanol combination...a belt- or cam-driven pump is a much, much better option. You probably already know this, but it's always worth mentioning...you have to be vigilant with disassembling your fuel system to clean and lubricate the lines and fitting since methanol is hydroscopic and absorbs water, accelerating corrosion.