A1000, stock fuel tank w/ baffling okay?

[Blown353]

FYI, I can get my pump to suck air at WOT and also during sustained turns when the fuel level gets down to just over 1/4 of a tank in my Rock Valley. Once I get down to about 3/8 of a tank I make it a point not to beat on the car because I know it'll suck air and starve the engine. It'll also start to suck air after a prolonged hard turn once it gets down around the 3/8 tank level. Mind you this is on street tires and public roads... on a "closed course" and on sticky tires where I could push it harder the starvation issue would be worse.

I'm kind of disappointed honestly with my Rock Valley EFI tank given the price (and as much as they praised it on the phone)-- it looks good and is well built but I expected better fuel control.

Baffles are really only part of the solution. Baffles only slow and delay the inevitable sloshing of fuel away from the pickup-- to really keep the pump happy requires a sump built into the tank or a surge tank to maintain fuel at the suction side of the pump regardless of what g-forces are doing.

For a car that sees a lot of track time on sticky tires I would build a system that either has an integral drop sump/sump "box" or a system that utilizes a separate surge tank and feeder pump (or a venturi pump to feed the surge tank).

I haven't tried a Rick's tank, but I would like to see inside pics to see how they handled their baffles/sump scheme for the in-tank A1000 models.

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by Blown353

FYI, I can get my pump to suck air at WOT and also during sustained turns when the fuel level gets down to just over 1/4 of a tank in my Rock Valley. Once I get down to about 3/8 of a tank I make it a point not to beat on the car because I know it'll suck air and starve the engine. It'll also start to suck air after a prolonged hard turn once it gets down around the 3/8 tank level. Mind you this is on street tires and public roads... on a "closed course" and on sticky tires where I could push it harder the starvation issue would be worse.

I'm kind of disappointed honestly with my Rock Valley EFI tank given the price (and as much as they praised it on the phone)-- it looks good and is well built but I expected better fuel control.

Baffles are really only part of the solution. Baffles only slow and delay the inevitable sloshing of fuel away from the pickup-- to really keep the pump happy requires a sump built into the tank or a surge tank to maintain fuel at the suction side of the pump regardless of what g-forces are doing.

For a car that sees a lot of track time on sticky tires I would build a system that either has an integral drop sump/sump "box" or a system that utilizes a separate surge tank and feeder pump (or a venturi pump to feed the surge tank).

I haven't tried a Rick's tank, but I would like to see inside pics to see how they handled their baffles/sump scheme for the in-tank A1000 models.

Thanks for chiming in. We did decide to add a sump while the baffling is being done so hopefully that should help as you said. I don't mind a noisy fuel pump as this car is not a daily driver and is going to be pretty damn loud anyway. And if the A1000 has issues it can be easily replaced or whatever.

Was debating on a Rock Valley or Rick's but just can't justify that kind of money right now actually.

[AALynch]

Jut as a note - my Rick's tank did not have an A1000 in it. I had to pull the pump, because I wasn't getting proper fuel pressure, and my tank had a Walbro 255lph in it.

-Adam

[JUSTANOVA]

Originally Posted by Blown353

FYI, I can get my pump to suck air at WOT and also during sustained turns when the fuel level gets down to just over 1/4 of a tank in my Rock Valley. Once I get down to about 3/8 of a tank I make it a point not to beat on the car because I know it'll suck air and starve the engine. It'll also start to suck air after a prolonged hard turn once it gets down around the 3/8 tank level. Mind you this is on street tires and public roads... on a "closed course" and on sticky tires where I could push it harder the starvation issue would be worse.

I'm kind of disappointed honestly with my Rock Valley EFI tank given the price (and as much as they praised it on the phone)-- it looks good and is well built but I expected better fuel control.

Baffles are really only part of the solution. Baffles only slow and delay the inevitable sloshing of fuel away from the pickup-- to really keep the pump happy requires a sump built into the tank or a surge tank to maintain fuel at the suction side of the pump regardless of what g-forces are doing.

For a car that sees a lot of track time on sticky tires I would build a system that either has an integral drop sump/sump "box" or a system that utilizes a separate surge tank and feeder pump (or a venturi pump to feed the surge tank).

I haven't tried a Rick's tank, but I would like to see inside pics to see how they handled their baffles/sump scheme for the in-tank A1000 models.

just curious would putting some foam in the tank help this issue? I have been around some dirttrack cars that used it to control fuel slosh.

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by JUSTANOVA

just curious would putting some foam in the tank help this issue? I have been around some dirttrack cars that used it to control fuel slosh.

Good question... the fuel cell in my Nova way back when came with foam padding inside it already.

Hey, awesome sounding Nova project in your sig by the way!

[Patrick]

I have a Rick's SS tank and at anything below 1/2 tank it starves for fuel under NORMAL driving conditions.

[camcojb]

since this low fuel level starvation seems to be such an issue with stock and aftermarket tanks and efi, I figured I'd mention the solution (other than keeping your tank full). Run a separate surge tank, 1 to 1.5 gallons would be fine. You could mount it in the trunk or under the car if you had room. Run a simple Holley red, Mallory, Walbro, etc. pump from the main tank to this tank. Feed your main fuel pump (A1000 or whatever) off of the surge tank, bypassing to the surge tank. Then there is a separate overflow/bypass line from the surge tank back to the main fuel tank so when it's full the gas has somewhere to go.

This way, even if the main tank gets a "hiccup" at the pickup you still have the surge tank full to cover it up. These work fantastic in road race cars. This would benefit carb'd cars also, but because of the fuel bowls they don't have the immediate stutter of an efi car if the pickup sucks air.

We should have Ricks or someone similar build a couple universal surge tanks with a simple universal mount on them. Wouldn't require anything special, no baffling needed really, just and inlet and outlet bung, plus two additional bungs (one for return line out to main tank, and the second for return line off the main pump).

Jody

[XcYZ]

Excellent idea, Jody.

[camcojb]

something simple like this:

[Patrick]

But I run an in-tank fuel pump. Wouldn't a surge tank require an external pump?

I thought for the money I spent on the Rick's tank it would be baffled and sumped internally. Right now I am not sure what to do....I am running a supercharger and I cannot afford to lean out. Plus it's down right scary to lose fuel pressure in a fast corner.

Patrick