fuel cell size vs. cruising

[01somta]

I need to order my fuel cell. This is going to be a street/show car/cruiser. I can either go with a 15 gal. or 20 gal., will I regret getting the 15 gal.? The guy that is doing all my fab. work is saying that the 20 gal. would be tight but would work. He is suggesting the 15 gal. to free up some room for the exhaust. Will I hate have a 15 gal., also it will have a 540ci, tko 600, and 3.73s gears.

[monza]

I just drove 2500 miles with a 13 gal. tank, yes a lot of fill ups but it was not that bad. Bigger would be nicer if you can still fit everything and not have fit issues.

[JayR]

Big question is what you think your mileage might be. A stock LS1 with a 6 speed would be pretty easy on fuel and not too inconvenient to run a 15 gallon tank but I'd go 20 gallons for sure if it's a carbed BBC. I suspect you're somewhere in between but which one you're closer to should help you decide.

Just my $.02

[John McIntire]

I would go with the 20 gallon one. I had a 15 gallon one with my small block, and swapped it out for the 20 when i added the big block, in anticipation of increased consumption. I had an aluminum RCI cell, and the 20 gallon one from RCI was the same width and height, just 6 inches deeper i believe, so the sump and the front holes lined right up, all I had to do was drill the back ones.
Go with the 20, I don't think you'll regret it.

[Rolling_Thunder]

we had a customer go from a 16 gallon cell to a 22 gallon cell... then again he is running a monsterous 500ci stroker getting 3mpg

[CamaroAJ]

i might be able to drive cross country on one stop with my LS1 6-speed and my 22 gallon fuel cell haha.

[CraigMorrison]

I need to order my fuel cell. This is going to be a street/show car/cruiser. I can either go with a 15 gal. or 20 gal., will I regret getting the 15 gal.? The guy that is doing all my fab. work is saying that the 20 gal. would be tight but would work. He is suggesting the 15 gal. to free up some room for the exhaust. Will I hate have a 15 gal., also it will have a 540ci, tko 600, and 3.73s gears.

How much cruising are you going to do with that 540? Are you going to go on trips less than 500 miles, or are you going to go on cross country road trips? How long can you drive at a time?

We have a stock tank in our 55 (13 gallons or so) and have made two trips from LA to Tacoma WA and one cross state (700 miles).

Unless you are really hauling for a purpose, you would probably want to stop every couple of hours to stretch your legs......

The 15 gallon tank would probably be fine.

[CraigMorrison]

i might be able to drive cross country on one stop with my LS1 6-speed and my 22 gallon fuel cell haha.

A couple of guys broke the NY to LA record this summer running 550M Ferrari. Stock tank is 30 gal and they had a Jeg's 16 gallon piggybacking it. 46 gallons total!

[CamaroAJ]

A couple of guys broke the NY to LA record this summer running 550M Ferrari. Stock tank is 30 gal and they had a Jeg's 16 gallon piggybacking it. 46 gallons total!

i can beat that! i'll drive a half tank there, tow it, drive the rest of the half tank.

[01somta]

I think that I have decided on the 15 gal. just to give a little more room for my exhaust. I'm pretty sure the longest that I would feel comfortable driving the car would be around 300miles. Thanks for everybodies input and help.

[CraigMorrison]

i can beat that! i'll drive a half tank there, tow it, drive the rest of the half tank.

But can you do it in 32h 17m?

[Jim Nilsen]

Don't just think of it as a tank, think of it as a ballast too! Get your car weighed and see where your at and if another 30# will help you get better balance or make a difference then go bigger. If it won't make much of a difference then go smaller.
F1 cars go faster with less fuel but sometimes it changes the balance of the car in negative ways depending on the weather and the track. So fuel and how much you can carry and where is a big part of the whole equation when putting a fuel cell in.

In your case I believe 15 is more what you want to avoid fit issues.

[steemin]

Please remember..
The more stops you make the more you get to show off your car
Scott

[CamaroAJ]

But can you do it in 32h 17m?

hmm....UPS next day air?

[scogin918]

i might be able to drive cross country on one stop with my LS1 6-speed and my 22 gallon fuel cell haha.

Same here. Fuel Safe had the perfect size. And to think that I almost went with the 30+ gal. Talk about some weight in the bak.