Rick's tanks at the track

[Turbo67camaro]

Anyone out there using a Rick's tank w/ EFI at the track without any starvation issues under hard cornering / braking / acceleration?

Are their Stealth series tanks the best for the track?

I'm looking for a tank setup that can handle the track and is easy to install.

I'd rather not cut up my trunk floor to accomodate a fuel cell, but will if I have to, to prevent starvation.

[Flash68]

I hope to find out with mine in the next month or so at one of the Sacramento Raceway drag nights. Interested to hear if there have been any issues. The only starvation issues I have heard are a few when going around corners...

[Mike Holleman]

Anyone out there using a Rick's tank w/ EFI at the track without any starvation issues under hard cornering / braking / acceleration?

Are their Stealth series tanks the best for the track?

I'm looking for a tank setup that can handle the track and is easy to install.

I'd rather not cut up my trunk floor to accomodate a fuel cell, but will if I have to, to prevent starvation.

I am using Rick's tank with EFI in my El Camino. I have not had it on a road course yet so I can't answer that question. But I have made drag strip passes and several one mile passes without any starvation issues. I did have the tank at least half full in both cases. My fuel gauge tells me there is a bit a sloshing going on by the reading changing during accel. and braking.
Mike

[RSX302]

Funny that I just saw this post right when I placed an order today.

I have an Aeromotive A1000 pump and have battled high g braking and cornering issues in the past. I currently have a sumped cell in the trunk that I've modified with a trap door box. Pulling fuel from this box and returning to the box eliminated all my problems. I've been wanting to remove the cell from my trunk and get it back under the car for a while now, but have been worried about factory location tanks. Rick's looked like a great place to start because talking with Hector, they've worked with Aeromotive to come up with a good set-up for an intank pump mount. I told him what success I've had with my set-up and he like hearing that as he said they will be setting it up the same way. (all but the trap doors)

I'm excited to see the result. I had a hard time choking down the cost, but I'm sure it will be everything I need and want.

[Turbo67camaro]

Hi Ron,

Love your car!

Hope the new purchase works. Let us know the results!

The cost of one of their setups makes me choke a bit too. But, if it solves starvation issues without me having to get into a lot of fabrication or a convoluted solution, I think I can bring myself to cough up the dough.

I was hoping to get by with a Spectra tank, but we've had one report of starvation at the track. Perhaps that will turn out to be an isolated case, but I suspect not.

Mike

[RSX302]

Thanks Mike...

My last long radius corner netted 1.1g's with a peak of 1.2 on the street. I'm still working on the brakes, only getting .85g's. Goal is closer to 1g. I gotta do something to catch up with Bad Penny

Rick's told me it's going to be about a month before they're done.

I'll let you know...

[CarlC]

Hey Ron,

You may want to check out Charlie's Jackass thread on L-G. In it is a picture where Rick's has adapted a modern fuel bucket that utilizes a venturi pump to keep the sump full. It''s a very nice setup. Hector should know about it. I will be modifying mine to do the same thing.

[RSX302]

Hey Ron,

You may want to check out Charlie's Jackass thread on L-G. In it is a picture where Rick's has adapted a modern fuel bucket that utilizes a venturi pump to keep the sump full. It''s a very nice setup. Hector should know about it. I will be modifying mine to do the same thing.

That's funny..about a 1 1/2 yrs ago when I was looking at modifying a factory location tank, I called up Rick's (Hector) to see if they would be able to make me a multiple pump set-up. Twin in-tank 255l pumps(each side) feeding a box in the middle that housed my A1000. The multiple pump design has been in the roadracing world for years. I sent Hector a CAD drawing of what I was thinking, but I then I decided that I didn't want to run multiple pumps if I didn't absolutly need to. I thought I should be able to get something to work with one pump. Fuel Safe uses the box design with trap doors or check balls to control fuel at the pump and it works very well. You could still run into issues with the box design if you have low fuel levels (less then 5 gals) pulling hard cornering where as the multiple pump design will not.

I'll call Hector this week to see how much extra it'll be.

[Bow Tie 67]

I have one and have had no problems at the drag-strip, auto-x or road course. I'm using a high output stock type internal pump.

[Patrick]

I have a Rick's tank in my car. Under heavy acceleration or right hand turns with less than 1/2 tank I have serious fuel starvation problems. I am using their Walbro fuel pump setup.
Hector is aware of it and said that he would modify the tank to correct the problem.... Just don't want to have the car down for a couple of weeks.

[CarlC]

Ron, please keep me in the loop on that. I may have them modify mine.

[RSX302]

Ron, please keep me in the loop on that. I may have them modify mine.

You got it!

[camcojb]

Hey Ron,

You may want to check out Charlie's Jackass thread on L-G. In it is a picture where Rick's has adapted a modern fuel bucket that utilizes a venturi pump to keep the sump full. It''s a very nice setup. Hector should know about it. I will be modifying mine to do the same thing.

I thought Mark Stielow did the modding to make that work in a Ricks tank; I could be wrong though.

I would do a surge tank; would absolutely eliminate these road course issues. I also think Ricks could even incorporate them in their tanks which would be very cool, but I have not talked to him about it in a long time.

Just build a 1-2 gallon tank with an inlet, outlet, and return line fitting up top. Otherwise it's a sealed box and could be mounted anywhere it'll fit, but I think walling off a section of the tank would be coolest as you won't have to try to find room under the car for another tank. You have a decent pump feeding it from the main tank, the main efi pump draws from this 1-2 gallon surge tank and bypasses to it also. Finally, there's a return line at the top of the tank (if it's mounted remotely) or just a simple slot cut at the top on one wall to allow the bypassed and extra fuel to spill back into the tank. Just box off a corner of the tank, add a pump that feeds this boxed area all the time from the sump of the main fuel tank. What you now have is a 1-2 gallon "float bowl". As the tank level gets lower the surge tank remains full. In the event that you are on a road course and high g forces are pulling fuel away from the pump pickup (where you'd get a stutter/hesitation as the fuel pressure dropped) you'll still have a couple gallons in reserve. Once the car is back on the straighaway the surge tank is refilled quickly and all is good. You make this thing to hold a couple gallons of fuel and you'd never have a hard cornering fuel pressure issue again; even at wot it would take a long time to drain two gallons of fuel through the engine, don't know of a corner that long.

Jody

[CarlC]

Jody,

I heard somewhere that Mark sent the spec's to Hector, but the info came through several layers before me so I don't know the validity.

[Mkelcy]

And here I've been feeling stupid for spending within $200 of a Rick's tank to mod a stock tank with an in tank pump and sump that have never given me fuel starvation issues regardless how much fuel is in the tank by stuffing this
.

into the stock tank, thusly:






Or maybe I'm not pushing it hard enough . . .

[mazspeed]

I have the Rick's modified tank. Mark Stielow had a design that works and he has all his tanks built with fuel doors, check balls and whatnot. I had the same problem as I would lose fuel on big right hand sweepers, and very spirited driving situations on the stock tank. I ripped the tank out, Campbell Auto came up with a slightly different design then Mark's but still similar and now it works great. Hector did a real nice job on it, and he is great to work with. I did tell him that he should make 2 tanks for sale. A race style tank like what I have, and a standard cheaper tank for someone who may not track or run their cars full on all the time. Having 2 tanks and letting people know the difference would be great, because not many people need the higher end tank, but it would be nice to give them that choice. If you order a tank from them, talk to Hector and tell him you want the tank to be like Mine from Campbell auto and or Mark’s. I’m not sure if they have adapted either one for retail sale.

[Mkelcy]

I have the Rick's modified tank. Mark Stielow had a design that works and he has all his tanks built with fuel doors, check balls and whatnot. I had the same problem as I would lose fuel on big right hand sweepers, and very spirited driving situations on the stock tank. I ripped the tank out, Campbell Auto came up with a slightly different design then Mark's but still similar and now it works great. Hector did a real nice job on it, and he is great to work with. I did tell him that he should make 2 tanks for sale. A race style tank like what I have, and a standard cheaper tank for someone who may not track or run their cars full on all the time. Having 2 tanks and letting people know the difference would be great, because not many people need the higher end tank, but it would be nice to give them that choice. If you order a tank from them, talk to Hector and tell him you want the tank to be like Mine from Campbell auto and or Mark’s. I’m not sure if they have adapted either one for retail sale.

For $1,000+ for a fuel tank (which, by the way, I have for my '68 LS3 project car), I expect it to keep pumping fuel until the vapors are used up. This is disappointing.

[mazspeed]

For $1,000+ for a fuel tank (which, by the way, I have for my '68 LS3 project car), I expect it to keep pumping fuel until the vapors are used up. This is disappointing.

It is more than 1k but a fuel cell is what, 2k? plus you have to cut the floor and fab stuff up. You may get some unused fuel, but it's not much, less than a gallon. The positives outweigh the negatives, at least for Mark and myself. Plus Hector's customer service is unbeatable.

[RSX302]

For $1,000+ for a fuel tank (which, by the way, I have for my '68 LS3 project car), I expect it to keep pumping fuel until the vapors are used up. This is disappointing.

Although I don't know what the cost of building a tank is, I do know that stainless is more expensive and machining is a pain in the a$$. The only way I know to use every last drop of fuel is to run a deep sump or a separate tank fed by other pumps as mentioned. A flat bottom tank with a couple of baffles is good for basic street stuff and keeps the cost down, but won't deal with 1g stuff in any direction. Good ol' carburetor days had the float bowls to help out with this.
Since I don't want to run multiple pumps in a street car, the next best thing is the sumped box with trap doors/ball checks. (this is what I'm currently running and it works well, but not to the last drop. You need at least 5 gals) I want to incorporate something simular into Rick's tank. I will check out what design they did for Mark's tank? (is it sumped?)I will be calling Hector tomorrow to see if he can shoot me a picture of the design.
It's very tough to get all the fuel on a wide flat bottom when it sloshes in every direction. When you start adding more baffles and boxes, labor and machining add up. Not to mention working with my A1000!

[RSX302]

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