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Here’s the improvised fuel funnel in action.SAFETY WARNING: On a warm day gasoline will evaporate pretty quickly. Be sure to leave your garage door open and don’t spend too much time under the car to avoid inhaling gasoline fumes. Be extremely careful to avoid spark and open flame. Disconnect your battery and all that safety stuff. In my case, my water heater is in my garage, and it is natural gas-heated, which means an open flame. I am always sure to keep fuel jugs and fuel work on the far side of the garage, as best I can. I haven’t blown anything up… yet.
These fittings are conveniently located right above the rear axles and on either side of the differential. Convenient in that they are not easy to get to without wobble sockets or flex joints. Convenient in the complete and total opposite of the meaning of the word convenient. Fortunately, I bought those tools several weeks after completing the removal of the fuel tank.
The filler neck is bolted to both the tank and the quarter panel. I actually wanted to retain the factory filler position, so I made sure not to wreck the filler when I yanked it. There are lots and lots of tiny little 8mm bolts all over the various panels on the fuel tank. I save everything, so now I have a bag of small 8mm bolts.
The filler neck behind the gas door is attached to the car with four screws. I had recently bought a kit of Milwaukee 18V cordless tools. The impact, light and (hammer) drill were really useful for this project. The drill was probably overkill for this job but I’m lazy. If I had had only hand tools I probably could’ve done everything, but it would have been a lot harder.I wanted to retain the factory filler on this car because I have visions of enduro races where I might need to refuel. The idea of needing a funnel and having to open the trunk seemed annoying. Remember, lazy. This is also efficient, as most tracks are clockwise with pit wall to driver’s right. So, pop the fuel door, take off the cap, and fill ’er up. If you want to do this, be sure to save the retaining plate! I almost lost mine. That would’ve been annoying and another great Damnit moment. Fortunately, my laziness paid off and I found it in my garbage can which hadn’t yet been dragged out to the curb for pickup.
Here’s the space vacated by the factory fuel tank. You can see the two gaskets on the unibody where the tank rested and the hard lines and banjo fittings went through the chassis and underneath. The tank is only held into the car by four large bolts. Once the filler is off, it’s pretty easy to remove.
Here’s the removed tank and the filler neck along with a bucket. That’s how much fuel was left in the bottom of the tank that slowly drained out – almost 2 gallons! I ran it through a coffee filter and have been using it in my lawnmower. Fun stuff!
6 comments
i have a 1992 sc300 gte engine and i was looking to do the same i have dual exhaust on my will i have enough room to run that fuel cell but nice work
You will definitely need to modify your exhaust to fit a fuel cell if you go with one as large as this. Ideally you would figure out your fuel consumption rate in G or L per minute, and then figure out your target run-time, and then size the cell accordingly. I probably could have used a _much smaller_ cell.
i have a 97 SC300 just sitting on the side of my house and just need to spend some time with it
this is my 3rd one in amazing condition
Awesome to hear! I would love to see more SCs out there getting it done.
Hey Erik I’ve kept close tabs on this blog and now I have an SC400 that’s ready for a fuel upgrade! I’d like to run the same setup you have, but I can’t make out what the dimensions of your fuel cell are. Is it the 25.75″ x 25.75″ x 8.5″?
Looking back, we have a Fuel Safe PC122C cell which Fuel Safe lists as 25.5 x 17.125 x 13.75 — However:
Radium discontinued its partnership with Fuel Safe some years ago and is now making its own cells from the ground up. They carry FIA and SFI certifications.
https://www.radiumauto.com/Fuel-Cells-RA-Series-P1822.aspx
If I had to do it again, I would not go with such a large cell. But things have changed. The car is a full-on race car that I trailer to the track, so I have no problem with filling it every session. 22Gal would be good for a “drive to the track” car but is quite ridiculously large for other circumstances.
Also, check out the PRI coverage from 2023 — Radium has a really trick new design for the FCST that makes changing pumps a breeze.