Dave-gerous E21

[Kershaw]

uh huh.

and what was wrong with your oem unit?

[Dave-ger]

[Dave-ger]

thanks!

16 gauge, so about 1.6mm. Pretty heavy duty.
I was considering something along the same lines but in 1mm (18-19 gauge).

yea, it's overkill, but it was easier to work with that way. 19 gauge or what not would work fine, I think my friend who helped me a little with this one made the one for his rock buggy out of that. his looks much nicer because he's a more experienced and skilled fabricator. anyways, it's holding up well. It even withstood the buggy's 8th or 9th roll over.

[dirtysix]

It's 16 guage. I didn't do aluminum because I understand the ethanol and/or additives in pump gas is bad for it or something like that. In addition, steel is much easier to work with as far as welding and everything. it's a bit on the heavy side, but not as bad as you'd think. A good thing that comes with that is that there is pretty much no way it will ever split open or anything. I've heard of some cases in off road applications where aluminum fuel cells actually do split open. if my car were to ever roll or anything serious like that, I'd prefer to not have gas everywhere.

it's not the prettiest, but I'm new to TIG welding like I said, and this was the thinnest steel I had ever TIGed... probably should have practiced a bit before, lol!

16 gauge, so about 1.6mm. Pretty heavy duty.
I was considering something along the same lines but in 1mm (18-19 gauge).

[LuckyHenriksen]

Looks great man, nice update

[Dave-ger]

It's 16 guage. I didn't do aluminum because I understand the ethanol and/or additives in pump gas is bad for it or something like that. In addition, steel is much easier to work with as far as welding and everything. it's a bit on the heavy side, but not as bad as you'd think. A good thing that comes with that is that there is pretty much no way it will ever split open or anything. I've heard of some cases in off road applications where aluminum fuel cells actually do split open. if my car were to ever roll or anything serious like that, I'd prefer to not have gas everywhere.

it's not the prettiest, but I'm new to TIG welding like I said, and this was the thinnest steel I had ever TIGed... probably should have practiced a bit before, lol!

[dirtysix]

What gauge steel aaannnd why steel and not ally, if you're Tigging?

[Dave-ger]

I wasn't going to post this until it was in the car working, but whatevs. I've heard that plastic breathes and that's probably part of why the RCI fuel cell leaked vapor, but not fuel. Apparently plastic fuel cells aren't good for trunks. Anyone want to buy it real cheap? let me know!

the main part of the fuel cell bent up with some excess on it


the sump. the small hole is where the AN fitting now is, the big hole is on the inside. the idea is that under hard braking or cornering, fuel can't spill out of there as easy to make pump starvation even less likely than it would be otherwise. the hole probably should have been smaller, but oh well.


Baffles to reduce side to side sloshing:



All TIG welded up, pressure testing. Some ugly tacks and not horrible looking mig beads patched up the flaws that I found with the pressure testing. Took like 4 tries.



Steezy angle iron mounting tab:



expensive cap and filler neck setup, Tim from German Master Tech gave me a discount though, cause he's the man!


side view


strut bar and fuel cell mounting studs. both things cost me pretty much nothing

don't knock my welds too much, it was hard to reach this, especially since I had to lay in the trunk. I wanted to be able to kind of show you the little plates.


the mounting studs are used 8.8 bolts from one of both of the E21's I've owned welded on hole saw cutouts from the fuel cell baffles.


I'm a little disappointed with how much the tank warped when I welded it and with the fact that I was just starting to get the hang of TIGing thinner metal towards the end of this project. Oh well, that's how you learn I guess. The tank has some liner in it that's curing, I should be painting it, installing and filling it before the end of the week!

[Dave-ger]

ha, understandable. well, it's good to know that me kind of apathetically feeling out selling this car has confirmed that I'd probably be able to find someone who wants it.

I'm probably going to get some help from my friend who owns G Fab Motorsports. He's worked with many fuel cells while building up off road rigs and has built at least one fuel cell which is on his own buggy. he recommends I try a different cap assembly on the tank first. I might get a few fittings so I can try pressure testing it as well. if the cap assembly doesn't to the trick, I'd need it for building a fuel cell anyways, so it wouldn't be a loss at all.

[gearheadE30]

You're on the wrong coast....and of course price is a factor...but still kinda interested, hah.

[Dave-ger]

my fuel cell troubles are really bothering me. if I'm going to keep this car, I have to probably make a fuel cell.

just for a feeler, anyone want to buy this car?

[Dave-ger]

indubitably!

[LuckyHenriksen]

Awesome! I appreciate it.

[Dave-ger]

I'm honored to have inspired you to build an E21!

I'm subscribed to your threads, I think I may PM you about some things on your CL ad sir, and I'm going to post your CL ad on my local car club site. there is another E21 owner in my car club now.

[LuckyHenriksen]

thanks man! the E30 in your sig looks really nice by the way. got links for your builds?

Thanks, let me dig up a couple of the threads for you. I saw your car at Pacific Waterlands in Woodburn last summer, I took a bunch of pics of it but can't find them now :( It's what got me started thinking about the E21 chassis. I will also throw my craigslist link in here in case you see something you need :D


E21 Thread

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=196837

E3O Thread

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=179495&highlight=FK+Cup+Kit

And my CL ad :)

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/pts/2217057322.html