Fuel Tank Mods Done Finally

[sixiron]

completed my fuel tanks mods today with some help from my boys and a few silver bullets( I do not wish to do this again)...dropped the tank last night and did the internal tank mods...had different set-up than all the info I had stashed away...my return line had a 90 degree bend and I could not cut the tubing away(not enough space or tubing) to have a line running straight down to the bottom of tank....so I have short tube extending 2" or so approx 4" above the pick-up which should work fine in my reasoning...a return line located above the fuel p/u should return fuel and any air into the tank above the p/u unit and shouldn't effect or add air to the bottom of tank p/u ???am I thinking right here?...My fuel tank had 2 vent tube hoses one on either end of tank...I ran my clear 3/8 fuel line to the Racor frame filter and ran 5/16 line to pump and from pump to forward metal line a front of engine ...got rid of all ez connectors....primed the system by opening the fuel/water seperator and activated ign switch until fuel pored out into the container...hit switch 2 more times to fill bowl and fired it up...chugged for around 10 min getting rid of air and then it cleared up and runs nice...have trip to Long Branch NJ and I will check fuel milage and see if this mod makes difference...OH BTW when I was getting parts at the ford parts counter they said Old so and so has done about 2-3 of these mods...so I went over to old so and so and from his expression I think I must be from Mars or some alien life form, I've never seen a more blank stare...dealers just don't care...If anyone is attempting this mod get some help it sure makes it easier I'm getting too old for "driveway projects" I envy those that have shops..Boost gauge and propane on the way along with a BTS trans 169,000 now..later Bill

[Larry M]

sixiron,

Three questions,

First, what kind of clear tubing did you use and I understand where one is attached to, but where is the other end attached to?

Second, you mentioned using tubing in the tank, what kind and will it be submerged in fuel?

Third, did your in tank pickup have the white mixing bowel and black rubber foot?

Larry

[sixiron]

Larry, to answer your questions:
1. clear 3/8 tubing(fuel line) from top of fuel tank to the inlet side of the Racor frame mounted filter...ran 5/16 fuel line to everything else...outlet side of racor to fuel pump ...fuel pump to engine p/u tube...at last quick disconnect fitting.....
2. Sorry, tubing in the tank I should have stated that this was 3/8 and 5/16 stainless steel brake line used to extend the fuel p/up tube to the bottom of the tank with the black strainer....5/16 used to extend the return line(that's where mine differed)...all of which removes the "mixing bowl" answer to #3 question..bd

[Larry M]

Sixiron,

For the 3/8 from the tank to the Racor the only two semi clear diesel rate fuel hoses that I know of are the Fuel and Lubricant PVC tubing 5187K or the Tygon Fuel and Lubricant PVC tubing 5552K found on page 82 <font color="red"> HERE</font color>. I have used both and would only recommend the 5552K uncovered for short lengths due to potential wear problems.

Of course it is up to you and your installation will certainly give you a visual monitoring of the fuel from the tank, however, I personally would consider monitoring the visual condition of the fuel as it goes to the fuel pump (i.e. after the filter, not before) I know you don't want to hear this, but for the long haul you might want to consider running regular 3/8 30R7 fuel hose from the top of the tank to Racor and on the outlet of the Racor put short piece of 5/16 Tygon 5552K tubing (2 to 3 inches) attached to a double 5/16 fuel hose barb and then into you standard 30R7 fuel hose that goes to the fuel pump. A more durable and permanent alternative that I plan to use to replace my current 3/8 section of non diesel rated tubing is a sight flow (probably w/o the indicator) such as the 1138K series show on page 443 <font color="red"> HERE</font color>. I don't know what size threads are on the Racor or where you located it, but if you used one of the outlet/inlet ports that is at a right angle to the filter you might even consider getting the sight flow with the Female x Male threads where the Male end screws directly into the Racor filter head.

A couple of other comments that you might want to consider:

I'm sure you noticed that all flexible portions of the fuel lines have some kind of wire loom type protection on them (mine are blue for the supply and grey for the return). You might look at doing something similiar for your lines if you haven't. I used plain old black wire loom on all my lines except from the filter to my fuel isolation manifold. I will put wire loom on those shortly, just haven't got around to it yet. Finally, I personally double clamped all my fittings with the 1/2 wide SS worm type clamps and have gone back about 4 times so far over the past two months and made sure they were good and tight.

I'm not too sure why you replaced the hose on the outlet side of the fuel pump since this line is under considerable presssure and should not be an air concern, if the o-rings leak, they should leak fuel only. However, I would make sure that you used hose that is rated for diesel and has a a sufficient enough working pressure to give you a good safety margin. I don't believe the standard diesel rated 30R7 will take that pressure and I have never personally be able to verify that the standard fuel injection hose 30R9 which is typically rated at 100psi is diesel rated. There are hoses out there that are good for this pressurized side application because they are being used in the various regulator mods, but to my knowledge they are not the clamp on type and use special fittings. I only bring this up as a caution and really can't help much in recommending what to do or use since I haven't considered replacing the factory hoses on the outlet side of the fuel pump and simply haven't had any need to do any independent research into this area.

There have been warnings about using any kind of zinc/galvinized type hard line if that is what you used inside the tank since evidently diesel over time causes the zinc to flake off. Since you have the Racor I would think you're O.K., but I don't know if the size of the flaking if it occurs could cause a problem in the line itself.

Hope all this helps and please don't take anything I've said as being critical, I just want to try and provide the owner with enough good information so that he/she can make their own informed decision and would not like to see someone with a problem hundred's of miles from home in the winter at 0 degrees snowing to find out they have to drop this metal tank to fix a problem.

Let me know if you have any more questions or if I can help (if this is how you take all this [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ) which is all I'm trying to do [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Larry

[sixiron]

Horse is already out of the barn Larry, but no offense taken from comments, only the reverse, that is why I post and gather info here .... to learn what other folks have done to their vehicles..My post was intended to place on notice that our vans are different from the trucks and the fuel mods shown in a step-by-step process may not apply to us as we upgrade our vehicles...BTW my Racor is a 645R30 unit mounted on the driver-side mid vehicle between tank and pump...since DIS supplied a new pump inlet connector with line and kit I installed their line when I installed the frame filter...I will take the engine filter out and use the racor as my primary filter since it has exactly the same filtering level as the stock unit ...I will maintain the stock unit for heating...filter changes will be easier and better for me...later guys bd

[Larry M]

sixiron,

No problem. If I'm not mistaken I think the Racor 645R30 is a 30 micron while the one on top the engine is 2 microns.
Might want to check that before you completely remove the one on top of the engine.

Larry

[sixiron]

Just returned tonight from 1,300 mile round-trip delivering to the NJ shore...Engine noise is less noticeable and you can really hear the turbo whine on acceleration..with the other air box tweaks I've done the power sound is nice...4 fill-ups ran 21.4 20.3 20.0 20.0 (always less milage with Northern fuel, I don't know why???) this is 70-80 MPH running with a lot of creeping on traffic backups(NC to NJ up I-95 wash,DC Baltimore etc...so the verdict is still out on the milage increase from the tank mods although it appears that the work was not in vain..