fuel cell foam

[fryedaddy]

i have a 16 gallon fuel cell in my trunk,i found a bunch of that black foam out of it in my fuel filter, it had it about half stopped up.what do i do,remove the plastic foam from the cell?or just keep an eye on it?

[SSdynosaur]

A reasonably high quality replacement foam is available from Summit but you need to remove the degraded foam from the cell and flush all debris from the system up to the filter where you found the particles. Summit's listing used to claim that their product was the same speced by the military for aircraft. I can say that it holds up to racing fuel, VP C25, and is blue in color. Just remember to leave an area, void of foam, immediately around the tank discharge fitting; some of the racing pumps are so aggressive that they have been known to pull off chunks of foam from the media.

[fryedaddy]

the cell is new from summit book.it has been filled maybe 15 or 20 times.could me sticking nozzle in to fill tear little pieces off.

[pbf777]

     In my experience one would be advised the change out this foam every other year, as by the third year, even the "good stuff" starts to degrade and plug things up.  Now if you bought something other than the known good manufactures stuff, well....................

     Scott.

[Falcon67]

Since I occasionally run methanol, I took all the foam out of my fuel cell. It's a 15 gallon unit and no pressure or feed problems as long as I keep at least 2+" of fuel in the cell.  That said, the gray foam that came with it from Summit lasted several years with pump gas, VP110 and such and no shedding or particulate matter in the filter.

[fryedaddy]

polyurethane tank,300 bucks,inline fuel pump, carberated engine, 93 no ethanol plus 110 race fuel mix,no pump in cell.i would like to remove the foam and leave it out if it wont cause a problem

[Falcon67]

The only issue I've seen with no foam is in the shutdown with 2" or less in the cell - I'll see the fuel pressure wiggle a bit, most likely because the fuel is sloshing forward in the cell under braking. I use a 240 GPH pump with dual #8 feeds out of the cell rear and a single #10 return line, so any air in the lines at the cell rear will show up quick on the gauge.  If the cell was smaller, say - 10 gallon - I doubt I'd even see anything at that low level.  I say "low" but 2" in a 15 gallon aluminum cell is still a good amount of fuel.  I'm considering "retiring" the 15 for a 10 anyway because I don't drive the car as much as I have in the past. I mostly race it and short jaunts at a car show and such.