Fitting to get return line connected to tank

[Bolted to Floor]

I'm trying to get the return line back into the tank on the Mustang. Its a factory 20 gallon tank from the 69 models. Looking to install a fitting near the hole for the sending unit so I can get in there to tighten it up. The link is to a bulk head fitting from Jegs. Does anyone have a better suggestion or idea?

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance-Products/555/100561/10002/-1

Thanks

[Drew Pojedinec]

Nope I used the same one (or thereabouts) for a fuel tank fitting.  Works fine, 3-4 years and no leaks.  I cleaned the steel really well and smeared a lil Seal-All prior to install.

[jayb]

You could try a RobbMc fuel tank sender.  The have two 1/2" tubes built in, one for fuel and one for return.  Also available with AN fittings to easily hook up an AN line. 

http://www.robbmcperformance.com/products/1085_fordsend.html

[Yellow Truck]

The McRobb part is interesting. I wonder if it would work on my 69F100.

I didn't put in a return line, but I did run a new, larger line and needed a bigger pickup than came with the '69 F100. I drilled a hole and used a bulkhead fitting and this part - https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/rus-639203/overview/ - to drop a piece of brake tube to the bottom of the tank for a new pickup. I drilled a new hole in the reinforced part of the tank beside the original opening.

I had to bend a wrench so I could reach into the opening to hold the bottom of the bulkhead fitting to tighten it.

[Russ67Scode]

McRobb is what I used great piece

[Bolted to Floor]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going with the bulkhead fitting. That McRobb sender is nice, but I got a different plan for the rest of those dollars. 

[cammerfe]

Many years ago when Brother Lon and I first put EFI in his '67 Mustang, we put the return line into the filler neck. It's easy enough to take the filler neck off the car to work on it and just as easy to put it back. It worked perfectly for all the time he had the car, so far as I know.

KS

[stubbie]

You could use a small pot under the bonnet for your fuel and efi pump and run your return into that. No need to mess with original tank then.

[Bolted to Floor]

Many years ago when Brother Lon and I first put EFI in his '67 Mustang, we put the return line into the filler neck. It's easy enough to take the filler neck off the car to work on it and just as easy to put it back. It worked perfectly for all the time he had the car, so far as I know.

KS

 Cammer, I don't know the stories but I've seen the references to Brother Lon. Could you educate me? Sound like y'all had some fun times.

To add more to my story on the bulk head fitting, I will be using a carb for now. But, wanted the return line to help with the vapor lock issues that could happen with today's fuels.

[My427stang]

Regardless of where you put it, be sure to have a "crash switch" or impact switch in the car.  Ford makes a nice one for the early 5.0 Mustangs, it wires in line of the pump and if you crash, it shuts down the fuel pump.

Likely will never need it, but especially if it's in the filler neck, a relatively light hit in the back could pop the hose and have it fill the trunk with fuel.  FYI, I am not a guy afraid of this like some are, I'd even love to build an FE Pinto   However, it's cheap and easy and no reason at all not to be safe

[cammerfe]

'Brother Lon' is my three-years-younger brother, named Leon, and, therefore, Lon.

Back in the '60s we both worked for FoMoCo and did car stuff. He bought a new 390 Mustang, a '67, in late '66. With a 4.44 DL rear end and a few simple mods, he held the class record at Milan for most of the '67 season. But he got caught on a bit of wet track (in the eyes) and the roll-over required a fairly complete re-do. The resulting car was over 100 pounds lighter than it came from the factory.

Soon thereafter we put together a 'crate' 427 shortblock and the upper end from a TP engine that had been part of the LeMans test program---sourced through contacts at FoMoCo.

Jump ahead a few years and, while I was writing for Super Ford Magazine, I collaborated with the new EFI group at Holley and we put a pair of their throttle body injectors on the factory dual-quad manifold. Thus the necessity for a return line.

Somewhere around here I still have a copy of Mustang Illustrated Magazine with a story I did about street-racing the Mustang. Maybe I'll dig it out and do a post in the non-tech section, if it's all right with Jay.

KS

[Bolted to Floor]

Ross,
Point well taken on the impact switch. One of those will be installed.

Cammer,
Sounds like a wild ride. Thanks for sharing.

[Russ67Scode]

Gas tank has a drain fitting that could also be used as a return

[cammerfe]

With the drain fitting on the bottom of the tank, a return line there will have to push against the 'head' of the fuel in the tank. The return line should go in the top of the tank so as to have no 'head' to push against.

KS

[jayb]

I don't think that where the drain line enters the tank is all that important.  The return fuel is under pressure, after all.  All the Aeromotive tanks and partial tanks put the return line into the tank at exactly the same level as the feed line, right at the bottom of the tank.  I've been using those for years, with carbureted and fuel injected systems, with no problems.

[unclewill]

FiTech offers a "fuel command center" portable retrofit:
http://fitechefi.com/products/40003/

[cammerfe]

I'm told that putting the return in close proximity to the pick-up, (such as is found with an add-on sump or is common with fuel cells that provide two fittings side-by-side,) offers a high possibility of creating a swirl in the fuel---such as is found in a toilet bowl. THIS IS NOT DESIRABLE.

With a pressurized return, such is found with EFI, the 'head' is not as critical as it is with carburation. In a carbureted lay-out, the head will cause fluctuations in fuel pressure and is considered a 'no-no'. The Holley guys suggested an 'above the fuel' position for the return line. Holley EFI has the pressure regulator built into the throttle body and set at the factory. Although it is field-adjustable, a 'head' will, to some degree, interfere with the factory setting.

My methanol fuel cell has one of the side-by-side fittings capped. The return goes into the top of the cell where the return fuel goes directly into the foam and velocity and potential aeration are thereby dissipated.

KS

[jayb]

FWIW, the Aeromotive fuel tank sumps that have the inlet and outlet positioned together at the back, also have a baffle between them in the sump, to prevent the swirl condition that you described.

[unclewill]

I'll find out next week when I install my FiTech EFI and fuel command center on my 482 side oiler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQWsajaNjaQ

[Bolted to Floor]

I missed some of the responses. For now, the car will have a mechanical pump feeding the carburetor. At least the return line will help with heat soak and a vapor lock issues. In the future, I want to add a EFI and I'll get there someday.

I don't know if the fuel command center will ever be an option for me. I'm not wild about the idea of having a small gas can under the hood of the car with a vapor line coming off of it. Having air conditioning and power steering on this car doesn't leave much real estate for it either.

I dug around and found a video somebody posted to the site that shows the aeration in the tank from the return line coming in simulated in a pan. I never realized there was that much of an issue with it. The return line was spewing fuel like a water hose.

For now the pick-up and return fitting will have some distance between them. I don't think the mechanical pump would put that much fuel back into the tank to cause a bunch of aeration issues, but that's me taking a WAG.

By the time I get around to fuel injection, I may wind up with a completely different tank altogether.