EFI Fuel Tanks

[Aussie260z]

Because the carby floats act as surge tanks,

But i take it that the 280z's from the US would have had surge tanks???

[drunkenmaster]

Yep, which i dont think would be cost effective to import.

My opinion is that using an external pump and a surge tank under the car shouldn't set you back too much and is better then chasing an obscure bolt in tank that is 30 years old anyway.

[TomoHawk]

...using an external pump and a surge tank under the car...

where under the car?

[drunkenmaster]

I have seen them mounted around the area where the stock low pressure pump is.

I dont have any photos unfortunately.

Many cars do this in australia as it is illegal in some (all?) states to have them in the cabin.

[Aussie260z]

Found two options so far,

Stewart Wilkins does a 2lt surge tank in the engine bay, fittings for a VL commodore fuel pump,

EFI Hardware sell a 0.9l surge tank and bracketry that mounts it where the later Z's external fuel pumps are mounted, in the drivers side rear tyre well,

But there has to be a decent in tank setup in Australia?

[HKSZ]

Hey didn't happen to get a price on both those tanks?

This will be my next project, rear mount would be pref but there's not much room when u start adding 2 pumps.

[Aussie260z]

Yeah both were around the $165AUS mark, but by the time you buy all the pumps, hoses, clamps and filters you will required you will need around $400AUS im guesstimating (depending on which pumps you use and how cheap you get them),

But i have another idea....................

Im going to grab an R31 or Pintara fuel tank, then im going to remove its fuel cradle and swirl pot, then im going to cut open my Datto tank and install both into my fuel tank - this will mean i only need one fuel pump and it will have an interanl surge tank, everything will be internal in the tank,

Folks do this with 1600's - they have baffled tanks, but because there is a swirl pot i should have no worries with fuel starvation,

I will let you know how i go,

On a side note - no one knows if a 280zx fuel tank fits an earlier Zed - might be an option for the Aussie folks,

[zed240au]

been looking at this problem myself have even been under the wifes vt commodore measuring its damn close fit to a 240z

After listening to a holley blue pump and the external pump in my brothers vl commodore im leaning towards cutting open the 240 tank and fitting a swirl pot inside using a commodore internal pump think this is the best option saves two pumps and seperate swirl pot tank

Mick

[Aussie260z]

I will hopefully get it underway and maybe sorted by the end of the weekend, i will let you know how i go,

At the moment i am probably going to use the pump and cradle from an R31 Skyline and the swirl pot from a 1991 Pintara (2.4l version), its got a much bigger swirl pot than the R31's and earlier Pintara's,

It looks as if it should be pretty straight forward

[260DET]

Other than for high G competition use, what you are doing is a sensible solution to the problem of ensuring reliable EFI fuel supply. Compared with the Datsun 1600, the Z tank is very poorly baffled which does not help at all.

My S30 ended up with an extra baffle, an internal pot, a pickup pump, swirl pot and EFI pump.

[260DET]

Here is a link http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106964

[Aussie260z]

Thanks for the link mate, made life alot easier,

I ended up doing something very similar to that, basically cut the top of the tank - which you need to do to gain clearance for the fuel lines (hit the underbody of the car otherwise) and welded in a new plate section with the fuel cradle mounting rim welded on top,

I ended up using a cradle from a 1991 Nissan Pintara, straightened it out and extended it so it sits at the bottom of the Datto tank, im still deciding on what pump to use, but my brother has a Walbro pump that is used in mustangs and is supposed to be good for about 400hp or so and it is exactly the same size as the little Bosch 937 pump that came with the Pintara,

As for the sender unit i only have to bend it very slightly, just a little bit over to the right to give clearance for the swirl pot,

The swirl pot was a custom job, literally just a rectangle with a hole at the bottom and two on each side at the top,

I was going to use the Pintara swirl pot because its massive, but i would have been very difficult to fit inside the datto tank without doing some serious mods to the sender unit arm and also the Datto tank has little ridges on the bottom that the straps (the straps that hold the tank to the car) go into - so i ditched the Pintara swirl pot,

This is a very cheap, easy, effective and quiet way to get the EFI fuel tank setup done,

You end up with all your fuel stuff interallised without the tank, you only need 1 fuel pump and it looks soooooo much neater than having a bunch of sh#t under your rear wheel,

Sorry, no pics at the moment, i will post some as soon as i get my camera back