Fuel tank

[Rat Reek]

Hi all,
Has anybody put a fuel tank in the front of a reek ? I have been looking at it and a 45 ltr  tank fits very nicely there . the obvious is the battery needs to be moved ,As I have to rewire car I was thinking of placing battery in the back of the reek  any comments?

[midmount]

Hi Bruce
My tank and battery are in the front. will be in Ballina next week. 23rd.
  David.

[Rat Reek]

sounds good Call in if you get the chance.
 any possibility  on borrowing some roof hinges for a couple weeks

[WebGoat]

G'day Bruce,

If David can't help with some hinges then I have a "spare" pair you can borrow. 

Like several other parts of my Eurekas they are well travelled, they've been to South Aus and back already so why not NSW too! 

PP.

ps. Just email me your address to post them to.

[Toxic-Rock]

Hi all,

I have my tank out and I am replacing it. Not sure if I should put a new VW tank in or something else. javascript:void(0);Some advise would be nice if anyone would like to offer. Photos would be good if you can post them with any advice.

Regards

Rock 

[The Metalsmith]

Heya Rock,
                  I've just sent Aiden a brand new 60 L alloy tank I made for him. He paid $700 + postage for it. He also sent me his fuel guage and sender so I could set it perfectly to his guage. I've included a fitting kit so his installation will be straight forward.

As you can see from the pic, only the tanks depth varies. I've just put a similar sized tank in Jeni's reek (right). I've got a 68 L one waiting to go into Cyc-baby's reek (centre) sometime in the future and earlier this year I put an 80 L one (left) in my son's reek.  If you want another option to your dilemma, just holler.

     Simon

    

[Toxic-Rock]

Hi Simon,

just looking at ideas at the moment. The front end tank intrigued me more than anything. Could be a lot of work though.

Regards

Rock

[Aiden]

Hi Rock and Bruce,

Being a Heavy Diesel Fitter by trade, my first thought about a front mounted fuel tank is what would happen in a front end collision? I'm not saying that I have eighty years of experience and you can't do it, just that i'd be looking at some anti-intrusion device to fit in front of it, Just some food for thought.

On another note (free plug),

I got home yesterday and there was a fuel tank waiting for me, all i have to say is if you would like a quality tank made for you at a reasonable price, then Simon is your go-to Man. He isn't called "The Metalsmith" for nothing. i'm more than happy with my purchase and his customer service.
Give him a call, i'm sure he can help you out.

Aiden.

[Rat Reek]

Hi Aiden,

I here what your saying about fuel tank in front.

The Tanks from Simon are great and still considering them.

I was really looking at the (racing point of view) being car balance straight-line and cornering speed.

with a 45 ltr tank forward of the front axle line having a moving balance of 15 ltr  gives some great  weight balance numbers for front braking with a high straight line speed.

[CyCo]

There are more than a few Novas that run their fuel tanks up front, Spacenut does, and I'm pretty sure and Bushboy does too.

I think both of them ended up with a design that fits kinda like an upside down horseshoe over the front beam. Spacenut has gone even further in that the leading wedge shape of her fueltank assists with the venting of hot air from her radiator setup (she runs a 1.7 Alfa donk). Bear in mind that her car is pretty unique, running on a spaceframe and next to no, if any VW bits.

I'd go and dig up some links from their forum, but I'm at work, and just been called out on a job. Typical. My computer is at the doctors atm, so I can't reply from home. Hopefully I'll get it back soon and I'll dig out a few posts they have about their fuel tanks. You could try going to their forum and searching for Spacenut and Bushboy.

8]

[The Metalsmith]

Hi Bruce,
             Forward of the front axles means 45 kilos plus of wieght in/around the front battery bay. The nose's of reeks weren't designed for that. You'll have to somehow brace the crap out of the whole area to avoid stress cracks across the top of the 'glass above your front wheels. Not to mention your handling will constantly be changing as your fuel loads go up/down. I don't like this idea either.

Front tanks on high end production cars are filled with a product called Explo-Safe, which is a foam filling that doesn't allow the tank to blow up if it splits and catches fire. You can't get that stuff here.

I've also played around with putting a tank in the front wheel void (behind the battery bay) as Cyc-baby's suggesting. There's enough space there for decent litre-age, but the biggest hassle is installation. The tank has to go in before the body gets fitted.

What I can suggest is a twin tank set up similar to what I built for a Dino replica back in the '90's. Twin front tanks mounted as far forward in the side undersill voids as possible. This will still alter your front/rear wieght bias without the drastic changes in handling.

Like most engineering problems with reeks, this one's not easy to solve either. It's all part of the appeal.

     Simon

[Rat Reek]

Yep
Need to stop thinking and get this one finished for Bathurst 
 The next build will have the goodies  have been making list
Cheers

[bushboy]

G'day datafarmer from the other side of the world.

I have a front mounted tank fitted to my Eureka here in the UK.  It was a fit before the body went on job & basically sits on top of the front beam.  I have a V6 sitting in the back & a mid mounted radiator so no room for the traditional rear tank.
Here are a couple of pics of the tank white it was being made.




I had to cut part of the front "boot" area out to acommodate it & despite several trial fits the boot lid hit the tank so I fashioned a scoop to cover the hole I had to cut to clear the fuel tank.















With the bonet scoop the local now call my car the batmobile.


Bushboy

[bushboy]

Part 2

I have just reviewed the picture & have realised that that was 6 years ago.  My Eureka is currently off the road as I have been makeing some more front end mods to fit another sort of front mounted fuel tank.  The new one will be in addition to the existing one & will sit nicely in the spare wheel well.  My Eureka has been on the road for over 4 years now, covered over 35000 miles and I have only had to use the tyre in a can once.  So I wont miss the spare wheel I have never had.

The new tank is a donut type LPG tank.


I had made a set of steel flopper stoppers 6 years go and have replace these with a better (IMHO) system using stainless steel.

Drivers side



Passeger side


I have welded two plates to the shock toer upeights and I hope these will take the weight of the LPG tank.

I cant recall exactly how much the petrol tank holds, about 35 litres I think.  I get an easy 250 miles per tank.

The reek will be back on the road again in a week or two & then I'll finish the LPG install.

Hope you find a suitable solution to your requirements.

Bushboy