11 replies to this topic

[Hussar]

I am having a right hand fuel tank fitted to my Mini, do you have to fill them up separately or will they be self levelling?


[b]Model:[Mayfair]
[b]Year:[1982]

[Sleepy Stu]

Technically they will self level but over a very long period of time.

So the answer is yes you will need to fill both tanks!

[mk1leg]

Just fitted twin tanks see pics.....................



and you will need this link pipe but you will still need to fill up both tanks, and they draw from the 2 tanks..............

[dklawson]

The tanks are connected. However, when you are at the gas station, park so the filler hose will reach both sides of the car as you will definitely fill each tank individually. The connecting pipe/hose between the tanks is 1/4" inside diameter. If you wait for one tank to fill the other you'll grow old at the gas pump.

[sprintmini]

Yeah as stated above they will have to be filled individually.
I have noticed the best way to do it at pay at the pump stations is to get yourself set up by removing both filler caps having already parked close enough to get the nozzle to both sides of the car.
Then fill one tank shake the nozzle then quickly move to the other tank holding the nozzle up to avoid drips of fuel over the rear of the car,windows,shoes etc etc.
People will look at you like you have two heads putting all that fuel into your little mini.

[kez_19]

i started a thread about double tanks

read here

michael

[Brams96]

Has anyone removed the original single tank and replaced it with an aftermarket aluminium one?
How hard do you think it would be to make you own tank, if you had all the right welding gear etc??
& would putting a bigger single tank on one side of the car make a difference to the weight distribution???

[kez_19]

i remade a standard left tankinto a right hand tank as the rules over here dont allow me to make my own tank but i am not sure about the mot rules in england anymore

as for actually making it it isnt that difficulf as long as you can weld it is quite easy

michael

[998dave]

You'd probably need about 1" diameter link pipe to fill up both from one side, but then you may get odd fuel surges when cornering.

The funniest thing I've seen was someone with a dummy filler neck, remove the wrong cap, stick the fuel nozzle in and squeeze... whooops!

D

[jpd]

i have a similar twin tank setup in my mini.

you may notice, that when travelling at speed / on a motor way, once the main tank empties, you will notice a loss of power while the self levlling kicks in...also can be a bit of a nightmare as ur fuel guage will be up and down like a yo-yo...around town you probably wont notice any difference.

like your, your fuel pipe (the black one in ur pic) it feeding up, then down and around..someone suggested to me, it would be better feeding down and around, as would aid fuel delivery when the main tank is near empty...

[dklawson]

i have a similar twin tank setup in my mini.

you may notice, that when travelling at speed / on a motor way, once the main tank empties, you will notice a loss of power while the self levlling kicks in...also can be a bit of a nightmare as ur fuel guage will be up and down like a yo-yo...around town you probably wont notice any difference.

like your, your fuel pipe (the black one in ur pic) it feeding up, then down and around..someone suggested to me, it would be better feeding down and around, as would aid fuel delivery when the main tank is near empty...

????????????
The fuel delivery rate to the engine is slow enough that you won't empty one tank before the other. The level of the two tanks goes down at pretty much the same rate. (There is no valving between the tanks).
Any weirdness that may happen to the fuel gauge would also happen with a single tank. The 1/4" connector hose/pipe is not capable of quickly transferring a huge amount of gas from one tank to the other.
The horizontal connector pipe shown above is very similar to the original factory connector pipe used when two tanks are fitted.

It sounds like you have tried to put valves between your tanks... sort of like an aircraft selecting which tank to empty to maintain trim and balance. This is entirely unnecessary in the Mini. The simple crossover pipe is all that is required and you will not notice weird gauge behavior, and you certainly won't have a loss of power.

[jpd]

cheers doug l !

my setup looks like this

Std Tank¦-----filter-----T section-----filter----¦2nd Tank