10 replies to this topic

[Dolly 89]

well i have a crazy idea of taking the standard tank out of my mini and fitting something like this
http://www.sm-engine...y_fuel_tank.php
but that would obviously mean the breather and filler will be in the boot is there anything i need to do to get it passed an mot/ make it legal for road use cheers

[Cooperman]

They are good for competition Cars which have to conform to stringent safety requirements, so on a road car they would be excellent.
There are a few things which you MUST do:

1. Fully seal the interior of the car from the boot with a fireproof material. This must include each side of the vertical rear seat back, the ends of the rear shelf and blanking off any speaker holes or other openings in the rear shelf.

2. Run the breather pipes to the outside of the boot, coming out under the boot floor and using top quality pipe, such as 1/4" fuel pipe marked as such.

3. Blank off the existing filler cap hole with a very large rubber grommet.

I hope this helps. The only other thing is, where will you put the spare wheel?

[tommy13]

There are only three things which will result in an MOT fail, A fuel filler cap which does not seal on the filler neck, A fuel leak or A fuel system component insecure.
Just because your car can pass the MOT it does not mean it is safe or legal and you should do all the things Cooperman has suggested in his post.

[jonny d]

I know its your car but why would you want to do this on a road going car, my mate did this many years ago with his and soon got peed off with the constant stops for petrol and soon the novelty wore off

[Dolly 89]

I know its your car but why would you want to do this on a road going car, my mate did this many years ago with his and soon got peed off with the constant stops for petrol and soon the novelty wore off

the frequant stops for fuel did you check out the link i posted its an 11 gallon tank bigger than a standard mini tank so there would be less frequant stops for fuel

[Dolly 89]

They are good for competition Cars which have to conform to stringent safety requirements, so on a road car they would be excellent.
There are a few things which you MUST do:

1. Fully seal the interior of the car from the boot with a fireproof material. This must include each side of the vertical rear seat back, the ends of the rear shelf and blanking off any speaker holes or other openings in the rear shelf.

2. Run the breather pipes to the outside of the boot, coming out under the boot floor and using top quality pipe, such as 1/4" fuel pipe marked as such.

3. Blank off the existing filler cap hole with a very large rubber grommet.

I hope this helps. The only other thing is, where will you put the spare wheel?

thanks for that cooperman. do you know of any fireproof material to use? and as for the spare wheel i have never had a spare wheel in any of my minis but i am going to be mounting it on a cage so a spare wheel could be fitted underneath that if i decide to get one when the car is finished.
from what you are saying basically i should be running a breather pipe that comes out of the boot floor? would it be wise to put a little loop in the pipe as to stop any liquid getting out of it aswell? as for the old filler whole i will be welding it up as if i decide to go back to it in the future it can just be re drilled again so is no real problem cheers

[Cooperman]

They are good for competition Cars which have to conform to stringent safety requirements, so on a road car they would be excellent.
There are a few things which you MUST do:

1. Fully seal the interior of the car from the boot with a fireproof material. This must include each side of the vertical rear seat back, the ends of the rear shelf and blanking off any speaker holes or other openings in the rear shelf.

2. Run the breather pipes to the outside of the boot, coming out under the boot floor and using top quality pipe, such as 1/4" fuel pipe marked as such.

3. Blank off the existing filler cap hole with a very large rubber grommet.

I hope this helps. The only other thing is, where will you put the spare wheel?

thanks for that cooperman. do you know of any fireproof material to use? and as for the spare wheel i have never had a spare wheel in any of my minis but i am going to be mounting it on a cage so a spare wheel could be fitted underneath that if i decide to get one when the car is finished.
from what you are saying basically i should be running a breather pipe that comes out of the boot floor? would it be wise to put a little loop in the pipe as to stop any liquid getting out of it aswell? as for the old filler whole i will be welding it up as if i decide to go back to it in the future it can just be re drilled again so is no real problem cheers

What I've always is P38 glass fibre 'hole-bridge. That's the stuff with the fibres in the mix and it goes off really hard and strong. Now, someone is going to say that it's flammable, but it will keep the fumes out of the interior and is accepted by motor sport scrutineers.
You need to mount the new tank as low as possible in the boot to keep the roll-centre as low as possible and thus avoid 'roll-oversteer' when cornering hard with a full tank - remember, 11 gallons of petrol weighs around 110 lbs, that's 55 kg.
With regard to the vent pipe, run it upwards before going out and that will be fine. It must vent outside the boot area and be clipped back to the car structure. There must be no risk of it being damaged or split.
11 gallons gives a really good range and is what the cars with twin tanks have in total.
That sounds like a really good project so long as you don't need alot of boot space. I've seen comp Minis with such tanks and with the rear seats removed and the spare clamped onto the vertical seat back panel inside the car - just a thought.

[bmcecosse]

I think you mean Centre of Gravity rather than Roll Centre (which is determined by the suspension geometry) - but otherwise dead right - that tank needs to be as low as possible and very well baffled to stop the fuel swilling from side to side - vents must go up then down - and should be such that fuel won't escape if the car is upside down............ Of course - some Rally Minis carry spares on the roof - not exactly helpful to the C of G....
Like this pair of beauties from auto-bmc.com currently on the Monte Carlo Historique - they started from Glasgow.

And I have no idea why the picture appears 'brown' - the cars and the Service Barge are of course in the correct Flame Red

Edited by bmcecosse, 29 January 2011 - 07:40 PM.

[Cooperman]

I think you mean Centre of Gravity rather than Roll Centre (which is etermined by the suspension geometry) - but otherwise dead right - that tank needs to be as low as possible and very well baffled to stop the fuel swilling from side to side - vents must go up then down - and should be such that fuel won't escape if the car is upside down............ Of course - some Rally Minis carry spares on the roof - not exactly helpful to the C of G....

Yes, I did mean G of G, sorry about that. I think the tank he has specified will be baffled as it appears to be a comp tank.
The reason those Minis carried the spares on the roof was because on the '66 Monte in order to run in Group 1, which you had to run in to get any chance of a win, a maximum of 8 wheels and tyres only were allowed and these had to all be carried in the competing car. So a roof rack was fitted to carry 2 of the 8 wheels with the other 2 being in the boot. Once the rally proper started, the 4 best tyres were fitted with the other 2, which had been on the back during the concentration run being put in the boot. I was competing in a 'works' NSU on that event, also in Group 1, and we had the same problem. The roof rack was removed at service before the special stages started. I do remember that the roof rack with the tyres really screwed up the performance and increased the fuel consumption alarmingly. Gosh, how long ago that was - happy days!

[bmcecosse]

I spoke at length with the crew of the similarly beautifully prepared (by Miniworks in Edinburgh) Cooper S - their car was to Group 2 as I believe are these two cars - although one is an Innocenti Cooper 1300. I think they were really carrying the wheels for 'show'. They had 145 tyres with a fantastic winter pattern and light studs - the make had been buffed off and they said they didn't know - the tyres having been provided by auto-bmc.com
Unfortunately - I see they have just dropped out of the event............

Edited by bmcecosse, 29 January 2011 - 07:54 PM.

[Dolly 89]

cheers for the help guys. i thought about the C of G after i posted and thought the same mount as low as possible so the spare is a side thought at the minute and might not actually have one as i never had in my minis before but thats not certain yet as a spare is a really good thing to have. The vent i dont know if you know what i mean but in motocross you get a one way valve for the tank breather is that what i would need to stop the fuel leaking out then? and where would i get one becouse the motocross ones are only about 2 inches long i dont exactly know how they work but they let air in and out but not fuel somehow it must be which craft