Pulled apart my fuel tank and...WOW

I recently cut one of my Tornado fuel tanks apart to partition it for an EFI pump in the rear, among other things. These are the 'nice' foam-filled tanks, which are £795 from Tornado instead of £595 for the regular baffled ones.

When I went to pull out the foam, I discovered that the nice foam you can see through the holes in the ends of the tank are only caps, and in between them it is filled with junk foam castoffs and bits! WHAT THE HECK?! :furious:

Getting beyond the fact that foam isn't very efficient at baffling when it is floating like cheerios in a bowl of milk, there are literally dozens of tiny foam sliver pieces, foam fiber stringers, foam dust, etc, as a result of using all the foam trim bits and leftovers! I count 4 different kinds of foam here. Hope they're all fuel-safe! I am sure glad I pulled this tank apart...I wouldn't want that end cap to come loose and have my fuel pump or crossover tubes get clogged up with a bunch of foam junk, on top of the baffling becoming even more useless! Unbelievable!
 

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Shoot them a note and see what they say, i guess if it's all behind the solid foam block in the first photo it might be OK but that's not worth $200 on the face of it...
 
Not 200 dollars...200 pounds sterling. Much more than 200 dollars. And what happens when the end cap pieces pop out and unleash a torrent of crap through the rest of the gas tank? The foam 'caps' only extend about 75% of the tank length, so once they pop free this baffling becomes soup

I emailed Andy/Scott to see if this is normal practice for their tanks...I sure as hell hope not.
 

Andy Sheldon

Tornado Sports Cars
GT40s Sponsor
Dylan

These tanks must be quite old. We now use Explosafe instead of Foam.

At the time, may be 20 years ago, Foam was very expensive and difficult to obtain.

ATL used all they manufactured and sold all that was left over from their tank production as soon as it hit the floor which pushed the price through the roof.

There is no problem using off cuts to fill a tank. In fact Foam is now sold in small cubes so that a stock tank can be filled through the filler neck.

Thanks

Andy
 
Andy,

Thanks for your post to help put our minds at ease a little.

I am so glad to hear that you are using Explosafe and I trust that my tanks have it. After reading "To foam or not to foam" I was going to go that route. Not only does it provide some sloshing stability, but it will help in a crash situation. I suspect that it did cost the extra 200 pounds Sterling.

-Bob Woods
 
These tanks are from 2001, so yes, a good deal older. Foam can be had to fill the tanks in solid pieces for under $40 a side. I'll be pulling both sides apart now and replacing this stuff.

Andy, you should update the website with that detail.
 
Andy,

Thanks for your post to help put our minds at ease a little.

I am so glad to hear that you are using Explosafe and I trust that my tanks have it. After reading "To foam or not to foam" I was going to go that route. Not only does it provide some sloshing stability, but it will help in a crash situation. I suspect that it did cost the extra 200 pounds Sterling.

-Bob Woods

Bob, I have foam filled tanks. Here in the US, we have to worry about oxygenated fuel. I'd suggest you add access ports to inspect/replace the foam. What I did was cut about a 4x6 section out, install rivnuts, cut a piece of rather thick gauge aluminum to cover it and added a fuel approved gasket and bolted it over top.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
Really? That's an answer? All the left over crap is as good as doing it right. WOW! I would have sent him a check for the difference along with a apology.

What are the new guys going to do, cut their tanks open to see if they are full of explosive safe stuff. Geeze. You don't need to respond Andy. It will just make it worse.
 
Darrin,

Andy indicated that my tanks are filled with Explosafe. If so, I am ok. I will check to be sure. Thanks.

-Bob

The last time I checked, there were zero "foam" fillers that did not degrade in oxygenated fuel. I'd double check that they don't suggest foam inspection on a yearly basis and replacement every three.
 
Looks like that stuff, Explosafe, isn't foam at all but metal mesh. That shouldn't degrade. Not sure about it preventing slosh like foam but should be near zero maintenance.
 

Ian Anderson

Lifetime Supporter
Looks like that stuff, Explosafe, isn't foam at all but metal mesh. That shouldn't degrade. Not sure about it preventing slosh like foam but should be near zero maintenance.

My tanks on the Dax have Explosafe
They have no baffles
At half tank level (remember the shape of the GT tank so probably more like 1/3 volume of fuel) braking hard into a roundabout or traffic lights caused my LP pump to suck air

So no not much good as stopping slosh

Ian
 
I'm with Howard on this one. How anyone can justify a huge expense (to the customer) to load up a tank with a bunch of scrap foam is beyond me, regardless of how long ago they did it. I wonder how many others have received the same treatment.....
Not good business in my opinion.
Andy you should be coming clean on your past poor practice and offering compensation.
Sorry to see you got ripped off Dylan. I hope you can get it resolved amicably.
Kind regards, Gus.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
I'm sorry you should need to send him a check. Dylan, let us know when you have your money and I'll happily give credit where it is due.
 
Well, Andy just informed me that I actually do have foam instead of Explosafe. Back to plan A... I am creating solutions now. I will document and report what I do.

Since the foam has to be replaced periodically and the tanks are riveted in place, you will need to either have removable panels in the tank and/or remove a lot of pop rivets to remove the tanks (which I really don't want to do). Cleaning out the debris in the tank while still in the car through a small panel opening seems problematic. I might want to use a vacuum but it could cause an explosion unless the tanks were purged completely. What have others done about replacing the foam?

-Bob Woods
 
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You must remember that this is the company that recognises itself and advertises as " The Worlds leading manufacturer of Ford GT40 replicas " !
 
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