Fuel tanks.

[Dave Wharran]

ERA uses Fuel Safe cells although the address on the cell is California. It appears to be a different company than Howard refers to since their website gives an address in Redmond, Or.
Here are a couple of pics I took while they were out. The writing on the cell is difficult to read from the small photos, but it says:
Fuel Safe Systems, ?? Cal USA, a mfg date and serial number, and "Mfd. for ERA Replica Automobiles". The mfg date was 6-1997.

I did not take any dimensions while the tanks were out. They hold around 10 gallon each. Each cell is set into and taped to an aluminum cradle that slides into the rocker panel.

Dave

 

[Devin]

Dave,

Was there any part number that you could identify?

Do you know how many gallons they hold each?

I would think that they would still have the drawings/specs in their files to make more, which would possibly mean that they could be had for less $$ than sending them some drawings to make a "custom" tank.

That looks like something I would be interested in for my project.

Devin

 

[Bill Bayard]

Dave,

Bob Putnam had a great idea with those cradles!

Easy installation and no chafing problems to deal with, ever! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif



Bill

 

[Howard Jones]

Looking at that picture gives me an idea. My GTD tank lookes a lot like that and I bet most GT40 tanks look like that too. I wonder if the bladder from a ERA tank could be used in other "boxes". You would have to weld up or plug the existing inlet pipe and outlet bung and addapt the tank to suit the new bladder but if the external dimentions are OK then it ought to work.

If it did you could order the ERA bladder and mod then reuse you "box" The rest would be off the shelf parts.

I guess what we need is a bladder that will work for most "boxes"

HUMMMMMMmmmmmmmm????????

 

[Dave Wharran]

I didn't look for any part numbers and only have the two shots of the tanks as they sat on the floor. I've attached a close up of the info on one of the tanks from those picts.
The tanks are made of a heavy plastic type material with foam inside. The two of them plus the fuel filler pipes hold somewhere between 19 and 20 gallons. They leave space to the rear of the rocker for a battery on one side of the car and I put about a 1 gallon "swirl pot" on the other side.
Normal supply and return is from the large oval plate in the center of the tank. The level probe also goes there. I had ERA modify the tanks to provide an AN-10 supply and AN-6 return from the rear of the tank. That's why everything is plugged in the center oval plate.

The cradles do work well Bill. Easy to slide the tanks in and out and a couple of bolts through the rocker into the thick part of the cradle anchors the cradle/tank assembly.

Best to contact Bob Putnam at ERA for any info they could give out.

Dave

 

[Bob Putnam]

Fuel Safe makes the tanks from ERA-owned molds. Since those tanks were made, we've changed the system a bit to add more capacity. The new tank is longer and has the fuel fittings at the top of the rear end. It was getting too hard to run multiple fuel lines inside a very cramped rocker. There's still a little room at the end of the rocker for plumbing but our battery has been moved to the rear subframe.
Fuel Safe will make a custom bladder tank inside an aluminum case for about US$1200 each - a bargain. It would be pure luck that our profile would match another car's.