The Bird under construction

The original T Bird gas tank was mounted under the drive shaft, between the trans and the rear end. Since I could not mount the cell below the trunk floor level, I will either have to make a small raised cover for it, or make a bulkhead fire wall behind the rear seat to make the NHRA happy. It will make me happy also when its time to work on the trans or rear end. No more dropping the tank to do a simple job. It will sure make the exhaust easy to do now also, since with this engine, I need dual 3 inch exhaust. Moving the weight of any fuel in the tank to the very back of the car will enhance the needed weight transfer also.

Since the wheel well was at the rear of the trunk area, there was no support for the cell box at the top rear. I made a 2 inch wide, 32 inch long support, and notched it to match the contour of the rear, then will weld it in place. The fuel cell box lip will rest on this at the rear.

Now I only have to weld it up, and weld it in place.

When it is all welded up, and painted, I will install the cell, and will put a fuel level sending unit in it, and a fuel return fitting that will return the fuel near the top front of the cell, and have the line inside go to the bottom of the cell to prevent aerating the fuel. The fuel system will use a 8 AN supply line to to carburetor fuel log, and have a return regulator on the rear of the log. The return line will be 6 AN. More information can be found on the Fuel System link below.

This is the box welded up, and ready to be welded in place.

As can be seen above, the cell was mounted as far to the rear as possable, and still room for the 90deg elbow, shut off valve and AN8 line to be connected.

You can see that the 16 gal cell and box take up the whole area.

The sump area of the cell is above the rear bumper, so is protected
from damage. You can see all the way to the engine oil pan now.


Now it's time to put the fuel level sending unit in, and start routing the fuel lines.

I will make a firewall behind the rear seat for the cell from aluminum. This will meet the NHRA requirments, and still allow somel use of the trunk area. Any fumes from minor spills would be vented out the opening in the sump area.

Fuel Cell Part 1

Fuel Cell Part 3