Thread: "anti-vapor lockification mechanism"

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I don't want to sound too dumb so it may be that this already exists... But if not...

Why doesn't anyone make a fuel rail for street applications that has some kind of heat-sink setup? Like in air cooled computers and other equipment you see a pipe with thin fins that give the heat more surface area to dissipate from, how come no one has this? if they do who?

oh and the name was a joke...lol

Originally Posted by zero_presence

oh and the name was a joke...lol

and a cute one at that!

First concept you want to grasp is that vapor lock happens in the mechanical fuel pump mounted to the block. It's designed to pump a liquid not a gas vapor.

well I was talking to a tech that works for holly and he was telling me " I wish they didn't even make them clear" because apparently just because you don't see the liquid in the filter doesn't mean its not reaching the intake charge in a liquid state. What I DO know is that upon a vapor lock situation, pouring cold(ish) water on the pump, lines and fuel rail causes the fuel to liquify, even to the point where the filter is FILLED with liquid fuel. It takes a good 20 minutes of sitting and running in the heat before it gets too bad to keep it running. So I figure it shouldn't take too terribly much to keep it cool enough to run. So I fugure a finned fuel rail will cause what vapor passes through it to liquify again. I mean it would be esier to design that than a finned pump that would look like a sea urchin on crack!

They have one already ,its called a return regulator ,that returns the hot fuel to the tank.

hmmm, i dunno... I don't see that solving my problem. I would think that It would just put hot fuel in my tank full of cool fuel and making it warm and causing it to vapor-lock easier. Besides would'nt that be allot more expensive than a small piece of metal tubing with fins that would just be a bolt on application?

Summit has some products. Search under fuel cooler. I've seen billet styles but can't remeber the manufacturer. Look for radiator manufacturers and trans coolers as well.

I agree with all that's said above. In general if you are using a mechanical pump make sure the fuel lines are not getting close to hot (exhaust) surfaces. This goes for return line applications too. An electric pump with regulator/return line is a real good way to prevent vapor lock or fuel boiling.

Kitz

yeah that's true. I did run all my lines away from the motor the best I could. I even gave them some extra length to increase surface area for better heat dist.

does anyone anticipate any problems with using a trans fluid cooler to run my fuel through to keep it cool?

Do a search on this info ..........one of the main benifits of a return line fuel regulator is that the fuel gets cooled down and is the main reason the newer fuel injected cars rarely ever vapor lock..............

I would not rig up some fireball exsperiment with the fuel system and a trans cooler,do the research and listen to the answers ,there are proven methods for resolving this issue ,one of the main ones is to use a return regulator to cool the fuel ,I know this and many others do as well,do some research and whne some one gives you a answer ,dont say ,you do not see the benifit and then ask about using a transmission cooler in the fuel system..............

Originally Posted by zero_presence

yeah that's true. I did run all my lines away from the motor the best I could. I even gave them some extra length to increase surface area for better heat dist.

One of the main things many articles and many books on fuel systems stress is to keep the fuel lines as short as possible to reduce heat soak .................you are doing no good exsposing cool 80 degree fuel to a 150 degree engine bay in hopes of some sort of cooling effect....

The longer it takes for the fuel to travel the length of the line ,the longer it has to soak up engine heat,also the size of the line matters ,if its too large for your application ,it will allow even more heat soak by increasing further the time it sits in the line before reaching the carb/throttle body /injectors...etc.

Thats one of the reasons its recomended to get the regulators as close the the carb as possible to reduce the single non returning line length to reduce heat soak and pressure differences.

Originally Posted by shawnlee28

.........and is the main reason the newer fuel injected cars rarely ever vapor lock..............

Not exactly. The main reason is that the pump isn't attached to the block where it would act as a heat sink. It's both cooled and lubed by being in the fuel tank normally.

Yeah, but lockification is really one kewl word and justifies a long conversation about vapor lockification!!!!!!!!

I may have got over zealous ,but a transmission cooler is not the answer.

Remember "cool cans". What if you took one of those and put a thermo electric cooler in it? This is the same technology igloo uses in their 12v cooler chests.