Thread: 53 Is back from the Body Shop

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Was that you who mentioned that? I got the idea from someone, but couldn't remember who. Thanks !

Well, if it works, maybe I should take credit for it....! But, no, I didn't know it would work. If it works underneath, I wonder where else it might work?

Took the driveshaft off to make a new one. This one was a get me by for the time being, shortened by a local machine shop and never balanced. Anything over 65 and it would start to vibrate. Notice how I had a slip yoke on a slip spline driveshaft? It was an act of desperation if you remember me trying to get the 5.3 going to pick my wife up from work. When I took the yoke off I found that the snap rings popped out of the cross kit or they were never put in. Let's just pretend they flew out even though I've never had that before and I was in a hurry to get it running that day. I'm sure you noticed a lot of oil residue on the frame and everywhere else. I had a very leaky rack and pinion, running out of both shaft seals. I replaced it last fall but it sure did leave a mess.

Do you see any reason why this won't work? I got the return dumping on the screen to help prevent any cavitating from the return fuel making bubbles by the intake. The top of the pan stands real close to bottom of my fuel sending unit that I ordered too short so that should work well together in the end.

Would the returning fuel be hot, or is it coming from a bypass?
Just thinking if it is coming from a hot engine // under hood, there will be warm // hot fuel making the pump overheat or at the least, inhibiting performance of engine // fuel pump ?

I don't remember hearing of anyone doing it quite as such. Dumping the fuel into the tank allows the entire tank to absorb the heat. Your set up will significantly warm the fuel in the lines.

That was something I was wondering about, I know on Diesels the return is warm but I wasn't sure on a gas. I'll move the return to the outside of the bowl and I may make a new bowl just a bit bigger to better fit the screen.

When I first looked at the setup my first reaction was that I would add a u shaped tube into the hose.
That way any air / bubbles would be released towards the fluid surface and away from the pump filter.
Any heat in my opinion would be a secondary concern as that pump is also transferring it's heat into the gas as well.
OEM's do it with a lot of success.

There was a discussion on this forum some time ago, which discussed fuel temperature relative to return lines, in - tank pump, etc. I stated earlier the fuel in the lines would be significantly warmer, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Not to be confused with dangerous. I don't see any danger, just a marginal efficiency issue which would go away at Wide Open Throttle.

I hope I haven't rambled on too bad.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

{POST #458}I pulled the fuel tank down to put a sump in for my fuel pump, when it got low it would catch a bit of air going up hills or turning. Turns out my wife had a small bread loaf pan that will work perfect. On a side note, when you check your fuel level before you pull the tank, make sure your kill switch for the fuel pump which is tied to the sending unit is turned on otherwise the tank surprises you on how heavy it is when your not ready for it.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Do you see any reason why this won't work? I got the return dumping on the screen to help prevent any cavitating from the return fuel making bubbles by the intake. The top of the pan stands real close to bottom of my fuel sending unit that I ordered too short so that should work well together in the end.

Seth, I don't see anything wrong with your return line and would run it. You've got it just like the kits for high flow systems recommend, return beneath the surface to not introduce air, and restrained so the line doesn't flop around. I like the fact that you cut down the height of the bread pan, and returning to the pan will tend to help keep the pan filled if you're going up a loooooong hill with the tank very low
As for heat, it's kind of like standing by the diving board, peeing into the swimming pool - it's not the added heat that's the concern. The concern is maintaining constant pressure to your injectors, which is the reason return systems are better than dead head regulators. The heat will transfer to the tank volume, and then to atmosphere from uninsulated tank & lines.

Looking at the pan, I'm wondering if you could run out of fuel before the tank is empty.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Looking at the pan, I'm wondering if you could run out of fuel before the tank is empty.

I'd say the key is that Seth told us that his sending unit, which drives the gauge, bottoms out at the top of the cut down pan, so when his gauge is bottomed out "E" the tank is going to have an inch or two of fuel in the bottom, and with the bread pan he'll indeed tend to run out of fuel with a small amount still in the tank. On the plus side, the sediment and collected moisture should be outside the pan, and with the return oriented as it is the return flow will tend to keep the filter bag cleaner, at least in theory. I'd run it as it is, were it mine.

Roger is right, My tank is large enough where if I leave an 1 1/2 on the bottom, it's not a big deal. My sending unit says it's empty long before it is anyway and it doesn't seem to matter even though I know that, I still look for a gas station. I'm holding off a for a bit on putting it together because I'm somewhat thinking about cutting out a section in the bottom of the fuel tank and welding in a bowl type thing for the sump instead. Otherwise I may just run this setup for this year to see how it goes, I hate welding on gas tanks and my small list of things to do on Rita is taking me longer than I thought it would.

Back to original problem then.

The nut behind the wheel needs to stop for gas.

Lol, yea it goes awhile on a tank though. I'm also toying around with starting over and building a new tank , mine has been hacked and chopped quite a bit.

I noticed on the Tanks,Inc. setups similar to yours, that they have a small hole in the tray. I can only guess that this is to allow the fuel in the very bottom of the tank to get to the pump.

As to the return line, if you dump it into the main part of the tank and run low on fuel, the fuel would have to migrate from the return line to the pump. Returning it directly to the sump keeps it topped off, IMO. I can't ever recall seeing a factory return line that runs anywhere but into the area near the pump.