Reply With QuoteThat's how mine is. The USCG won't like it but oh well.
Anyone ever put a line connecting their two side fuel tanks together. I have two 12 gallon fuel tanks in my boat. The fuel tank sucks fuel from the top and fuel goes to a selector valve that selects the tank. Im thinking about welding fittings into the bottom rear of the two tanks and plumbing a line connecting the two tanks together to keep the fuel level equal in each tank to eliminate the selector valve. The fuel pump will also suck from this line. I will use the existing fittings in the top of the tanks where the fuel sucks from now for a bypass fuel pressure regulator return. I want to eliminate this restrictive selector valve cause i will be changing to a bbc with nitrous in the future.
That's how mine is. The USCG won't like it but oh well.
Im going to put some weld bungs on the bottom rear corner of each tank and put a line connecting the two. That should guarantee the tanks to stay at the same level right. The weight of the fuel should keep the fuel level of each tank equal. Im going to put a tee in that line to go to the fuel pump.
If you are going to do it put a big line in. Mine were still were un-even until I put a -12 line on.
The downfall is if you get a leak in a hose or fitting you will have 24 gal of gas in the bildge. That's why the USCG says it's a no no.
as long as you put your tee below the bottom of your tanks physics will do the rest. you should not need to put bungs in the bottom of your tank and it could be very dangerous to do so. once the siphoning effect has occured from your pickups there is absolutely no difference as long as your tee is below the bottom of the tanks they will equalize and balance. I have ran this setup all summer and it does draw equally from both tanks. the only thing that could cause it to pull unequally is a restriction in the line. otherwise as long as the tee is below the tanks it will work. no need for bungs, valves, etc.
Omega
Furthermore,
If the "restrictive" selector valve is the reason you are doing this, you might want to talk to a couple people running over 800hp with those pesky restrictive valvesI run an older Rex valve and it hangs just fine. Not sure how much HP you're planning on, but the powerflow valves also can be found on many boats running 1000+HP. Plus in the event there is a problem with one side of your fuel system, you can lock it down and get home on whats left in the other side.
Chris
Actually i thought the selector valve (Perko i think) is the reason im doing this. They are not to restrictive you say? They should be ok to about 550 hp and a little nitrous?
One thing that can change how the tanks empty with the t set up and no valve is your vents, make sure there are no rstrictions, equal size etc. No experience with this but I think I've been told not to put bottom feeds in due to sucking that last little bit of sand/water in your tank. Apparently the top feed always leaves a little in the tank and ensures that any debris stays in the tank. Of cousre I run a filter and a water seperator but stuff still gets in there. Anybody know about this or have some experience? My tank is top feed, I made sure to pull the tube and made sure it was slash cut and not bottomed out on the bottom of the tank, but I'm running very modest HP-Aluminum Squirt
Path of least restriction... If one tank happens to go dry then you will pick up air and lean out the motor...
D
You might starve the fuel pump but you shouldn't lean the engine in a carburated setup cause the pump is presurizing the system. the tank to pump lines are gravity fed so air will only be a problem if you create a condition where the pump is higher than the level of fuel in the tank with fuel. like a turn or such. unless you are sucking fuel faster than it can flow through the lines, the fuel should be self leveling and you should not run out of gas in one tank before the other. Or more precisely, if you run out in one tank you better be close to a gas can.
Man you went out of your way for me, i feel special.
I think im going to leave my fuel the way i have it through the two way selector valve. Here is what i have.
http://www.westmarine.com/images/thu...nkvalves_t.jpg
This valve connects to both my tanks then goes to this. The one on the left.
http://www.westmarine.com/images/full/gasspinon_f.jpg
Then to fuel pump and to carbs. My concern when i move to the new motor is that these two will restrict my fuel flow. They both use 1/4 NPT x -6AN fittings and the raycor filter is advertised at 60 gph. I have not had any problems with this setup yet but i just want to make sure it can handle whats coming. If i stay with this setup, i will weld in some bungs into my fuel tanks for the bypass regulator return line that the new motor will have.
The other problem is this. I was going to run the bypass reg. return line to a t and then go to both tanks. Problem is what if im sucking from one tank and the other tank is full and fuel is returning to both tanks. This is why i wanted to run a line connecting the two tanks to keep the fuel level even. Help.
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