Metco fuel cell install with pics

[TR Custom Parts]

Finally got around to installing my Metco cell in the trunk. Bye Bye spare tire and jack. Couple cans of fix-a-flat and AAA card will be in car at all times now. Got a good deal on the Metco so decided to do the rear pump conversion for my alky kit.

Cell didn't come with brackets so made my own. Used all stainless hardware to fasten it in, threw my son in the trunk to help with the forward bracket. The right bolt on the forward bracket was a fun one but the old masking tape on box wrench trick worked fine.

Had a Kirban trunk kit in the car and decided to see what I could do with the panel that hides the spare and jack and with some trimming it worked out perfect. Might have another project for that space in back of the panel. Had an Accumulator on the car when I had a stock location IC but with the front mount I am now running there isn't any room so that might find a new home back there in the future.

Bracket for the pump was made out of 1/4 aluminum and I used one of the existing bumper holes to mount it. For added strength I ran another bracket up to the trunk floor as seen in the pics. That bracket goes under two of the pump mounting bolts as well to tie everything together. Nice and strong setup and allows the pump to be mounted fairly low. I didn't like the looks of the pump location in other rear mount installs and thought this might work out better. The inlet of the pump is a bit higher than the outlet of the sump on the tank but never planning on running it right down to empty anyway.

Got a low level sensor from Julio as well as an extension for the harness. Had my harness originally going from the firewall plug on the drivers side going along the factory oval harness and down to the pump. Rerouted this down the drivers side frame and plugged the etension into the end of it and followed the fuel lines up and over the rear and the top of the gas tank. Low level wire followed the same route and put everything into wire conduit.

Got a brass rollover/vent valve from Speedway motors and ran that out the spare tire well and will be putting a small filter on the end to keep anything from getting into the tank.

Ran the grounds from the pump and the low level sensor to the pass side frame rail on one of the bumper shock bolts.

I rotated the head of the pump to get the fittings where I wanted them. 6 bolts, pull them out, pull off the head and rotate. Easy,

All that I have left to do is route the pressure line up to the front of the car and install the check valve on the filter that Julio sent me.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

In the future will probably be throwing in one of the trunk firewall kits we sell as the cell in the trunk won't pass tech.

PS, the car is up so high in the front because I yanked out the trans to be freshened up along with a 9.5 PTC NLU converter!

 

[conn84gn]

Your on ALKY for sure
Looks great

 

[rmar]

Looks clean Mark, Like everything else on you car...:biggrin:

 

[Razor]

Great job Mark

Thanks for sharing,

 

[GNBRETT]

Wow, sweet installation Mark. Do you think there's gonna be any issues with Alky properly getten to the up pipe from way back there?

 

[Boost231]

what about cavitation while lauching. seems like the fluid area when it starts to get low might cavitate. just wondering. i want to do this setup. where did you place the check valve at under the hood?

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Shouldn't be any problem getting the alky from the back to the up pipe, just an extra 10 ft or so of line to pump thru. Check valve up near the front will keep fluid in the line.

Cavitation issues, couple others out there running the Metco tanks and no problems reported. Don't plan on running the tank down real low anyway and have a methanol pressure gauge mounted next to my fuel pressure gauge to monitor things.

Was looking into some methanol compatible fuel cell foam to stuff inside the tank but haven't had any luck.

 

[Razor]

You wont have any problems with cavitation.. unless you can go sub 1.3 on the 60 foot :wink:

Put a pressure sensor on it, datalog it.. you can see if you have any issue

 

[V8Killer]

Nice install Mark! Nice and clean the way it should be.

 

[GNBRETT]

Dam you Mark! Now I want to do that.... It really does never end.... I might just have one made if I can't locate the cell. How many gallons does that hold?

I think I might still want that spare tire tho. I do plan on actually driving this one.... Maybe I will just have one fabbed up.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Holds 6.2 gallons according to Metco's website.

They still have them listed on their site.

 

[Razor]

Try and get the one with the brass outlet not aluminum outlet

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Correct, only brass or stainless fittings should be used with meth. My cell that I bought used luckily had the brass one.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Finished up the rear mounted kit today. Here is a couple pics of where I have the check valve/filter/transducer setup mounted. Battery is not installed yet. Transducer allows logging of pump pressure with the power logger.

 

[8UWITH6]

I like it, need to do something like that on the daily driver. Fill up every month instead of every week.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Update, after finally getting the car back off ramps I have done a test drive with the new tank setup. First step was to see where the low level light would go out. Turned on the ignition and poured 1 gallon in and the light went off. Put in another gallon for a buffer supply for now. Didn't want to totally fill up until I checked everything out.

Turned the gain button to the max and pushed the prime button, took a few tries but finally saw pressure on my hood mounted meth gauge and motor stumbled so knew all was well.

Getting on it a bit the low level light was coming on. Obviously the meth is traveling to the back of the tank but pressure was not dropping at all. Still wondering if finding some fuel cell foam that is meth compatible might be a good idea. Haven't had any luck finding some. Metco should probably have designed them with some sort of baffles in there. With 6 gallons of Meth in the tank this will not be a problem.

 

[G. Price]

Mark,
Maybe you should consider putting a kit together with all parts required for install. With that clean of an install I'm sure there would be alot of interest.

 

[berserker6]

sorry to dig up an old thread but yes there would be interest in a kit. what are we looking at some brackets, lines a tank? make it happen:biggrin:

 

[Eazy-E]

sorry to dig up an old thread but yes there would be interest in a kit. what are we looking at some brackets, lines a tank? make it happen:biggrin:

x2.... what he said:biggrin::biggrin: