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Does a fuel cool can work?


hpfiend

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I know it can help cars with electric pumps from heating the fuel causing vapor lock issues and fatiguing the pumps

 

they only do that if its a poor system design with a dead head regulator or runs return through the fuel rails.

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Cooler fuel is more power. The problem is they usually have small line like a ma of 1/2 in so if u got a bigger system like -10 or -12 the neck down proably wouldent help. But if your all 1/2 in filler up with ice and go fast. Or run e85 way cooler fuel already.
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As mentioned before, yes, they are "old school". Consider the time when they were popular, mechanical fuel pumps were the norm, and if you ran electric pumps, they were regulated to 3-7 lbs MAX for carburetors. At these low pressures along with big motors stuffed into small bodies, you had a lot of heat problems. Cooling the fuel kept it from "boiling" in the lines.

 

Fast forward to today - modern fuel injection systems with their higher pressures typically don't have the vapor lock problem. That said, they do also add more heat to the fuel themselves. The fuel is the "coolant" for the new electric pumps and in the case with return systems, every time you circulate the fuel through the engine bay you add heat. It's not a big issue, but it does add some heat nonetheless.

 

Running a cool can allows the fuel to stay cool (denser) and as such can make more power, help to cool the chambers and add some protection against detonation. Is it going to add "big power"? No, but if you're marginal on tuning/detonation it will offer some protection and may give you a little edge on very hot days.

 

Many years ago at the 24 hour race at Nelson Ledges, one of the top Camaro teams was actually packing their 11 gallon dump cans of fuel on large trash cans filled with ice. It was a VERY hot weekend and they were fighting motor running hot, some detonation and loss of power. Adding ice cold (literally) fuel kept them going to the finish...

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Thanks for the replies!

 

This setup used to be dead head but now it is return style...

Here is a picture of the lines from the regulator and cool can and the fuel pump. The lines to the fuel cell are bigger and the ones on the sides of the carb are a little smaller if I remember correctly... (I took this picture to show the lower alternator bracket I had to create/modify for the new alt but it should work)

 

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/Receivers010.jpg

 

It is a mechanical pump and it is currently set at 8 psi which seems really high to me??

 

I will add some ice next time we are at the strip and see if it does anything for this combo... we are wanting to really crank the timing as we added a little base by changing the vacuum advance around and it made a big difference in SOTP driving-

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What's a proper way to regulate? I am going to run dual feeds to rail and have the regulator at other end of rail with-8 return. That's what aeromotive reccomends

 

Your running a drag car so it doesn't matter. You run that set up with a big fuel pump on a street car for a few hundred miles you'll be sitting on the side of the road until you can get the fuel to cool down.

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I have one on my Cutlass. One time years and years ago I made a few passes and then added ice to it. I remember I did run a quicker on the pass with ice. Did the ice help or did I just run the car differently???? Either way I only run it now because it's already on the car. If I didn't already have one I doubt I'd waste the money to buy one. I don't really see many people running them at the trck. So either they're a best kept secret or the aren't worth it.
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Well the warmer the fuel is temperature wise the easier it is to ignite so you cooling it down would sound like it wouldnt make much power. Sounds as useful as the vortex to me http://forums.aaca.org/attachments/f116/8599d1181336253-vortex-thingy-391870-airrazor.jpg
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