Shaving Pounds with a Fluid Control Solutions Fuel Cell
When shaving weight off a race car, many people don’t think about the fuel tank. In the case of a Civic, the stock tank is made out of steel and weighs 32 lbs dry. Now imagine upgrading to an ultra-light 7.9 lb aluminum racing fuel cell from Fluid Control Solutions. Straight off the bat, you will save an instant 24 lbs. And the savings don’t end there. That’s because the smaller physical dimensions and rear sump design of this race tank, will allow you to run the car with less fuel on-board. According to FCS, under harsh racing conditions, the stock tank on a Civic could begin to starve the fuel pump when it gets down to 5-6 gallons; in contrast, the FCS race tank can safely be run all the way down to 1.5 gallons. Considering that each gallon of gas weighs an estimated 6 lbs, being able to carry just 3 gallons less on board could net you an additional 18 lbs in weight savings.
While the weight savings convinced us to do the upgrade, our secondary reason was to facilitate the plumbing of an external fuel pump. Unlike the stock tank which is designed for a standard in-tank pump and only provides a wimpy 5/16" outlet, the FCS fuel cell offers a rear sump design and two giant -10 AN outlets to work with. Because each tank is made to order, you can get your tank with whatever outlet configuration suits your needs, including a dual in-tank setup if you chose to take that route. For the Rat Wad, we chose a dual -8 AN outlet configuration to match our -8 AN lines.
While not recommended for your grandma’s grocery-getter, this direct fit Honda/Acura tank is a popular upgrade for the hardcore racing crowd. As you’ll see in the next few pages, the installation is quite simple and the installed look is quite impressive.
