Left Hand tank

[11admire]

Hi all (in UK)
In my quest for making my XI look as much as the Lotus XI I have had a dream on getting a left hand tank instead of the RH.
I have been in touch with Andy Wiltshire in Devon and he is willing to make me one.
The only problem is that I should make a cardboard mockup and send it to him.
But I am not used to making fuel tanks and therefore I could foresee a lot of misunderstandings and confusion and then the tank maybe wouldn't fit.

So my question to you, my fellow XI owners. Does one of you live near Andy Wiltshire (http://andywiltshire.com/index.htm) and on a sunny day could drive that way. Then he could measure up and find the best way to make the tank.
I assume that the first generation XI are much the same as the last lot.

Thanks for listening and best regards
Jorn

[sgrant]

Sadly I'm a long way from Andy. He has lots of shiny things for sale, so perhaps it's just as well. How much hassle is it to remove the tank, Charles?

Would you be looking for a slightly larger tank, or the same capacity? I did see once that someone had fabricated a sort of tank extension that went into the sill and was joined to the original tank. Not a bad idea, providing you don't have the wrong sort of crash, obviously.....

[11admire]

Yes, Andy has a candy shop that is hard to resist
He does some very nice alu welding.

I would like to remove the RH tank completely and fill the hole in the body. It is not hard to remove.
Capacity could maybe be a little larger than the current, by letting the tank go a little over the foot well in the passenger side. Like the original long distance tank.
Or maybe down and further back in the sill. He can fill the tank with foam so it could also be a little safer.

With the LH tank then at least the petrol is away from me the driver. And I almost always drive alone. No one can stand the joyfull noise I make when I drive the XI

[erictharg]

It's easy enough to get to the std tank. 4 bolts and two dzus fasteners, and the fuel filler hose gets the scuttle off. Plus whatever you hung on the scuttle when building the car. Nice idea. Devon is a long way for all of the owners I know, unless someone fancied a weekend away in their Eleven touring the SW.

[11admire]

I am willing to pay for the petrol if anyone fancy the trip.

[Westfield 129]

I have been looking into this on the RHD car that I have under construction.

The cavity for the exhaust is on the left side of the chassis, and there is not much room to put foam, if that is what you want to do.

This was done to my LHD car, and it will take me an awful lot of hours to remove it, as it has distorted the side panels, and made the fuel tank impossible to service.

Anyway, if you want the fuel to be above the exhaust, and to have a long skinny tank that still wont hold much fuel, I don't see any problems fitting the fuel tank on that side. You might want to use KoolMat insulation beneath the tank. but I definitely would not use any foam in the body. Besides, if anyone hits you, the bumper will be at head hight anyway.

I am adding a leg to my standard fuel tank to pick up a couple of gallons. I don't really know how useful this would be, as I do like to get out every hour or so and stretch. Most places, there are plenty of fuel stops available. It has about the same range that I have.

[11admire]

Hi 129 here is 52

Foam is to go in the tank, not around it, otherwise the tank is just a LH version of the RH.
Yes I will put some insulation underneath it to keep the exhaust heat away.

[Westfield 129]

Running race tanks in both pro road race series, and in road cars, I would not recommend using foam.

Racing fuel cells get their protection from the bladder, not the foam. The foam really doesn't hold the fuel well, but the bladder offers penetration protection. Even in pro racing, such as the Rolex Series, many teams run without foam in the tanks, as this speeds up the pit stops. Yes. it's legal.

On the road, foam is problematic. First, it has a very short half life, and must be replaced every couple of years. The tank has to be kept full, both for the longevity of the foam, and for the longevity of the bladder.

After a short period of time, the foam breaks down, and cloggs the fuel filter, carb jets or injectors. EVERY single one of my friends (including me) who runs a fuel cell on the road, with foam inside, has been stuck by the side of the road, with a fuel filter full of foam bits. This usually occurs after the first year and a half of running. Oh, and the first three months... New foam sheds, too. Even with the race cars, we change fuel filters several times on an initial weekend with a new cell if it has foam in it. Now, we just take it out, and run just the special tank, and bladder.

Race car fuel cells are one of the disposables. They have to be dismantled and rebuilt at regular intervals or they cause problems.

Add to this the £400+ cost of a custom fuel cell, and you can see the problems. Expensive, and unreliable on the road.

The tank can't be a LH version of the right, as the exhaust header collector is in the way. The tank must be much shallower, and be baffled. so that the fuel doesn't slosh around too much, and unport the fuel pump. Think twice as long, half as deep.

[11admire]

OK, I see that foam is not a good idea, but then Andy makes some beatifull baffled tanks for the original 11, either welded in baffle plates or bolted in as pr original.
I know that the tank won't be as deep as the RH, but then it could go further back and maybe over the footwell to hold at least the same amount of fuel as the RH tank.
That is why I would like that Andy could see the actual car to come up with ideas.
Last time I measured fuelconsumtion it ran 185km on 11 litres so a range at about 320+ km is OK. It's almost across the country (Denmark) anyway so that is OK.

[Westfield 129]

My tank is about 5 gallons. Consumption is about 30 mpg, which works out to about 300 mile range, or 480 Km. My engine puts out about 120 HP, using a 5 speed gearbox, and 500X15 tires. At 80 mph (I cruise at about 3700 RPM), that's more than 3h:45m of endurance. I stop every two hours, If I can. More than enough range, if necessary.

My LHD car has the tank on the right, which works well.