I have a 91 si that I have been prepping for SM/ DM and some lapping days.

It has a swap + 5-lug, and now I am trying to lighten the piggy up.

I also have the requisite side exit exhaust behind the passenger's door with two inline resonated sections...

BUT, I fear that the car may be still too loud for some venues... I currently have a hytech axleback that I was going to put on the car, but the twinloop just won't fit due to the gas tank and spare tire well giving it no ground clearance. Furthermore, the car may get lowered another 1"-2", so there is no possible way to mount the hytech currently...

BUT, as I am pondering my two dilemna's (getting the car under ~2k lbs AND getting the hytech twinloop in the somewhat stock location), I started to think maybe I could cut out the spare tire well and weld in a flat piece of aluminum across the trunk area. I could also remove the stock gas tank, and then put a fuel cell in the rear area... This would enable me to run the hytech twinloop axleback without issue...

Obviously, this car would no longer be in SM - which is fine by me - heck, I'm fine with running TO...

But will I save any weight doing this? I fear the handling *might* suffer b/c the fuel cell will now be mounted higher than where the stocker gas tank used to be...

Alternatively, I have been kicking around the idea of just holding off and getting an 88 base/ std hatch (which is supposedly ~300lbs lighter), and swapping EVERYTHING over to it.....

 

You could mount a small cell, and you would net a weight savings, although I'm not sure how much.

I think you'll find that most people favor keeping the stock tank, though. Another thread recently had many of the experienced folks pointing out how very rare a proper, safe fuell cell install is. It seems that nine times out of ten the factory fuel tank was safer than the fuel cell installs which brought the statement: if you don't absolutely need it, then it's probably not the right path.

Food for thought,
Andrew - who really can't fathom having to do that kind of work these days

 

Having participated in a couple of those, it would be a big project for a fully equipped race shop, with a full range of fabricating tools and the know-how to use them. I SURE wouldn't tackle it at home. In terms of lap time return-on-investment, only you know for sure...

K

 

When I went from a stock tank to a 12 gal cell in my old '84 ITC Civic (carb), I netted a 12 pound weight savings. I used an aluminum box and removed all of the filler neck assembly and plumbing and just filled at the cell.

With a fuel injected car, with dual pick ups and/or pumps and provisions to fill from outside the body, the weight savings might be minimal, or none.

 

I would not recommend putting in a fuel cell. It is very time consuming and is fairly expensive project to do properly! (in line fuel pump, filler hoses..)if you must install your twinloop, cut the tire well. You'll save at least 30 hours of labour. Besides if you dont have a full roll cage to attach your fuel cell to, your car will never pass any inspections.

 

An option exists here:

http://www.atlinc.com/racing/page14.htm

It appears ATL can construct a custom bladder for your stock tank. I imagine any fuel system mods can be accomodated......I guess you would have to send them your stock tank or an equivilant.

Probably spendy, but you get safety AND stock location.

Having an aftermarket fuel cell swinging around back there in the trunk would theoretically only make handling more "interesting", methinks.
Cheers,
-Mirror

 

ok, so it sounds like I should just leave the stocker/ stockish gast tank scenario as that wouldn't give me any weight savings... BUT I still have the issue of the high g cornering causing fuel starvation... I suspect someone makes a better pickup/ baffle combo for such?

And I can cut the spare tire well to accommodate the axleback I want to use.....

THX fellas!

 

One thing to remember, make sure to strap that stock tank down really well. According to a guy I know that has prepped several Hondas for various series, the fuel tanks have been known to come loose with the stock mounting mechanism. Beef it up a bit.
Cheers,
-Mirror