The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

My fuel tank in my sprint doesn't show any signs of leaking but I do get fuel smells from the boot so I am assuming it is becoming porous.

So just thinking about my options of which I have 4 (I think!)

1. I have a spare tank, not sure how good this one is so I would probably want to get it checked or refurbished before installing it, I can't find any where local to me at the moment so may have to look further afield.

2. Get an aluminium tank from Chris Witor, although I understand these may not have baffles in them so the fuel moves round quite a bit... not so good for my track car...

3. look at a plastic alternative, I see some people have used a fiesta tank?

4.Fit a square motorsport type aluminium tank, not seen one of these installed so not sure how they would fit etc...

just wondered if anyone had any recommendations? seems an ideal time at the moment to make the change...

Many Thanks
Nigel

Personally I would get one of the original ones refurbished. It fits in the car and it is likely to be cheaper than a reproduction tank.

I had the same problem and it turned out it was pin holes near the bottom. I clean it up with a wire brush, avoided power tools because of the spark risk and used some petrol tank sealer I got from the local motor factors. a bit of a bodge but it seems to be holding.

Before I started thinking about new tanks, i'd check carefully the tank breather hose, it's probably original from when the car was new. I've had several of these rot crack and leak in recent times especially on my Vauxhall powered cars where a short length of it is part of the fuel return for the EFi!

Same as any other fuel hose, to cope with E5 fuel, it needs to be R9 spec hose. But is often overlooked when replacing the other soft lines!

Steve

Carledo wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:45 pm Before I started thinking about new tanks, i'd check carefully the tank breather hose, it's probably original from when the car was new. I've had several of these rot crack and leak in recent times especially on my Vauxhall powered cars where a short length of it is part of the fuel return for the EFi!

Same as any other fuel hose, to cope with E5 fuel, it needs to be R9 spec hose. But is often overlooked when replacing the other soft lines!

Steve

Good advice Steve.


For my Fiesta mark 6 fuel tank installation,
I am going to route the breather to an outlet in the boot floor, making sure that
the hose goes quite a bit higher than the tank, before descending to the outlet.




Ian.

R9 hoses from a respectable manufacturer with it's name printed on it. Not just a black fuel hose with only R9 and some numbers. Most of the time the only R9 of these hoses is the printed number on it....

There are also non R9 hoses that are suitable for E5 and E10. Never trust the sellers sales talks or the describtion next to an image on a webshop. Check on the manufacturers website and when there is no manufacturers name printed on the hose then don't buy.

Jeroen

I am leaning towards a refurb/seal of my existing tank, and will check the hoses first....

Aluminium tanks aren’t cheap... but good for longevity...


Thanks for all the feedback so far... I will have look tomorrow...

I have heard that the tank from an MG Midget may fit. Someone needing a tank did a bit of research and believes they will fit but have a reduced capacity. They are readily available new from MG specialists and cost about £70.00.

These could be worth further investigation, has anyone else heard this or looked into them?

Early Midgets only carried 6 gallons - it might have gone up by a gallon later on, but its not a lot of fuel.

Bumpa wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:01 pm Early Midgets only carried 6 gallons - it might have gone up by a gallon later on, but its not a lot of fuel.

Aye, the similar-but-not-the-same Toledo tank only holds just over 8 gallons and that's not enough! Even at my average 36mpg the Carledo seems like it can pass anything but a petrol station!

I had thoughts of fitting a TR6 tank or possibly T2000 across behind the back seat to keep a bit of boot space. Not actually got around to try fitting either yet though!

Chris Witor's tank is supposed to be an exact match for the original, just in aluminium. I suspect that if you asked, he'd put baffles in for motorsport use, he's quite into that sort of thing! But it sure ain't cheap!

The same goes for for proper race tanks, you can get any size you want from about 2 gallons for drag racers, on up to 15 gallons or so for long range cars. but the penalty you pay is in boot space, a big cube tank in the middle of the boot floor leaves little room for anything else! And with MSA approved foam filling and baffles, the prices are astronomical!

I've also thought of, but not offered up yet, the tank from a Cavalier. In the Cav, the tank fits almost the full width of the car, but under the rear seat, with cut outs for the wheel arches. If you reversed it to fit the Dolomite boot, its very thin and flat, yet holds 12.5 gallons. You'd lose the spare wheel space but it has a swirl pot integral and provision for an electric pump for EFi built in. I think i'm gonna have a measure up and see if it's practical, I have a couple of Cavs here!

Steve

Is a Cavalier petrol tank not made from steel, Steve?
Also, I do remember fuel injected Cavaliers had an external in line pump like most of the cars of that time?

If I was a betting man I would bet that a T2000 saloon tank won't fit a Dolomite,
but these are pretty heavy anyway and you would need a PI version or an external swirl pot.

I like the plastic tanks because of the weight saving and that they don't corrode.
From memory I think the Fiesta mark 6 tank is 45 litres capacity. A mark 7 tank is a slightly
different shape and may actually fit in a Dolomite a bit better, I might try that in a few weeks time out of interest
but I am definitely sticking with the mark 6 one I bought.




Ian.

I spoke to Chris Witor and he was very helpful.

His latest tanks have baffles fitted so there should be a problem with fuel starvation on corners, they are expensive compared to other alternatives. But I did speak to another company last year that wanted £600 plus for a bespoke made aluminium one.

So still undecided... going to assess the spare one I have this weekend, even thought about rigging up a pressure test...I have a gas meter manometer so should be easy to see if there is a leak, assuming I can successful plug the outlets and inlets...

I'll report back later in the week...

sprint95m wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:40 pm Is a Cavalier petrol tank not made from steel, Steve?
Also, I do remember fuel injected Cavaliers had an external in line pump like most of the cars of that time?

If I was a betting man I would bet that a T2000 saloon tank won't fit a Dolomite,
but these are pretty heavy anyway and you would need a PI version or an external swirl pot.

I like the plastic tanks because of the weight saving and that they don't corrode.
From memory I think the Fiesta mark 6 tank is 45 litres capacity. A mark 7 tank is a slightly
different shape and may actually fit in a Dolomite a bit better, I might try that in a few weeks time out of interest
but I am definitely sticking with the mark 6 one I bought.

Ian.

Yes the Cav tank is steel, I don't see that as a problem, seeing as it will be living indoors! they aren't all THAT heavy, i've changed one on one of my Cavs and could hold it up in place empty with one hand, whilst I secured it with the other. Early MkIII cars 88-91 (those known to the cognoscenti as "pre-facelift") had a remote pump under the boot floor, directly behind the o/s/r wheel in all the crap and spray. Which, on the face of it, was a bad idea, but i've never known one to fail! They are also mounted badly on 3 tiny rubber cotton reel brackets, but you often find all 3 broken and the pump swinging around on the safety clip - and still working! I have one of these on the Dolomega, mounted centrally under the boot floor, being lower than the bottom of the tank obviates the need for a swirl pot! I have the same potless design on the Carledo and that's not missed a beat OR destroyed it's second hand Renault Espace fuel pump in over 9 years now. The facelift cars (92-95) had the pump inside the tank, with access through a plastic plug under the o/s/r seat, the fuel guage sender is a separate unit in a different hole on the front vertical face of the tank.

The 2000 tank may well be too wide, though the car itself is not THAT much wider than a Dolomite. The TR6 and 2.5 PI manage without a swirl pot too, the pump being on the boot floor, below the bottom of the tank. My main problem with these tanks as an idea is raising the CofG when the tank is full! A secondary problem is the height of the filler, 2000s have a non vented cap to stop it leaking when cornering on a full tank, a bit iffy for my taste! I DID consider using a Spitfire tank as an auxilliary long range tank in addition to the normal Dolomite tank, but i've put the battery smack in the middle of where it would go now, so that's out! I'm HOPING that my fuel economy predictions work out, that will give me a range of 400+ miles on the stock tank.

Steve