Irv,
The life of the bladder and the internal foam elements is definately
finite. By all meanns you should replace both. When the foam starts to go
it sends lots of little pieces through the fuel system and usually plugs
it. It's a false economy to try and use questionable components on a race
car. Enter into the big picture, Murphy's Law which states your race car
will be out of commission at that race which is furthest from home, the
most expensive or when you have lots of compadre's there to watch you. The
cost of "hobby" racing is pretty substantial these days. Then of course
there's the safety factor. Usually the steel or aluminium shell are fine,
of course if you can replace the entire cell for only a few dollars over
the cost of just the bladder and foam, it's probably a no brainer. Check
into Fuel Safe. They have a line of cells which are very cost effective and
have the prefix of "ECL-(gallons)". I have run an ECL-8 in my Spitfire and
have had excellent results. I can also attest to the fact that it didn't
leak a drop during a multiple roll-over last year.
Best regards for a safe season.
Russ Moore
Spitfire #49 SVRA
At 07:00 PM 6/8/98 -0500, Irv Korey wrote:
>Fellow FOT,
>
>I bought my former EP TR4A in 92. It came with a Simpson fuel cell,
>uninstalled. Now that the car is starting to show some signs of eventual
>completion, I examined the cell tonight and discovered that a series of
>cracks has developed in the bladder. The metal shell measures 17 5/8" x 18
>1/4" x 9 1/2" high.
>
>Am I better off replacing just the bladder (assuming I can find one that
>fits), or should I buy a new cell anticipating that newer technology will
>provide me with a safer and/or better cell? If I buy a new cell, should I
>buy an aluminum shell or a steel one? Size (dimensions more than capacity)
>recommendations? Anything else I need to think about?
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>Irv Korey
>74 TR6 CF22767U
>66 TR4A CT52499 (starting to get close)
>Highland Park, IL
>
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