Fuel Cells and 914's, Lessons Learned Options

[Racing914six]

The 914-6 3.2 Motronic had a fuel pickup problem with the old fuel cell. It had a round lid filler therefore, only a homemade sump would fit in the hole. Even with the tank full, the outside pump could not keep up with the fuel demand.

So a new system was needed. After some research, an oval opening fuel cell was needed as well as a real sump and an in-tank pump. The trick was cost. $800 for the cell, $400 for the pump and $150 for the sump. There had to be cheaper options.

Well a trip to the local race shop resulted in used sump for $50. On Ebay, a scratch and dent tank was procured for $425. Some have used a WALBRO GSS307 pump that delivers liters per hour and on Ebay they are ~$65

Here is a picture of the sump with the up pump installed: One trick is to have uses a couple of nut as spacers to offset the pump's bracket as to allow for the electrical connection.

[Racing914six]

ATL sells a grommet that is used to feed the wires to the pump. The grommet has 2 holes for wires and does not leak. The grommet is mounted to the oval cover as seen below:

[Racing914six]

ATL sells a grommet that is used to feed the wires to the pump. The grommet has 2 holes for wires and does not leak. The grommet is mounted to the oval cover as seen below:

[Racing914six]

The AN 6 SS hose was clamped onto the pumps barbed fitting. The next trick was to fit the sump with the pump into the oval opening. Took some wiggling, but it finally slipped into place. Then the foam was installed and special care was used to insure that the sump could not move in the tank and that no foam was near the barn doors. As seen below: Note the sumps existing fitting was not used. Another trick was to place some foam around the vent so the fuel could not slosh through to outside.

[Racing914six]

Here is a picture of the bottom of the oval plate. Note the AN hose is the supply to the engine. The yelllow hose is a return that goes back to the sump.

[Racing914six]

Here is a picture of the cell in the car.

[Racing914six]

The results of the fuel cell upgrade were great . Started the weekend with a full tank (15 gallons). After each time out, the cell was filled up. Since the car was not loosing power in the turns, on Sunday, the system was put to a test. Since each run uses less than 5 gallons, the 914 was out for 3 sessions without filling up the tank. Again, no sputtering.

Here is a picture of the car at CMP coming out of turn 14.