The Fuel Solution

Aeromotive’s Phantom fuel tank systems can prevent fuel supply problems

Words: Jeff Huneycutt

The modern resto mod is a great concept. Take an old muscle car, rip out the outdated engine and suspension, and drop in a modern, electronic fuel injected engine along with a high-performance suspension and you’ve got the perfect combination of classic car looks with modern performance.

Simple, right?

Actually, as many performance enthusiasts have learned, there’s a bit more to it than that. It may be relatively easy to drop in a new engine into the large engine bay of a late-’60s or early-’70s Camaro or Mustang, but getting it to run dependably can be another deal entirely. Getting all the bugs worked out has led to great frustration for many builders we know.

One of the big issues with this situation is getting fuel to the engine at the proper pressure and consistency. Most often, builders will try to get away with using the stock tank (if it is still in good shape), and raise the fuel pressure that a modern EFI fuel system requires by bolting a new electric fuel pump to the frame rail. Typically, the car will start and run while it is sitting in the shop but exhibit stumbles and other problems out on the street.

Aeromotive’s Brett Clow has dealt with helping builders fix these problems for years and says that there are a number of reasons resto mods have these issues.

“Remember, when you get rid of the carburetor for an EFI-based fuel system, you’re also getting rid of the carburetor’s float bowls,” he says. “And the float bowl actually does something that most people don’t even think about. When the stock fuel tank in a carbureted car begins to get low, the fuel will surge slosh around in the tank when taking a turn, under hard braking, or acceleration and the pump pickup can suck air. Usually, you don’t notice it, because there is enough fuel in the float bowl to keep the engine running until fuel delivery is restored.

“But now if we go to an EFI system, it relies on a steady, uninterrupted supply of fuel at a very high pressure. If the pump gets a gulp of air because fuel has been sliced away from the pickup, then that blip in your pressure is going to affect the engine right away. That is when you get stumbles, the engine doesn’t want to drive right, or in a worst-case scenario it shuts off.”

A second very common issue is when you have a pump outside the tank pulling through a pickup, requiring the pump to pull negative pressure or vacuum pull fuel out of the tank. That can lead to a scenario where once the fuel starts to warm up in the tank, which isn’t uncommon in the summertime, the pump will start cavitating and you wind up with vapor lock.

So what’s the solution? Previously there were really only two ways that you could go, and neither were ideal. The first was to stick with the stock-style tank and an external electric fuel pump then use Band-Aids to cover its inefficiencies. But that left you running from fuel pump to fuel pump, because whenever the tank got below half or two-thirds of its capacity the car started missing and stumbling again, not to mention the fact that external fuel pumps are noisy.

The second option was to go with a fabricated high-performance fuel cell. These mounted the fuel pump in the tank and took care of the cavitation, noise and fuel slosh issues, but can be quite expensive and rarely fit the car like an OEM tank. This led lots of builders to fabricate solutions to install a new tank that included cutting up the trunk floor and moving around exhaust.

But now Aeromotive has come up with a third option that provides car builders with an economical option for a fuel tank and supply system that is properly engineered to eliminate all the issues that have created such great frustration. The idea is to create a line of fuel tanks that are stamped in the OEM dimensions (whenever possible) so that it is a direct bolt-in, while also designing in all the features that will allow it to work properly with modern EFI engines.

“All of these Phantom tanks are either a combination of a tank built by either Tanks Inc. or Year One with internal baffling built to our specifications and outfitted with our equipment,” Clow explains. “We have a wide variety of tanks, so this isn’t a one-size-fits-all scenario. That rarely ever works, so we’re building specific tanks for specific cars.

“Some of the stock tanks don’t have enough depth to properly hang the fuel pump from the top of the tank and get enough space around the baffles for the pickup, so we’ve added the necessary volume by lowering the floor. In those tanks, we’ve added new longer hanging straps so that you can install the tank with no issues.”

The cool part about these tanks is they all come outfitted with Aeromotive’s excellent Phantom in-tank fuel pump system, which can feed 700 horsepower or more, and works with both carbureted and fuel injected engines.

We’ve taken a close look at the systems in previous issues of Power & Performance News and they are fantastically well-designed, but the most important thing to know in this application is it allows for a super-clean, almost painlessly easy installation.

The Stealth 340 electric fuel pumps are mounted to a billet aluminum, black anodized hanger assembly and boast an impressive 340 liters per hour of flow. The tanks use an engineered baffling/tray system to control fuel slosh and keep the pump submerged so that you get consistent fuel flow even when the tank is nearly empty.

The tanks also include a pre-installed factory-style sending unit, internal return-line tubing, and three AN ORB ports. There’s three because one is used as a feed line, the second is the return, and the third is a dedicated vent. Finally, because the pump is submerged in the tank, it is significantly quieter in operation than an external electric pump mounted to the frame rail that can give you that annoying whine while driving.

Interestingly, while it is obvious that the Phantom tanks are a great option for fuel inject engines, they also work very well with carbureted systems. “We can run carbureted or fuel injected equally well with these tanks,” Clow explains. “Gasoline these days is designed for a 60 psi fuel system. They haven’t blended gasoline for a carbureted car in 20 years. It is not the same gas that we used to buy back in the ’70s and ’80s. It is a lot more volatile and it is easier to get it to a temperature where it will start exhibiting fuel handling and vapor lock problems. And guys with carburetors are fighting that all the time now. By installing a Phantom fuel tank, along with a return line to keep the fuel recycling in the car instead of allowing the fuel to be stalled at low pressure, we eliminate a lot of the hot fuel handling problems that guys are having with carbureted cars today.

“Plus, the bolt-on EFI throttle body kits are getting really good these days, and they are becoming quite popular. I’ve worked with several guys who are building a car with a carbureted engine, but they plan to upgrade to fuel injection somewhere down the line. If you are swapping over from a stock-style fuel system it can be an issue, but if you are using a Phantom tank it gets a whole lot easier. You already have a pump capable of providing the correct fuel pressure reliably, all you have to do is modify the pressure regulator. You buy a conversion kit; take the cap off the regulator; put a new seat, spring, and poppet in the thing; bolt it back together and you are ready for fuel injection. You just have to run a return line in advance, but that solves a lot of problems with carbureted systems anyway.”

But while Aeromotive’s Phantom tank is a great choice for many car builds, to his credit, Clow cautions that it isn’t for full-blown race cars. The stock tank shape often slopes upward in the back to help hide the tank behind the rear bumper or roll pan, so the pickup has to be placed near the front. If the fuel level is low, it is possible to slosh the fuel away from the pump under hard acceleration or cornering. For those applications, it is better to go with a dedicated racing tank or fuel cell.

But overall, whether you are building an updated muscle car, a daily driver, or a fun cruiser, if you are looking for an economical option for your fuel system that provides plenty of options for the future, it is hard to beat the engineering in Aeromotive’s Phantom fuel tanks.

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