?sealed tanks (/FordGT) for all?

[Jack]

Just got my Dec 04 issue of SAE‘s Automotive Engineering International magazine p 43. Although this ain’t breaking news, it’s news to me! … from the mag I quote the entire brief:

TI Automotive develops “ship in a bottle” for GT

TI Automotive has developed a first-of-its-kind fuel tank system for the new 2005 Ford GT. The unique system encloses fuel pumps, level sensors, and other components inside a blowmolded plastic tank to limit fuel evaporation into the atmosphere. The “ship in a bottle” or SIB design was developed to help automakers meet stringent new evaporative emissions legislation including LEV II and ZEV legislation in California. It features the latest technology in tank-system architecture, according to its maker, as well as fuel management and manufacturing processes. The fuel system uses piezo fuel-level sensing, component integration to maximize tank volume, and a fuel-delivery system that includes two turbine and three jet pumps to feed the GT’s 500-hp (373-kW) engine. END QUOTE.

There is a graphic associated with the brief that I cannot post. It depicts the tank assembly and seems to support the brief’s intimation that the pumps etc cannot be R&R’d from the sealed tank. If so, woe to all of us as the brief leads me to conclude that, in order to meet emissions regs, such sealed tank assemblies are soon to be routine for all. Heck, replacing an in-tank fuel pump with current-design steel tank is already quite expensive … imagine what it’d cost to replace the whole darned shooting match! We all know, Kalifornia leads the way … even my new Craftsman mower is certified to meet Kalifornia emissions standards …a mower I bought in South Carolina. Is this sealed tank-pump thing gonna be universal … or is the sky falling?

JACK

 

[Ken]

I think the main reason for its use in the GT was space constraints, although "sealed" tanks, in that they're not vented directly to the atmosphere anymore, are here to stay.

 

[JohnZ]

Non-permeable rotationally blow-molded multi-layered plastic tanks are nothing new - many car lines have had them for the last ten years or so, and most arrive from the supplier (Kautex, Walbro, and many others) ready to install in the car, with the fuel pump/sender module and external venting/rollover valving already assembled. The SAE splash is probably more related to the manner in which the package was integrated for the Ford GT application than the fact that it's a sealed plastic tank (which is nothing particularly new).

 

[JohnZ]

T.I. Automotive got their splash in the SAE magazine just in time; you've probably heard about the "stop driving the car immediately" recall on the Ford GT (cracked control arms) - that will soon be followed by another recall on the Ford GT fuel tank assembly for evaporative emission test failures - they will announce it shortly. Bad P.R. for their "halo" car. :eyerole