Fuel Cell

General Composites Discussions Products Talk
#1

Does anyone know which resin to use to build a motorcycle fuel cell? Or any ideas on how to do this?

#2

  1. You need to find a resin that won’t have a chemical reaction with gasoline especially in the long run. You don’t want dissolved resin to flow into the engine.

  2. It’s really a bad idea to build the fuel tank out of composites. The fuel cells used in auto racing all have an internal rubber bladder. The composite ones are also fairly well protected from any type of impacts. On a motorcycle, if you were to lay the bike down, it’s fairly easy to puncture the tank or crack it. The weight savings is very minimal compared with a comparable aluminum tank.

#3

Just talked to a supplier about that. I was advised to get a hardner that would allow it to be flexible and to give it a heat cure.

I cant remember his information but he gave me a system to use for the same thing. I am sure if you call some epoxy resin suppliers and tell them you need fuel resistant epoxy they can get you in the right direction.

I second the bladder but have yet to source out a company that can supply them. I know from my time working with the factory race teams that most composite tanks were prone to cracking from the sun heating up the gas and it expanding. I would probably go aluminum as well.

#4

I like the bladder use also. The problem is that I want to build a tank that will hold 1/2 of the fuel it holds now, so I can increase the airbox size and install a ramair duct between the tank and frame. I plan on using the original tank(its is a 2 piece plastic tank) for a plug.
Thanks for the info.

#5

Try to remember that going all out on an airbox can be the wrong thing to do. There is a balance on size versus power gained. You can be just slightly too big and there will be a significant power drop from it (as far as ram air pressures are concerned)

PM me what bike your working on and let me see if I cant help you figure out what it is your chasing. I have spent the time to build the airboxes you are going to build and let me tell you, they suck to build, I have spent as many as 100 hours to get one from the biggest I could build (and that took quite awhile) to one that works properly. Its a chore in a half.

#6

Wasn’t VER largely developed for use in making chemical-resistant containers?