Fuel Cell Mounting Tips - Safe In The City

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm fearless, but when it comes to most four-wheeled automotive tasks, I don't really scare all that easily. Ask me to do a donut in a car with no seats; I'm in. Tell me a car may or may not have working brakes and I'll probably jump in and find out for myself. Racing school buses on a figure-8? I'm down for the invite (hint, hint) and would be more than willing to give it a go with a little instruction and a GoPro strapped to my helmet.

There is just a certain comfort in a car that I'm OK with-unlike in my normal life-where I live in a pretty much constant fear of being attacked by a sasquatch, getting touched by any kind of spider, seeing Editor Fisher the week of or after deadlines are missed, and, well, pretty much anything else that involves scary looking animals or bugs. It's not like I'm a weirdo (ding, dong!) but, I just don't like creepy-crawlies, they scare me. And don't even get me started on fish...

Point is, cars-and especially race cars-don't really scare me except for one all too real issue: Fire. I'm terrified of fire and couldn't imagine a situation worse than being trapped inside a race car at a track when it goes up in flames. Unlike my potentially silly sasquatch fear, ending up in a blazing car after a wreck isn't very uncommon and the reality is grounded in stories, videos, and firsthand experience from racers and fans all around the country.

If you're racing out there with a cut up race car and a poorly mounted and/or protected fuel cell, it's not just a bad idea, it's one that could easily land you in the hospital or, worst case, in a box thanks to a relatively minor on-track incident. Unfortunately, even with this knowledge, many racers think of a 12-gallon fuel cell as an afterthought, a piece of equipment necessary to carry the fuel you need for a race and nothing more. Knowing that a quality cell is well worth its price tag, we spent our last story with the City Boy working on a safe structure to hold our ATL fuel cell. This month, we're covering the installation and fitment of the cell and structure and hope that you too will consider safety first when it comes to this vital piece of equipment.

1 City Boy still isn’t much of a looker, but this month we’re going to drop a few pounds of sheetmetal in search of a new home for our ATL fuel cell and support structure.

1 City Boy still isn’t much of a looker, but this month we’re going to drop a few pounds
2 Before starting to cut, Pete Epple grabbed a 10mm socket and got to work removing the stock rear bumper. While not completely necessary for this portion of the install, it gave us more room to work and access to the lower portion of the trunk.

2 Before starting to cut, Pete Epple grabbed a 10mm socket and got to work removing the s
3 With the bumper removed, Pete unbolted the stock rear support bar (right) by removing the four bolts found on each side and tossed the heavy metal support aside. In the future, we will build a new and improved bumper support, so this piece was just taking up space.

3 With the bumper removed, Pete unbolted the stock rear support bar (right) by removing t

4 With the bumper removed, Pete unbolted the stock rear support bar (right) by removing the four bolts found on each side and tossed the heavy metal support aside. In the future, we will build a new and improved bumper support, so this piece was just taking up space.

4 With the bumper removed, Pete unbolted the stock rear support bar (right) by removing t
5 The new fuel cell won’t use the stock fill nozzle or door, so Pete unbolted those components next and threw them in the trash. We did keep the stock car door incase we need to reinstall it at a later point, but you probably won’t need it on your project, depending on the body.

5 The new fuel cell won’t use the stock fill nozzle or door, so Pete unbolted those compo
6 Since we don’t really know what we’re doing, as you have hopefully gathered by now, we spent the majority of our day slowly cutting parts off the City Boy with the wrong tools. Here, you can see Pete using a cutting wheel, which had he stuck with would have still been working right now to make the first cut.

6 Since we don’t really know what we’re doing, as you have hopefully gathered by now, we

7 This little air-powered reciprocating body saw actually worked really well on the thin sheetmetal surrounding the stock spare tire well and was fairly simple to work with, although Pete ended up breaking every blade we had before the day was done!

7 This little air-powered reciprocating body saw actually worked really well on the thin
8 After a full pass with the reciprocating body saw, Pete broke out the prybars and worked his way around the spare tire well, slowly separating the sheetmetal from the remaining body.

8 After a full pass with the reciprocating body saw, Pete broke out the prybars and worke
9 After a full pass with the reciprocating body saw, Pete broke out the prybars and worked his way around the spare tire well, slowly separating the sheetmetal from the remaining body.

9 After a full pass with the reciprocating body saw, Pete broke out the prybars and worke

10 A Fox-body mustang has two main supports under the floor, which you can see directly behind the rearend and on the back bumper area. These support structures are tough and a bit thicker than the flimsy tire well metal, so Pete had to take his time cutting them to free the main portion of the floor.

10 A Fox-body mustang has two main supports under the floor, which you can see directly b
11 Because City Boy needs to maintain the factory rails, we just needed to cut away the metal leading up to them, giving us a solid mounting point for the fuel cell cage. You can see Pete using a cutting shear here to make rough cuts toward the framerails.

11 Because City Boy needs to maintain the factory rails, we just needed to cut away the m
12 As we got closer to the rails we broke out the big guns…the Craftsman Sawzall. Why we didn’t use this from the get go still alludes me (Pete claims we didn’t need it) but it made quick work of the remaining sheetmetal and got our hole right up to the factory framerails.

12 As we got closer to the rails we broke out the big guns…the Craftsman Sawzall. Why we

13 Ta-da! It fits, sort of! I was hoping this was going to be enough work but the fuel cell cage needed a little bit of trimming and work to get in place. No worries, at this point we were well on our way to a safe mounting solution.

13 Ta-da! It fits, sort of! I was hoping this was going to be enough work but the fuel ce
14 Ta-da! It fits, sort of! I was hoping this was going to be enough work but the fuel cell cage needed a little bit of trimming and work to get in place. No worries, at this point we were well on our way to a safe mounting solution.

14 Ta-da! It fits, sort of! I was hoping this was going to be enough work but the fuel ce
15 While Pete was trimming the fuel cell cage, I decided to actually do something besides sit around and make fun of him, so I broke out the hammer and worked on rounding the edge of our sheetmetal, which is probably the best part of the entire project so far, if I do say so myself.

15 While Pete was trimming the fuel cell cage, I decided to actually do something besides

16 While Pete was trimming the fuel cell cage, I decided to actually do something besides sit around and make fun of him, so I broke out the hammer and worked on rounding the edge of our sheetmetal, which is probably the best part of the entire project so far, if I do say so myself.

16 While Pete was trimming the fuel cell cage, I decided to actually do something besides
17 Stepping back, you can see that all of this work has opened up a large area in the back of our Mini Stock Mustang and has given us ample room to install a proper fuel cell mount. While we probably could have done a lot less and got by tech, it’s our (and your) life on the line, so it wasn’t worth skimping on anything.

17 Stepping back, you can see that all of this work has opened up a large area in the bac
18 Time for a little prep to ensure that Pete could lay down a clean bead with our Lincoln MIG welder and create a permanent connection between the framerails and the fuel cell cage.

18 Time for a little prep to ensure that Pete could lay down a clean bead with our Lincol

19 With our rear suspension plans still in limbo we chose to set the cage back in the chassis leaving almost 5 inches between the bottom of the cell and the rearend. Who knows, maybe a Panhard bar finds its way in that space in the future…

19 With our rear suspension plans still in limbo we chose to set the cage back in the cha
20 Another fear of mine is going blind from watching people weld but in the name of quality journalism and just because welding shots are cool, I braved my eyeballs to get a shot of Pete welding the cage in place.

20 Another fear of mine is going blind from watching people weld but in the name of quali
21 Before the smoke could clear, we jumped under the car to check out the cage structure, make sure everything was square and confirm that we had enough room for future suspension modification. Lookin’ good so far.

21 Before the smoke could clear, we jumped under the car to check out the cage structure,

22 Time to drop the ATL Sports Cell in place for the first time…
23 Not only does the cell look great but it is protected by several bars on the cage itself and will be even further isolated with the addition of our rear bumper system, which we will work on in a future issue of Circle Track.

23 Not only does the cell look great but it is protected by several bars on the cage itse
24 Like a glove! The ATL Sports Cell (PN SP112) dropped right in the center of our fuel cell cage and looked all business in the rear of the City Boy. With a strong surrounding structure, a quality fuel cell and a ton of time, the Mini Stock has a safe and legal cell mount. Tune in next time to see what’s next for City Boy and make sure to email us any questions or comments, especially if you need help with your particular fuel cell installation. CT

24 Like a glove! The ATL Sports Cell (PN SP112) dropped right in the center of our fuel c

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Fuel Cell Mounting Tips - Safe In The City

Fuel cell mounting tips or: How to incorrectly use every cutting device known to mankind