TpiTony

I was thinkin to give my car a lil help at the track i would put a fuel cooler on it. Has neone done that in here? does it help a lil? or would i just be wastin my time? Any comments would be appreciated thx.

LaxStreetRacer

Sounds like a big **** waste of time/money!

TheGreatJ

A fuel cooler is pretty pointless unless you're running a carb and having problems with vapor-lock. Putting one in the return line might help your fuel pump last longer, but that's probably the best use for one in these cars.

TpiTony

thanks i was thinkin the same thing(WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY) I just thought id ask because i heard it somewhere. thx again

V12Camaro

The fuel in your tank is ambient temp. the only time the cooler will reduce temp is with air moving across it at speed. sitting in the staging lanes, the cooler is ambient temperature. you'll be in the shut-down lane before "cool" fuel makes it to your intake.
Now, if you want to cool your fuel before a race, make a cool can out of an Igloo cooler and a coil of copper line, Ice it down a few minutes before the race, now that will cool your fuel off.

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

Not exactly true. On a return style fuel system the fuel flows through the fuel rails and picks up engine heat. It’s actually a fairly common cause of failure for some larger, race style pumps.

V12Camaro

But the fuel is still only Ambient temp. the cooler has not cooled the fuel while sitting.

TheGreatJ

The fuel in the tank starts out at ambient temperature. As it flows through the fuel rails and regulator it picks up heat. Then it returns to the tank, carrying this heat with it. Therefore, anytime the car is running, the fuel in the tank is slowly increasing in temperature. The longer the car runs, the hotter the fuel in the tank gets. Also, the lower the fuel level, the hotter the fuel gets, because it is circulated through the engine bay more often. So you see, the fuel IS hotter than ambient temp, especially if you just drove your car 2 hours to the nearest track, and are running near empty to save weight.

However, as I said before, if you aren't having problems with vaporlock you won't see much gain from cooling the fuel. It'll help extend the life of the pump (any electrical part will last longer if it's kept cool) but horsepower gains would be minimal.


FYI, this is the biggest reason that newer cars have the regulator at the pump instead of in the engine bay. It keeps the fuel cool by keeping it away from engine heat until it's ready to be burned.