Fuel Cell in a hatch back

I have a harwood fuel cell I was trying to cell ,but decided to use it on the challenge car. I was told by a friend who is a tech that he would safety the car for road use, but it needs to have a firewall between the tank and the driver.

Anyone have any info on this? Does the SCCA require it? Solutions?

I have seen a few challenge cars with a fuel cell and no firewall, just wanted some thoughts.

Thanks!

JM

NHRA general saftey requirements state that the cell have a firewall in a hatchback.

I'm interested in this as well, added some more specific questions below.

Where to locating the fill neck, getting it out of the passenger compartment could be tricky.

How to vent the tank to prevent leaks in the event of a roll-over.

I can't find the rulebook online anymore but I have an 09 NHRA one at home. I'll post up that section.

Generally the firewall in a hatch has a trap door for access to the filler, etc. Not sure about the rollover valve.

If the fuel cell is mounted in the passenger compartment, there has to be a metal barrier between the cell and the drivers' compartment. The full specs are in the GCR section 9.3.26. IIRC if the cell is mounted outside the passenger compartment (like under the car) but the fill neck passes through it then there has to be a rollover check valve in the fill neck.

I just want to mount it in the spare tire well , but dont want to build a floor to roof panel.

then don't.. you can run it up to just above the level of the cell and then back to the rear of the car. Make it look like the cargo cover that was originally there.

I saw one in an IT7 that was in the spare tire well. He just built a metal box over it and used hood pins to hold the top on. Passed tech just fine.

exactly what I was thinking of.. sort of. I would have used theatrical roadcase clasps.. I trust those more and you can crank them down tight

I had an 8-gallon RCI cell in my hatch Pinto, and while I'd love to get another Pinto, I've already passed on some cars that were in great shape because they were hatches.

But mine was stupid dangerous... It was the first time I'd built something with a cell, and I did everything wrong. No tip valve. No inertia switch or emergency cut-off. No barrier. Heck, I didn't really even have anything holding it down except for some of those big A/C zip ties.

And the car smelled like gas ALL the time. I had a vent tube from the top of it that just stuck through a hole in the trunk - nothing on the end of it, either, it just pointed toward the ground. At the gas station, I got funny looks all the time for popping the hatch and putting gas in this little black box that was just sitting there.

And it's not like it was a stock car that I wanted to make safer...nah, it was a 300 hp deathtrap that weighed just under 2300 lbs., and I drove it like a retard. I put the cell in because it was fuel injected.

Sold the car and am happy to say I lived to tell about it. I know what not to do now.

As long as the metal isolates the fuel cell from the cabin you should be good to go, you do not need a floor to ceiling wall, I have seen hundreds of coupe race cars nd never seen this method