Real Fiero Tech

Hello,

I just wanted to share my experience with the Hydramat so that it might help others. I bought Part # 16-101 which is a 15" by 8" X.

I needed a little more capacity in the tank because there were only 7 usable gallons before starvation in the stock 85 tank. This is under track conditions.

I found an 87 tank but it had pinholes and was very dirty inside. I didn't feel like I could properly clean and repair the tank with the stock baffle but did not want to risk getting less usable fuel so it sat for about a year. When the Hydramat came out I decided to risk removing the stock baffle and rely on the Hydramat to collect the last bit of fuel.

I turned down the flats on a "precision" NPT fitting to the same size as the stock fuel pump inlet and used a very short piece of fuel submersible hose to connect them. I also bought magnets from McMaster and attached them to the holes in the corners of the Hydramat to keep it on the floor of the tank. I had to cut the stock fuel feed on the sender back so that the fuel pump could sit higher. I also cut back the return so that it would sit above the Hydramat the required depth.

This setup works fantastic! The added capacity of the 87 tank helps, but the Hydramat is also better than a stock baffle. When fuel starvation would occur on the 85 tank then as many as 5 more laps and possibly more could be made. With the Hydramat barely 2 and the tank is absolutely dry.

This may not be the best solution for everyone's situation but it is was a miracle worker for me!

Sam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfE1v65fNZI

Looks interesting, and if there's no camera magic, the video shows it working quite well. thanks for sharing.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for making a post based on actual experience backed up by track use! Great info!

Thanks guys!

I was definitely concerned about the marketing vs. reality gap. But, I didn't have a better option so I went for it. I'm certainly glad it worked out as it could have been an expensive failure.

I've always appreciated the tech content and attitude of the this site over that other Fiero site. It's good to have something to add.

New to me, sure looks quick and easy compared to a proper sump! I'll definitely be keeping this in mind when adding injection to an old carbureted car, much slicker than typical options.

Bryce

I know...."Holy Necro-Thread Batman!"

Just about to order one of these for my ongoing setup along with altering the fill stop tube to get a bit more usable capacity as I can get no more than about 10.5 gallons out of my 88 tank.. I pulled my fuel tank and surprisingly it looks quite good on the inside short of one small crack in the baffle. Well technically it looks like one crack with one piece rattling around somewhere in the tank..






Would there be any benefit in retaining and cutting a hole in the bottom of the OEM baffle and placing the hydramat beneath? Or better to just remove the baffle altogether?

I almost bought one while I was at summit the other day....

I was thinking of making a hole and leaving the baffle in place just to be sure.

I saw an add for the stuff a while back, and it looked awesome, maintained an air free pump discharged with only an extremely small portion of the mat in the fuel. If my tank didn't already have good baffles, and as far as I know, no suction problems, I would consider it.

After looking, shopping, and attempting to fab a fuel pump inlet adapter from my DW400 pump to a holley hydramat I called up deatschwerks themselves (should have done that at the beginning ) and not only did they tell me they had no adapters I was also informed that the pump has no internal check valve (not a big issues) and that "it will not work with a holley hydramat because it is a positive displacement pump and will only draw fuel effectively from the area around the fuel inlet."

Can you guys with more pump and fluid dynamics knowledge than I explain / support what the deatschwerks tech said?

A pump that is positive-displacement positively displaces a certain volume of fluid for each rotation.

For example, a piston pump displaces a volume of liquid equal to the stroke*area every time it cycles. This movement of fluid follows the crankshaft rotation. If you block the output, you stop the crankshaft from turning.

A centrifuge pump such as an automotive water pump is not positive displacement. You can stall the outlet, and the impeller can continue spinning. The displacement of fluid is not related to the rotation of the pump.

Is the DW400 a gear pump? Anyway, sounds like the DW guy thinks that the pump will have to work hard to suck through the hydramat, and maybe fail at doing so.

If you pour fuel on a hydramat, does easy-to-suck liquid fuel appear at the pump fitting?