Fuel cell foam not expanding.

[john.thompson068]

I pulled four 4x6x16 blocks of fuel cell foam out of my 20 gallon fuel cell. The foam came with the cell which was brand new when I bought it from Jegs. The original foam blocks were huge when I pulled them out, then when they dried they shriveled up to 4x6x16. So I ordered four 4x6x16 blocks of foam to put back in, but they haven't expanded any bigger. They are floating around inside my tank, and if they do not expand, I will have to order two more blocks to fill up the space. They have been in the tank, which is completely full of gas for 24 hours. Are they going to get bigger? Do they need to sit in fuel for a week? Or should I just buy two more blocks now because they won't get any bigger? The foam I took out was some blue foam which was falling apart and clogging my filter, and I replaced it with JAZ Foam1. Also, even with all that foam in the cell, it still took 17.5 gallons to top it off and it had about 2 gallons in it already.

 

[Sweet5ltr]

The foam shouldn't take up very much volume (of fuel). The last time my foam was out, it was completely expanded inside, and was very tight getting out (had to be compressed). It should have completely expanded inside your tank prior to you placing gas in the cell. Give summit or jegs a call, and they can give you some insight on your issue. I have never purchased new foam, so I couldn't tell you what is normal and what isn't. Hope you get all your issues sorted out!

 

[Supershafts]

The foam is really only there for the event you get into a race accident and the tank or cell is crushed compromised and the fuel doesn't go all over, which it does in that case anyway.
I wouldn't worry about it not filling the entire cavity of the cell

 

[john.thompson068]

The foam shouldn't take up very much volume (of fuel). The last time my foam was out, it was completely expanded inside, and was very tight getting out (had to be compressed). It should have completely expanded inside your tank prior to you placing gas in the cell. Give summit or jegs a call, and they can give you some insight on your issue. I have never purchased new foam, so I couldn't tell you what is normal and what isn't. Hope you get all your issues sorted out!

Look at the picture of the blue foam that I pulled out of the cell. There were only four blocks of foam and look at huge they are. They measured like 6x8x20 by just looking at the pictures. When they dried they shrunk down to 4x6x16. These four blue pieces of foam had filled the inside of my tank completely when they were swollen with gasoline. So when I reordered new foam, I only ordered 4 blocks of foam that had the same measurements as the blue ones after they had dried out. My new pieces of foam have not expanded and are still only 4x6x16. So they are sloshing around inside of my tank. If they do not expand, then I will need to order two more blocks of foam to put in between the other pieces of foam which leave a 4 or 5 inch gap between the foam at the front of the cell and the foam at the back of the cell. Meantime, when I open the gas cap, I find the foam pieces have floated around to various positions within the tank after driving.

Hopefully I go look at them today and they have started to expand.

 

[Sweet5ltr]

Like I said, I am unsure how the expansion works with new foam! I would give Summit Racing a call.. Hopefully it has expanded, but ours was completely expanded and filled the cell prior to pouring fuel back into it.

 

[john.thompson068]

Like I said, I am unsure how the expansion works with new foam! I would give Summit Racing a call.. Hopefully it has expanded, but ours was completely expanded and filled the cell prior to pouring fuel back into it.

That is still not what I am trying to say. The foam starts off as a 4x6x16 in' block. I squeeze it down to stuff it through the hole. Once inside the cell it goes back to being a 4x6x16 in' block. I am wondering why it is not expanding like the blue cell foam in the above picture. That picture is immediately after pulling it out of the tank when it was still wet and it was swollen and bigger. Four of those blue blocks were able to fill my cell. Four of my new blocks have yet to increase in size to fill the inside of my cell. It will take 6 of the blocks of foam I have now to equal 4 of the blue blocks of foam. This is because the blue foam became even larger when it was wet with fuel. A day after that picture was taken, those blue blocks of foam had shriveled up to a 1/3 of that size, which measured 4x6x16. That is why I bought four new blocks of 4x6x16 foam. However, it appears that I will be ordering two more blocks of foam because this new stuff is not expanding larger than its original size when soaked in fuel as the blue foam did.

 

[Sweet5ltr]

I understood what you were stating, I just didn't want to break the bad news that you may need two additional foam blocks! Our foam never expanded. It stayed the same size, and was a puzzle type arrangement in the cell for fitment. :icon_profileleft:

I would have called Jaz, or whoever you originally purchased the fuel cell from prior to purchasing foam; but common sense would make you believe that the foam you had taken out would be the same foam you would install though. We had around six blocks of foam in our cell and it has a 12G capacity. Wish you could return them, but fuel soaked foam probably isn't safe for shipping i'm sure!

 

[john.thompson068]

6 blocks! What size blocks? Not 14x6x4. All of the available foam is offered in that same basic size so no harm has been done. Like you said though, I will have to order two more blocks to get the job done. Now that you have confirmed that it won't expand, I know what I'll have to do. That other foam must have been designed to expand like that. That stuff also did not last as long as I would have hoped.

 

[Sweet5ltr]

6 blocks! What size blocks? Not 14x6x4. All of the available foam is offered in that same basic size so no harm has been done. Like you said though, I will have to order two more blocks to get the job done. Now that you have confirmed that it won't expand, I know what I'll have to do. That other foam must have been designed to expand like that. That stuff also did not last as long as I would have hoped.

Keep us posted on the progress! Hate seeing mopars being locked in the garage for such small issues..

 

[john.thompson068]

The only thing keeping it locked up right now are the dust boots which were destroyed during the starter motor project. As soon as I get those I can go back to taking it out until I start on the electric fan project which should only take a weekend.

 

[Red63440]

Did you ever consider you may have ordered the wrong size blocks???? Like stated several times, call Summit or Jegs and find out exactly what you need BEFORE you order more blocks.

 

[john.thompson068]

Did you ever consider you may have ordered the wrong size blocks???? Like stated several times, call Summit or Jegs and find out exactly what you need BEFORE you order more blocks.

I don't really know. They don't sell blocks in any bigger size. I looked at all the foam options that they had, and unless I missed something, I was only seeing this basic size. They did have some kits but for different size or style tanks than what I have. If it doesn't expand by the time I order something else I can squeeze two more in there it will be fine.