Combo Tank For Engine Bay

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

On the new car build, I fancy tidying up the engine bay a little and wondered if anyone had ever seen or made a "combo" tank for up near the firewall that served the purpose of header tank, power steering reservoir and oil catch tank at the same time? So a sort of partitioned aluminium enclosure with all the necessary ports. Obviously the alternative is to just mount 3 individual ones up there, but this will take up extra room and not look quite so organised and tidy.

 

I figure by putting the oil catch tank in the middle you can probably separate the header tank (hot) from the power steering fluid (ideally, not so hot). Would the differing temperatures between the contained fluids cause too much problems with splitting/etc? Is it a bad idea?

[peakrevs 0]

On the new car build, I fancy tidying up the engine bay a little and wondered if anyone had ever seen or made a "combo" tank for up near the firewall that served the purpose of header tank, power steering reservoir and oil catch tank at the same time? So a sort of partitioned aluminium enclosure with all the necessary ports. Obviously the alternative is to just mount 3 individual ones up there, but this will take up extra room and not look quite so organised and tidy.

 

I figure by putting the oil catch tank in the middle you can probably separate the header tank (hot) from the power steering fluid (ideally, not so hot). Would the differing temperatures between the contained fluids cause too much problems with splitting/etc? Is it a bad idea?

 

I've done a bit of fabricating and looking at your sketch a couple of points come to mind.

 

In order to make the inner walls seal you would probably need to make the three tanks individually and then join them together or use the end side of the first to form the side of the next if you follow me. So you would have welded joints on the external casing which if TIG welded could look very nice.

 

The other point is that the header tank needs to withstand pressure so a straight sided vessel might not be strong enough if you used 16gauge aluminium.

 

John

[Cameron 16]

Your PAS reservoir would also have to be tiny compared to the catch tank and the header tank, as in reallyreallyreally thin.

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

Yeah, the diagram isn't really to scale and is not fully accurate, for example missing an input and breather off the catch tank...

 

Interesting point about the pressure in the header tank. Is this why no-one's really done it before? Maybe I'm better off with 3 separate, round ones anyway then

Edited March 12, 2010 by brumster

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

I've seen radiators with end tanks made from ally sheet, they will withstand the pressure fine, but admittedly are smaller area wise. If you were worried about the header tank it would be easy to put 2 or 3 internal stiffening braces from side to side.

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

I've seen radiators with end tanks made from ally sheet, they will withstand the pressure fine, but admittedly are smaller area wise. If you were worried about the header tank it would be easy to put 2 or 3 internal stiffening braces from side to side.

 

Tom, does Phil still do fabrication stuff? When I picked up the Pug he mentioned it, and probably in a rather blasé fashion said "If you ever need anything making up, let me know" - he should have known better to say such a thing!

 

Mind you, if he sees what his baby looks like now he'll probably cosh me with the fabricated tank.... it really is a lovely shell, so very little rust (only in the usual places, nothing terminal).

 

Anyway, I digress....

[Cameron 16]

It may balloon slightly, but it's not going to burst. If you want to stiffen it up you can always put a swage line in the panels.

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

He does indeed, he did mention something about a combo tank idea, he always talks his skills down but he is s*it hot with sheet metal fabrication and TIG welding, the blasé style comment doesn't suprise me at all.

 

And don't worry about the car being his baby, he has ripped apart and otherwise destroyed 205's with the best of them! He just bought that one as a summer thrashabout to be honest, I think he used it for about 6 months to go to work and back as something more exciting than his diesel Mondeo.

 

Not a great pic but he made this airbox (shown without the lid) for our Mi 205.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Tom Fenton

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

I might bell him does he have an email? Maybe PM me it, if that's ok?

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

He does have email, but you'll be better off phoning up to talk to him TBH.