FAQ: Fuel Tank is 10.08 GALLONS... yes.. I took the tank out the car.. LOL

LittoDeviL · 11-24-2009, 10:31 PM

YouTube - SMART ForTwo's Fuel Tank is a 10 Gallon tank for a fact, not 8.7

CLICK ON "YouTube" logo on bottom right of video and watch in HD Widescreen on the actual youtube site! I recorded it in HD for you guys and the text is A LOT clearer and bigger!!!

For a lot of you, you may know that there has been a long.. ever lasting, cut throat debate about the size of our fuel tank in our 451 SMART car... Well debate is over, I mean literally over after I spent a few hours of my time trying to figure out how to showcase to you folks that care about the size of the fuel tank once and for all. Ending the debate once and for all...!

Some facts...

- TANK is 10 gallons... in the manual it says 8.7 + 1.3 reserve... that reserve is just an indicator under the speedometer, the tank itself is one big thermoplastic formed in a specific shape with no baffle but just a big plastic tank with a carbon canister on the side to capture fumes for emission control.

- The tank was leveled out when video was taken since the bottom of the tank is not level but sloped to allow fuel to pool under the fuel pick up area.

- Video was captured around sea level and the temp of the fuel was around 50-55 degrees that yield it to have a density of 6.15 pounds per gallon. (Fill up your tank at night when the fuel is cooler if you can, you'll yield a tad more gas then what you pay for usually).

- I "zero" out the scale before weighting any of the gasoline either in the 1 gal container, the 5 gal jug or the fuel tank as shown in the video.

- In the video the 1 gal jug shows 6.25 gal but it's only accurate to 1/4 of a pound. In the 5 gal jug that's exactly 5 gal of fuel poured into it and it weights 30.75 pounds which is 6.15 gal and that's about right, as gasoline at 60*F is 6.1756 pounds per gallon.

- Tank held 62 lbs. that night and works out to approx 10.08 gallons. Even with the fuel pump, sender and etc it was the same as I left a little space up top.

- THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE the fuel in the filler hose that is used to fill up the tank... and yes you can actually fill up the tank that full when you pump it in because inside the tank there is 2 vents that allows the air to purge when you are filling up the tank with gasoline and they are on the two highest point of the plastic tank and is vented to the nozzle where you fill your car up at.

Volia! I dropped the tank not just to do this test, but was converting the SMART's fuel system from a returnless to a return fuel system to allow me to install huge 550cc injectors, to lower the fuel pressure and install a fuel pressure regulator to obtain even more power out of this car. At the time I figure why not give back to the smart community and spend a few hours and document this as accurately as possible

I hope you guys enjoy watching it!

Cheers!
Larry

dubblxtc · 11-24-2009, 10:48 PM

I thought this was told months ago.

LittoDeviL · 11-24-2009, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dubblxtc

I thought this was told months ago.

Just like the month before that, and a year before that, still the debate was always between the two size, and question if there was a "real" reserve which there isn't. And that the 10 gal was filled up with the plastic tank deforming over time and gas in the filler hose which is not true.

I did this just for those curious, for those who care, and just want to know the actual truth not from hearsay, dealer, or from smart itself but the actual shape and size of the formed fuel tank

I didn't do this just to fill the tank with gas, I did it while converting the car to a return fuel system to run injectors 5 times as big then stock to keep up with the air flow I was shoving into the engine.

Larry

Gearhead · 11-24-2009, 11:45 PM

That's what I like! A real empirical test!

Dave777 · 11-25-2009, 12:11 AM

Well done. There will still be arguments and non-believers. The poorly worded manual has provided lots of fodder for discussion. Quite simply, given the facts of the tank, anyone here could have written the manual better.

Here's my post from a year and a half ago, with my version of how the tank works, at the bottom of this page:
1.3 Gallon Reserve

LittoDeviL · 11-25-2009, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave777

Well done. There will still be arguments and non-believers. The poorly worded manual has provided lots of fodder for discussion. Quite simply, given the facts of the tank, anyone here could have written the manual better.

Here's my post from a year and a half ago, with my version of how the tank works, at the bottom of this page:
1.3 Gallon Reserve

Thanks Dave! And your right there will still be arguments and non believers but hey... I did it for the vast majority of our readers that are curious

I like your version, with your permission can I copy and paste that picture you have and add it to my post with credit to you?

Larry

Big Panda · 11-25-2009, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittoDeviL

- Tank held 62 galthat night and works out to approx 10.08 gallons. Even with the fuel pump, sender and etc it was the same as I left a little space up top.

I think you meant lbs?

Still, a great video. But like Dave said, there will still be nay-sayers and conspiracy theorists. As for me, I'm just glad to have it put to rest, at least in MY mind.

Thanks "Devil"!

jimvw57 · 11-25-2009, 03:39 AM

next... how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop???? The main question is, how much gas can you use from the tank before it can not draw any more out?? I have had cars that always leave a few gallons in the tank when they quit running and are 'out of fuel' .

LittoDeviL · 11-25-2009, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Panda

I think you meant lbs?

Still, a great video. But like Dave said, there will still be nay-sayers and conspiracy theorists. As for me, I'm just glad to have it put to rest, at least in MY mind.

Thanks "Devil"!

Your very welcome and thank YOU! I corrected the error... and I'll be damned if I could find a place to put a tank that would hold 62 gallons of fuel... That's 381 pounds.. LOL!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimvw57

next... how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop???? The main question is, how much gas can you use from the tank before it can not draw any more out?? I have had cars that always leave a few gallons in the tank when they quit running and are 'out of fuel' .

That's a good question, the part where I poke the camera into the tank shows how much fuel I could draw out just with the tank level and fuel pump running. I highly doubt you'll get THAT low but pretty close as long as you don't drive aggressively. The shape of the tank, and the design of the fuel pump, there is a one way valve under the pump... anyways I have a picture of the whole thing when I post up my 200 whp smart car using the stock engine and what I went thru to get it to that power level.

I have driven the car until it ran out of gas like 3+ times but that was always with a spare gallon of gas sitting in the trunk and .. yea basically I could drive it to the point where I have like.. less then half a gal in the tank.

Larry

forestacademy · 11-25-2009, 04:12 AM

All that matters is how many miles can you go past 0.0 on the guage.
And that has been answered
Incredibly accurate smart gas gauge

Quote:

Originally Posted by Florida

This is embarrassing.

I ran out of gas for the first time in my life. In my smart! But I learned that the digital countdown of the last gallon is incredibly accurate.

Somehow I didn’t notice the gauge until it was reading 0.1 gallons. I immediately headed for the nearest station. The reading went to 0.0 gallons. The car sputtered to a stop about a hundred yards later.

It took 8.7 gallons to fill the tank.