Changing to new aluminum fuel cell. New one has foam already installed. This is in a S/ST bracket truck on gas. Is it of any benefit to keep the foam inside the cell or not?

No reason to remove it and yes my Jaz aluminum fuel cell installed by MPR Race Cars in 2004 with foam still has the same foam after 18 years and thousands of passes.

Gas no problem, if you ever decide to switch to E85 or alcohol, consider removing it... I don't think Q16 would hurt it, but I am unsure about that one.

I would leave it in, that being said, pull it out and get all the little pieces of foam out so it doesn't clog the filter right away. My new Jaz cell had lots of little pieces of that foam in it when I got it.......

quote:

Originally posted by "The Bender":
I would leave it in, that being said, pull it out and get all the little pieces of foam out so it doesn't clog the filter right away. My new Jaz cell had lots of little pieces of that foam in it when I got it.......

Good advice!

I can’t speak to what debris may have been in my cell as delivered from Jaz but I’m certain it was checked before it was installed by MPR. Further, about 4 years ago I pulled the foam out of my cell to check it and there was no visible degradation nor debris in my cell.

Research "Blue Tank Foam. For methanol and alcohol based fuels. Friends car ran the black foam with Q16. Problem being sitting. Lower level submerged in fuel was OK.3" of the top, "Not submerged"
Some of it flaked off and dropped to the bottom.

Never ran foam. You really don't know whats going on in the tank.

From what I've seen there are at least two different types of foam commonly used, one is like what you would find in a pillow or dog bed, the other seems to be polymer based and much more durable/rigid. If you have the latter, you should be ok, I've only seen the soft foam degrade over time. I ran E85 for a half dozen years AFTER running the same cell with gas for just as long, never had a single find in the fuel filter

You're better off with the foam. The foam controls sloshing inside the tank. Running alky it needs to be changed yearly. (I know you said you're running gas. The alky recommendation if for others)

My first 3 had foam in the cell, no issues. Stocker had foam in it, and looked perfect for 2 yrs, and all of a sudden, after buying fuel at a Div race, it nearly disappeared, and had to replace the entire fuel system. None since. Chalked that up to bad gas, because 4 others were at the following race, *****ing at VP guys, about the mess they had, and the exact same as mine.