A leading auto safety expert I met gave me a big lecture on the danger of the classic Mustang gas tanks and rear end accidents. He told me under no-circumstances should I drive the car without putting a solid metal barrier between the rear seat and trunk and installing a fuel cell.
I'd like to add the solid metal barrier (it's sheet metal welded in and replaces a cardboard barrier, and it should help stiffness a lot) but don't know if I'll do the fuel cell tank. It's not a bad idea though.
I'm 55 years old and have never seen a new article about any Mustang bursting into flame from a rear end collision. I also processed accident reports for the State of VT for quite a few years and never ran across one either. In addition, while a piece of sheet metal across the rear seat divider may stop fuel or fire from reaching the upper seat back, it does nothing for the package tray OR for the spaces over the outer wheelhouses and in to the quarter trim area.
If I was to do ANYTHING, it would be to install a plate directly over the fuel tank, and attach the tank with straps instead of bolts so that it could move forward in a collision instead of ripping apart. The fact is, it's an almost 50 year old car and doesn't have collapsible steering column, side impact beams, fixed back seats, full crumple zones, 3-point seat belts, air bags, side curtain bags, antilock brakes, traction control, 3rd brake light, On-Star, and whatever else you can find in a modern car.
I can't understand how the "leading auto expert" gets from here to there in airplanes using the same basic safety device they've had since the thirties, a lap belt, and that's it.
Other than a narrowed rear leaving no room for anything else, why are you guys running fuel cells.
Still curious
__________________
Wife,........."You drove how far for that thing?"
Daughter,..."Theres no inside and it stinks."
Friend,......."Dude, thats a rusted piece of sheet."
Son,.........."This old car is cool."
On street car, I don't know either--on a drag car you want the tank to have a sump and a pre made cell is easier (for most) than welding in a sump . I've had both.
It seems like this topic has come up before. The data that might hold water in this article is where the Mustang is said to have had 3X the number of deaths from fire during rear end collisions than other cars in this period.
When you look down in the trunk for the first time and realize your looking at the gas tank, and then look forward and see the rear seat backing material straight ahead in the trunk, it makes you wonder.
I'm not a safety nut, but I will put a piece of sheetmetal in as a barrier and bulkhead, and also get the benefit of stiffening up the vehicle a little as well by doing it the way one car builder demonstrated in his blog when stiffening up one of his cars.
I'm 55 years old and have never seen a new article about any Mustang bursting into flame from a rear end collision. I also processed accident reports for the State of VT for quite a few years and never ran across one either. In addition, while a piece of sheet metal across the rear seat divider may stop fuel or fire from reaching the upper seat back, it does nothing for the package tray OR for the spaces over the outer wheelhouses and in to the quarter trim area.
If I was to do ANYTHING, it would be to install a plate directly over the fuel tank, and attach the tank with straps instead of bolts so that it could move forward in a collision instead of ripping apart. The fact is, it's an almost 50 year old car and doesn't have collapsible steering column, side impact beams, fixed back seats, full crumple zones, 3-point seat belts, air bags, side curtain bags, antilock brakes, traction control, 3rd brake light, On-Star, and whatever else you can find in a modern car.
I can't understand how the "leading auto expert" gets from here to there in airplanes using the same basic safety device they've had since the thirties, a lap belt, and that's it.
I use a fuel cell, because with a stock tank, all the gas moves to the back when I launch the car on slicks, and then theres no gas left in the sump for the poor engine.
__________________ N/A 408 c.i. G-Force 5 spd. 10.x through the mufflers
I use a fuel cell, because with a stock tank, all the gas moves to the back when I launch the car on slicks, and then theres no gas left in the sump for the poor engine.
__________________
Wife,........."You drove how far for that thing?"
Daughter,..."Theres no inside and it stinks."
Friend,......."Dude, thats a rusted piece of sheet."
Son,.........."This old car is cool."
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