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This guide will go over my installation of a Radium Fuel Surge tank in a 11-14 S197 Mustang. This will solve fuel slosh / fuel starvation issues when running extremely grippy tires with the OEM fuel tank. There are two excellent existing guides by resident racer @captdistraction here: https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AIDveM0l8mcBVjY&id=1C56AF0EFE270D56!1685232&cid=1C56AF0EFE270D56 & well known vendor Vorshlag @Fair here: https://www.vorshlag.com/forums/for...ang-fuel-starve-fixes-surge-tank-or-fuel-cell
These two guides helped out a lot when I built my setup, so I wanted to provide a in-depth guide to help those looking to set one of these up.

When running the OEM saddle style tank with half a tank of fuel or less, the pump will begin to suck up air pockets when turning corners with high G loads as the fuel sloshes to one side:
SloshVisual.jpg

Radium Engineering has a great fuel surge tank solution which can be piggy backed off the OEM tank & OEM fuel pump harness. This is a great option for a dual duty vehicle or those looking for ease of installation.
FST-R:
2021-12-29 10_51_29-FST-R, Fuel Surge Tank with Integrated FPR.jpg

It includes its own fuel pump, or you can spec it without one to use your own pump. I spec'd mine with the AEM 50-1200.

The setup uses -6 lines & fittings and requires a fused relay to piggy back off the OEM wiring harness for the fuel pump. The tank sucks up fuel from the OEM tank and has its own pump inside which feeds fuel directly to the fuel rail. Since the tanks cylindrical & is constantly pressurized full of fuel, there is no where for the fuel to slosh. You can run fuel down to almost the last drop without worrying about sucking up air.

Part List
Here is a complete list of parts I used for my build. I wont include prices as that fluctuates often, but expect to spend around $1000 for everything:

Radium Fuel Surge Tank - FST-R : 20-0130-01
Radium Hose Barb Adapter for 1 1/4" ID Hose w/ 1/4 NPT Port: 14-0058
Radium 0-100 PSI Fuel Pressure Gauge: 20-0029
Radium FST Mounting Bracket, Wall/Floor Standard Mount: 13-0054
Radium 5/16in SAE Female to 6AN Male Low Profile Elbow: 20-0600
Fragola 6000 Series PTFE Hose 20 ft.: FRA-602026
x3 Fragola Real Street Reusable PTFE Hose Ends Straight, -6 AN: FRA-680106-BL
x3 Fragola Real Street Reusable PTFE Hose Ends 90 Degree, -6 AN: FRA-689006-BL
Russell Performance -6 AN to 1/4 in. NPT: RUS-660823
Improved Racing -6 AN, -6 AN, 1/8 in. NPT Gauge Port: TR-06-02-B
Vibrant Performance Fuel Rail Fitting 5/16 in. to -6 AN: 16880
Aeroquip 1/8" NPT Plug: FCM3685
MGI SpeedWare Fused Relay: EP-FREL40
MGI SpeedWare GXL 12GA: WC-GXL
2" / 50mm Desk Grommet

Other materials/tools recommended: Hose cutter, basic wiring tools, high temp heat reflection tape, tesa tape, sharp knife, high temp thread sealant, -AN wrenches or 11/16 wrenches if you want hose ends to look like they were chewed on, hole saw 1.5"- 2", deburring tool, rivnut tool, rivnuts, chassis paint, Posi Taps, hose clamps, jack & stands, basic hand tools.

Diagrams

Plumbing Diagram:
PlumbingDiagram.jpg

Wiring Diagram:
WiringDiagram.jpg

Relay Diagram:
FuseDiagram.jpg

Factory Fuel Pump Harness:
2021-12-10 17_31_10-CM-14407-302AI, Boss Fuel Pump Jumper Harness - RevD.pdf.jpg


Instructions

Remove battery negative terminal.

Decide on where to mount the Radium tank. I used the floor mount from Radium & bolted it directly on the left side (Driver side) of the trunk beside the spare wheel compartment.
Mark the holes and drill them, following up with deburring & chassis paint to prevent rust. I inserted M6 rivnuts to bolt the tank down:
2021-12-29 14_41_49-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 14_43_29-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Instead of using bulkhead fittings (cleaner & more professional, but more expensive & added leak points), I copied what Chris did; which was drilling a big ol' hole into the wheelwell area to feed the fuel lines through to the OEM fuel tank & overflow line:
I used a 2" hole saw, following up with deburring and chassis paint & covered the hole with a office desk gromet. You could maybe do this with a 1-1/2" size or 1-3/4" if you want to try to get away with a smaller hole.
2021-12-29 14_45_58-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 14_48_48-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
[ Nice of you to say hello, racing slick ]

I worked on the wiring next. I relocated the OEM Fuel Pump harness from the rear driver side of the spare wheel area over to below the driver side rear taillight. I did this step because I utilize the spare wheel area for storage & trackday gear which results in things always bashing against the harness and the wiring was actually coming apart because of this. The relocated area should work better and is closer to where I placed the Radium surge tank. There were already two bolts in this location which perfectly fit the harness housing sans metal bracket. I just had to shave down some of the plastic housing base to fit the mounting nuts on. I did not have to extend any wires, just had to separate the grounding wire & relocate it:
OEM Fuel Pump harness:
2021-12-29 14_57_37-Media Viewer.jpg2021-12-29 15_00_22-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Relocated ground strap:
2021-12-29 15_08_44-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Next, mount the Relay somewhere close to the Radium tank. I just added a rivnut into an existing hole on the wheelwell "wall" and bolted the Relay housing in here:

2021-12-29 15_10_35-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 15_12_15-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Refer to the diagrams above for where all the wires run. Be sure to use minimum 12 gauge wire or 10 gauge for long runs over 15 ft. High quality automotive/racing wire recommended. The Relay I used features a built in fuse to simplify the setup a bit.

I used a "Posi-Tap" to tap the switch wire (White) from the Relay to the OEM Fuel Pump Harness (Violet/Green stripe):
posi-tap-20-22-ga-electrical-accessory-pta-2022r-14143371575358_800x.jpg2021-12-29 15_21_20-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

I ran the +12 (Blue) wire from Relay to the front of the car & fed it through the firewall on the Driver side to get into the engine bay and added it to the + battery post with a ring terminal.
Recommend cleaning up all the wiring with Tesa tape.

Next, move onto the plumbing. See diagrams above to see where all the lines route to.

Thread in the Improved Racing -6 AN, -6 AN, 1/8 in. NPT Gauge Adapter (TR-06-02-B) to the pressure line on the Radium tank with the Radium PSI gauge attached & a plug used on the second port, or feel free to add in a temperature gauge. Make sure to use high temp thread sealant on the NPT threads. I like to use the liquid stuff from Permatex - PN: 592
2021-12-29 15_50_40-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Next, get under the rear seat area & on the Driver side you'll find the OEM fuel pump under the rubber gromet:
2021-12-29 15_33_03-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Remove the wiring harness to get it out of the way. Remove the push lock retainers & pull the fuel line off. This is the line which runs to the fuel rail. Keep a towel handy as some fuel will leak out when pulling this off.

Add the Radium low profile elbow fitting ( 20-0600) onto the plastic quick fit adapter:
2021-12-29 15_36_45-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 15_36_08-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
Add the Vibrant Performance Fuel Rail Fitting 5/16 in. to -6 AN: 16880 to the Fuel Rail line and lock it in with the factory clips.

Now you can begin running the lines to measure the appropriate lengths. I built a 90 degree hose end & threaded it into the surge tank and then fed it through the hole and fed it under the car up into the Driver side of the fuel tank saddle:
2021-12-29 15_58_30-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 16_02_02-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 16_07_17-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Once the line is fed through, you can mark where the termination point is for the cut and then you can cut & build the straight end fitting. Repeat these steps for the pressure line. These two lines will feed into the OEM fuel tank.
2021-12-29 16_15_50-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
For the lines, I used Fragola -6 PTFE 6000 series which features stainless steel braid with a black jacket to protect the stainless braid from abrasion. A very nice line for this purpose. You can do your own research for the pros and cons to using other types of line in this scenario.

For the third line, this will dump excess fuel from the Radium tank back into the OEM fuel tank. You can route this by splicing into the filler neck tube. Remove this tube from the vehicle by undoing the two hose clamps and wrestling it out:

2021-12-29 16_27_11-Photo - Google Photos.jpg2021-12-29 16_27_31-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
2021-12-29 16_28_01-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

Cut into this hose with a sharp knife & remove enough width to make room for the Radium Hose Barb Adapter for 1 1/4" ID Hose w/ 1/4 NPT Port: 14-0058 fitting:
2021-12-29 16_34_38-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
Apply high temp thread seal and thread in the Russell Performance -6 AN to 1/4 in. NPT: RUS-660823 Put hose clamps on each side of the spliced in barb fitting.

The filler tube can now be put back into the vehicle and the third line can be measured & built.
2021-12-29 16_48_25-IMG_1207.jpg - OneDrive.jpg

How the whole arrangement looks in the trunk:
2021-12-29 16_46_31-Photo - Google Photos.jpg

How it will look in the OEM fuel tank area:
2021-12-29 16_53_28-IMG_1209.jpg - OneDrive.jpg

You can now plug in the fuel tank harness & Re-install the negative battery terminal.

Remove the Fuse from the Relay & cycle the ignition power 3 or 4 times. This will activate the primary fuel pump for a few seconds each time. Check for leaks. The surge tank will be full of fuel now.
Re-install the Fuse on the Relay and put the key into the ignition on position. You will hear the Radium surge tank pump fire up. Now adjust the pressure on the top of the tank with allen key until you achieve about 60 PSI on the gauge:
2021-12-29 17_02_03-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
Lock down the jamnut on the pressure adjuster and you are all set.

You can now fire up the car & drive. Check for leaks around the surge tank and around the factory tank.

Enjoy cornering fast with no more fuel starvation! Let me know if you have any questions.
 
218
369
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
CA
This guide will go over my installation of a Radium Fuel Surge tank in a 11-14 S197 Mustang. This will solve fuel slosh / fuel starvation issues when running extremely grippy tires with the OEM fuel tank. There are two excellent existing guides by resident racer @captdistraction here: https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AIDveM0l8mcBVjY&id=1C56AF0EFE270D56!1685232&cid=1C56AF0EFE270D56 & well known vendor Vorshlag @Fair here: https://www.vorshlag.com/forums/for...ang-fuel-starve-fixes-surge-tank-or-fuel-cell
These two guides helped out a lot when I built my setup, so I wanted to provide a in-depth guide to help those looking to set one of these up.

When running the OEM saddle style tank with half a tank of fuel or less, the pump will begin to suck up air pockets when turning corners with high G loads as the fuel sloshes to one side:
View attachment 71341

Radium Engineering has a great fuel surge tank solution which can be piggy backed off the OEM tank & OEM fuel pump harness. This is a great option for a dual duty vehicle or those looking for ease of installation.
FST-R:
View attachment 71342

It includes its own fuel pump, or you can spec it without one to use your own pump. I spec'd mine with the AEM 50-1200.

The setup uses -6 lines & fittings and requires a fused relay to piggy back off the OEM wiring harness for the fuel pump. The tank sucks up fuel from the OEM tank and has its own pump inside which feeds fuel directly to the fuel rail. Since the tanks cylindrical & is constantly pressurized full of fuel, there is no where for the fuel to slosh. You can run fuel down to almost the last drop without worrying about sucking up air.

Part List
Here is a complete list of parts I used for my build. I wont include prices as that fluctuates often, but expect to spend around $1000 for everything:

Radium Fuel Surge Tank - FST-R : 20-0130-01
Radium Hose Barb Adapter for 1 1/4" ID Hose w/ 1/4 NPT Port: 14-0058
Radium 0-100 PSI Fuel Pressure Gauge: 20-0029
Radium FST Mounting Bracket, Wall/Floor Standard Mount: 13-0054
Radium 5/16in SAE Female to 6AN Male Low Profile Elbow: 20-0600
Fragola 6000 Series PTFE Hose 20 ft.: FRA-602026
x3 Fragola Real Street Reusable PTFE Hose Ends Straight, -6 AN: FRA-680106-BL
x3 Fragola Real Street Reusable PTFE Hose Ends 90 Degree, -6 AN: FRA-689006-BL
Russell Performance -6 AN to 1/4 in. NPT: RUS-660823
Improved Racing -6 AN, -6 AN, 1/8 in. NPT Gauge Port: TR-06-02-B
Vibrant Performance Fuel Rail Fitting 5/16 in. to -6 AN: 16880
Aeroquip 1/8" NPT Plug: FCM3685
MGI SpeedWare Fused Relay: EP-FREL40
MGI SpeedWare GXL 12GA: WC-GXL
2" / 50mm Desk Grommet

Other materials/tools recommended: Hose cutter, basic wiring tools, high temp heat reflection tape, tesa tape, sharp knife, high temp thread sealant, -AN wrenches or 11/16 wrenches if you want hose ends to look like they were chewed on, hole saw 1.5"- 2", deburring tool, rivnut tool, rivnuts, chassis paint, Posi Taps, hose clamps, jack & stands, basic hand tools.

Diagrams

Plumbing Diagram:
View attachment 71347

Wiring Diagram:
View attachment 71348

Relay Diagram:
View attachment 71349

Factory Fuel Pump Harness:
View attachment 71361


Instructions

Remove battery negative terminal.

Decide on where to mount the Radium tank. I used the floor mount from Radium & bolted it directly on the left side (Driver side) of the trunk beside the spare wheel compartment.
Mark the holes and drill them, following up with deburring & chassis paint to prevent rust. I inserted M6 rivnuts to bolt the tank down:
View attachment 71350View attachment 71351

Instead of using bulkhead fittings (cleaner & more professional, but more expensive & added leak points), I copied what Chris did; which was drilling a big ol' hole into the wheelwell area to feed the fuel lines through to the OEM fuel tank & overflow line:
I used a 2" hole saw, following up with deburring and chassis paint & covered the hole with a office desk gromet. You could maybe do this with a 1-1/2" size or 1-3/4" if you want to try to get away with a smaller hole.
View attachment 71352View attachment 71353
[ Nice of you to say hello, racing slick ]

I worked on the wiring next. I relocated the OEM Fuel Pump harness from the rear driver side of the spare wheel area over to below the driver side rear taillight. I did this step because I utilize the spare wheel area for storage & trackday gear which results in things always bashing against the harness and the wiring was actually coming apart because of this. The relocated area should work better and is closer to where I placed the Radium surge tank. There were already two bolts in this location which perfectly fit the harness housing sans metal bracket. I just had to shave down some of the plastic housing base to fit the mounting nuts on. I did not have to extend any wires, just had to separate the grounding wire & relocate it:
OEM Fuel Pump harness:
View attachment 71354View attachment 71355

Relocated ground strap:
View attachment 71356

Next, mount the Relay somewhere close to the Radium tank. I just added a rivnut into an existing hole on the wheelwell "wall" and bolted the Relay housing in here:

View attachment 71357View attachment 71358

Refer to the diagrams above for where all the wires run. Be sure to use minimum 12 gauge wire or 10 gauge for long runs over 15 ft. High quality automotive/racing wire recommended. The Relay I used features a built in fuse to simplify the setup a bit.

I used a "Posi-Tap" to tap the switch wire (White) from the Relay to the OEM Fuel Pump Harness (Violet/Green stripe):
View attachment 71359View attachment 71360

I ran the +12 (Blue) wire from Relay to the front of the car & fed it through the firewall on the Driver side to get into the engine bay and added it to the + battery post with a ring terminal.
Recommend cleaning up all the wiring with Tesa tape.

Next, move onto the plumbing. See diagrams above to see where all the lines route to.

Thread in the Improved Racing -6 AN, -6 AN, 1/8 in. NPT Gauge Adapter (TR-06-02-B) to the pressure line on the Radium tank with the Radium PSI gauge attached & a plug used on the second port, or feel free to add in a temperature gauge. Make sure to use high temp thread sealant on the NPT threads. I like to use the liquid stuff from Permatex - PN: 592
View attachment 71365

Next, get under the rear seat area & on the Driver side you'll find the OEM fuel pump under the rubber gromet:
View attachment 71362

Remove the wiring harness to get it out of the way. Remove the push lock retainers & pull the fuel line off. This is the line which runs to the fuel rail. Keep a towel handy as some fuel will leak out when pulling this off.

Add the Radium low profile elbow fitting ( 20-0600) onto the plastic quick fit adapter:
View attachment 71363View attachment 71364
Add the Vibrant Performance Fuel Rail Fitting 5/16 in. to -6 AN: 16880 to the Fuel Rail line and lock it in with the factory clips.

Now you can begin running the lines to measure the appropriate lengths. I built a 90 degree hose end & threaded it into the surge tank and then fed it through the hole and fed it under the car up into the Driver side of the fuel tank saddle:
View attachment 71366View attachment 71367View attachment 71368

Once the line is fed through, you can mark where the termination point is for the cut and then you can cut & build the straight end fitting. Repeat these steps for the pressure line. These two lines will feed into the OEM fuel tank.
View attachment 71369
For the lines, I used Fragola -6 PTFE 6000 series which features stainless steel braid with a black jacket to protect the stainless braid from abrasion. A very nice line for this purpose. You can do your own research for the pros and cons to using other types of line in this scenario.

For the third line, this will dump excess fuel from the Radium tank back into the OEM fuel tank. You can route this by splicing into the filler neck tube. Remove this tube from the vehicle by undoing the two hose clamps and wrestling it out:

View attachment 71371View attachment 71372
View attachment 71373

Cut into this hose with a sharp knife & remove enough width to make room for the Radium Hose Barb Adapter for 1 1/4" ID Hose w/ 1/4 NPT Port: 14-0058 fitting:
View attachment 71374
Apply high temp thread seal and thread in the Russell Performance -6 AN to 1/4 in. NPT: RUS-660823 Put hose clamps on each side of the spliced in barb fitting.

The filler tube can now be put back into the vehicle and the third line can be measured & built.
View attachment 71376

How the whole arrangement looks in the trunk:
View attachment 71377

How it will look in the OEM fuel tank area:
View attachment 71378

You can now plug in the fuel tank harness & Re-install the negative battery terminal.

Remove the Fuse from the Relay & cycle the ignition power 3 or 4 times. This will activate the primary fuel pump for a few seconds each time. Check for leaks. The surge tank will be full of fuel now.
Re-install the Fuse on the Relay and put the key into the ignition on position. You will hear the Radium surge tank pump fire up. Now adjust the pressure on the top of the tank with allen key until you achieve about 60 PSI on the gauge:
View attachment 71386
Lock down the jamnut on the pressure adjuster and you are all set.

You can now fire up the car & drive. Check for leaks around the surge tank and around the factory tank.

Enjoy cornering fast with no more fuel starvation! Let me know if you have any questions.
This is amazing! I’ll be all over this for the next days. Thank you so much for taking your time to compile this.
 
531
364
sfo
How many s550 guys have a fuel slosh problem? I'm race only on hoosier A7's with a 2019 GT and I don't have an issue until 1/4 tank. If the low fuel light comes on I have to exit the track. Reserve light thing isn't accurate in my car. My light came on and I ran out of gas on track. Very embarrassing.
 
75
91
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Langley, BC
Anything below 1/2 a tank and I'm in trouble on a couple of the high load/high compression corners at Mosport. Can do better at flat tracks though.
I never had issues up till I started running 305 square nt01 or 315 square RR and slicks. Well, looking back on now maybe I did have starve issues but just didn't notice it but now really noticed when on the bigger, stickier tires. Will be interesting to see how much this helps lap times in the spring.
 
98
113
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
So cal
How many s550 guys have a fuel slosh problem? I'm race only on hoosier A7's with a 2019 GT and I don't have an issue until 1/4 tank. If the low fuel light comes on I have to exit the track. Reserve light thing isn't accurate in my car. My light came on and I ran out of gas on track. Very embarrassing.
I have issues at acs cant do more than 1 session without having to fill up. Then only other track has been chuckwalla through long left sweeper turn 4 and 5.
 

captdistraction

GrumpyRacer
1,954
1,698
Phoenix, Az
Great write up! I’ve been running this setup for 1.5 seasons now without issue, and I’ve starved the main tank empty one race (2% per my logger) without breakup in corners.
I had been meaning to do a write up on this myself for a long time, but honestly this is better than anything I’d come up with. Great job.
 

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