Do i need straps over my fuel tank for the IVA? Has anyone failed for not having them? Has anyone passed without them? At the moment it's
tiger sealed down and will not move anywhere, MK told me to do it this way and that there is no need to fit staps. Here is what it is like but i have
now fitted the rear panel, arches and all the electrics so it will be a real pain to have to take it all off again to fit straps.
I don't know what IVA needs but personally I wouldn't be comfortable sitting in front of say 20-30Kg of fuel and tank that's only glued to the chassis rails. I'm thinking here about what might happen in a frontal impact. I say fit straps.
I'd put some on as said above. There's a fail listed here for no tank straps posted just last night just yesterday.
And its fixed to the power coat NOT to the chassis and the powder coat can come off i would fit straps
I would not pass it at IVA
At the risk of getting bombarded with flack, what other shortcuts do MK say is alright, i certainly wouldnt have a factory built car if gluing tank in place is considered ok, sorry guys, tin hat and flak jacket at the ready
Remember to fit rubber or felt isolating strips between the straps and the tank to protect against chaffing.
Also it is a good idea to make sure the tank is earthed to the chassis.
At least the tank could slide towards the front of the car in the event of a rear end shunt! There is no protection at all for the tank on that chassis ! Not sure what the regs are as regards to IVA but would have thought at least some protection for the tank would be needed??
Sorry but I am with blue2cv on this one flak or no flak. We use a lot of differrent adhesives and pu's at work and it does stick like b*ggery
when properly primed/cleaned/correct room temp etc.
Can you gaurantee all these to be correct ( doubtfull especially as you'll not have primed the surface first with proper primer ).
I'd put straps on with rubber and chaffing strips as per BT's post.
OK, looks like another job on the list to do. Thanks for all the replys.
No doubt glue can be strong enough (Lotus Elise chassis is glued together).
But it is near impossible to non-destructively prove that your glued joint is strong enough. Especially as Tigerseal softens if exposed to fuel.
My guess is that you should add some form of mechanical fixing.
I'd fit straps for piece of mind, once fuel gets on the tigerseal it will work it's way loose
i ended up beefing up my straps to studding, as on the track it wasn't enough just to have weak ally straps holding it
quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
I'd put some on as said above. There's a fail listed here for no tank straps posted just last night just yesterday.
It was your post that alerted me to it. I've had a look and it shouldn't be too hard to make some and fit them in. I even asked MK when i ordered the kit if it came with tank straps and was told they don't use them anymore so they don't sell them.
Using straps rather than PU also makes it a lot easier to remove the tank should you ever need to.
Should be easy enough to make from steel or ally strip (B&Q sell a variety). If using steel make sure you use something between them and the tank
to prevent corosion. Be carefull with ally as it can break where you bend it; I had a Striker loose its (full) fuel tank infront of me on track when
the ally straps broke and it fell out! 
A 6.5gal tank bouncing along spewing fuel in a braking zone from 100+mph was interesting to say the least...
Maybe PU would have been better afterall... 
An earth strap between the tank and chassis is an IVA requirement on metalic tanks. There's been a few failures for that recently.
FYI - I had decent steel straps ( with rubber linings ) but it was a fail point at IVA because I had forgotten to use self-locking nuts strap / chassis.
quote:
Originally posted by blue2cv
At the risk of getting bombarded with flack, what other shortcuts do MK say is alright, i certainly wouldnt have a factory built car if gluing tank in place is considered ok, sorry guys, tin hat and flak jacket at the ready
Shame the kit i paid over 8 grand for didn't come with any.
Are you fitting paddle-shift Dave or stick-shift?
I've specced stick with Flatshifter pro as my car will be primarily for road use with the possiblity of the odd track day.
I'd be interested to know your thoughts as my build is only two weeks in and I could yet have either (or both).