Jeff Spitzer wrote:

Perry Mick wrote:

BTW, my "footer" tank is on the engine side of the firewall, top of the
tank is just below the main tank sumps.  The height of the tank is 6

inches,

and  the bottom inch or so is in the airstream of the big naca inlet (on

the

fuselage bottom) to the radiators.  This should have the effect of keeping
that tank and it's contents cool.  Will probably make my new tank of steel
though, as I said before (crash and fire resistance).

To put it on the fuselage side of the firewall, it would have to go
under the passenger seat, not too crazy about that either, and it's a

difficult

place to get to.  It would also not be a very big tank in that area, and

would

not get  any cooling air.

I doubt that any tank construction would survive a crash landing if located
at the base of the firewall.  Odds are that the gear will be stripped and
the plane will end up on the belly.  The cowl will do nothing to stop most
stopping/digging loads from feeding in at the base of the firewall.  (There
was a good article in K.P./SportAv a while back about construction for
crashworthiness.  One hint was to make a rounded edge at the base of the
firewall to avoid plowing *when* the cowl is broken off. If you go to the
A/C junkyard you'll see plenty of potato chip firewalls from plowing.) My
opinion is that your design represents an extremely dangerous situation and
just the type of thing I will attempt to avoid in my design.  If the nose
of your airplane impacts the ground you will have a spray of fuel and
exhaust manifold in the same place.  I think you know what comes next.

Jeff Spitzer

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