Aeromotive's new Phantom EFI conversion for carb style fuel tanks is the budget-friendly, no compromise answer to getting a properly baffled EFI tank in any vintage car!
We’ve previously worked with Aeromotive on an EFI fuel tank conversion for the EcoNova project to show you how it’s possible to cut up a stock style fuel tank and build and install your own baffle and in-tank pump. It’s totally doable for most home builders with access to cutting tools, a sheetmetal break, and a welder- but it’s still a day long project at best.
Sometime shortly thereafter the fuelheads at Aeromotive had a strike of brilliance and developed their new Phantom 340 EFI conversion kit. The absolute anyone-can-do-itness of this kit cannot be overstated; any stock tank plus the Phantom kit and one hour later you can have the conversion complete- with ZERO welding involved! It’s true, we did it.
The kit begins with the same Stealth 340 fuel pump we used on the EcoNova, but rather than modifying the factory pick-up, the Aeromotive kit uses an AN ported hat very similar to the ones used on their race read fuel cells. The key difference is that this hat has an easily adjustable pump mount on the other side; it's just a sturdy metal brace that the pump will be clamped to. A 3 1/2 inch hole cut wit a hole to allow it and the baffle assembly to drop into the tank is as difficult as 'fabrication' gets.
About that baffle; whereas we had to use a piece of sheetmetal to bend and weld up a box for the baffle in the fuel tank for the EcoNova, the Aeromotive kit offers a far simpler solution in the form of a column of fuel cell foam and a rubber boot with two hole in it. The foam is trimmed to the correct height for whatever tank you are building and the boot takes the places of the sheetmetal box. With the Stealth 340 pump clamped to the brace at the appropriate height from the fuel tank floor, we now have a column of fuel to keep it submersed at all times!
As for the access hole, it's seeled back up with a special 1/2 inch thick gasket from Aeromotive that will conform to the top of the beads in just about any fuel tank. When the fuel pump retainer ring (located inside the tank) and the upper hat are bolted together with gasket sandwiched between them, the tank is sealed. Yes, it's totally that simple!
For the full story, watch for the July issue of PHR!