Fuel cell in boot legal?

jay28

Hi all

Im in the middle of a car build at the moment. Coukd anyone tell me if a certified fuel cell in the boot woukd be legal? Im getting conflicting information.

Car is a mk1 1982 golf.

Cheers

CreadanLady

Legal. But you won't be able to insure it, at least not easily or at any sort of sane cost. Insurers don't want to take on anything out of the ordinary. So it'll be very difficult and expensive to get to a point to be able to legally drive on the road.

jay28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118919881#Comment_118919881

Cheers......the car is going to be modified anyway, different engine etc so not too worried about insurance, I have that covered.

Popoutman

Generally, as long as you can get a certification from an Automotive Engineer that the modification is safe, you should be okay.

Under-reporting or not-reporting certain modifications will absolutely leave you open to personal legal repurcussions if anything happens. An engine swap isn't as much of a safety item or a legality item as the relocation of fuel storage to an area not originally designed for the same.

If an insurance company offers to cover you, make very sure that you have both i) read all of the fine print and b) actually understand all of the fine print and the import thereof. It's likely that undisclosed modifications will result in cover being pulled, meaning any costs of an accident would be yours to pay even though you'd apparently have insurance. The insurer would pay the 3rd party costs and then sue (correctly) you for every penny of that and costs on top. Tread carefully.

Good luck with the project, I hope you do it legally and correctly for everyone's sakes.

wotzgoingon

All the American YouTubers I watch who do car stuff always put fuel cells in boot. So no problem for them shame if it's not allowed here.

At a wild guess I'd say you would need a shield around it or a fire wall built to sperate boot from interior to prevent fire spreading into you in the seats would be my understanding

mickdw

Insurance for classics is far more sensible than your standard car cover.

Generally you will be dealing with a dedicated classic policy rep who understands the craic with classic.

Many will have modifications and be very much updated.

Fuel cell inside is a motorsport setup and is very safe done right. I'd say a call to insurer will solve it.

You won't need an nct on a 1982 car so should be no issues.

jay28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931351#Comment_118931351

Thanks for your input.......of course it will be done legally and correctly, that's one of the reasons I'm asking the questions.

I have a swirl pot with twin pumps, however it's external and will be mounted inder the car colse to the fuel tank......the fuel cell would have everything integrated into one until and in my opinion a safer option.

jay28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931427#Comment_118931427

Thanks. Yeah I've previously has modified classics insured through fbd. They never had issues with modifications. At the end of the day the car when finished will be safer than when it came out of the factory.

jay28

If any of you are on Instagram you can see what I'm trying to achieve mk1_r30_turbo