What is fuel surge?
Fuel surge is the effect of fuel in the tank moving away from the pick-ups of the fuel pump. This in turn will cause the fuel pump to either completely stop picking up fuel or cause cavitation. This will lead to the fuel pressure dropping in the rest of the system right up to the fuel rails and injectors ultimately starving the engine of the correct amount of fuel injected into the cylinder.
Why is this bad?
Well it may seem quite simple, and it is. This will cause lean events during combustion and can lead to severe engine damage. Probably something we all want to avoid. It can take a split second to cause engine failure from fuel surge and you may not even see it coming.
When is this likely to happen?
It may not be common knowledge but even some standard performance vehicles have fuel surge issues. It’s most likely to occur under hard cornering and even hard launching in a straight line. Why don’t I just keep my tank full of fuel you may wonder. Well yes that’s definitely a valid thought but will it really be that helpful? not really. Keeping a full tank can actually weigh a lot and can hinder our chances of hitting that PB or beating that record. Multiple laps on a track when at full throttle can chew through A LOT of fuel and before you know it that level gets down to the danger zone.
What do KPM Fuel Systems do to prevent this?
Over the years KPM Fuel Systems have tried and tested our fuel delivery systems under these conditions. Steering away from surge tanks and the like from the beginning we’ve designed our entire range of fuel modules to always remain full until the fuel tank reaches empty. With our industry leading venturi technology we can ensure that fuel will be pulled up from the bottom of the tank and keep the module canister full which enables the pumps to keep their flow rate during the harsh conditions while on any fuel tank level. This also applies for modern saddle tanks and our higher horsepower rated systems where we utilize both sides of the tank. Our venturi systems coupled with our high flow crossovers keep both fuel canisters full simultaneously.
