FD3S Rear "Euro" Washer / Fluid Tank

[MattGold]

Hi everyone! I'm dropping in from the States as we're finalizing a cool project some of you running or thinking about running auxiliary / methanol injection might be interested in. Please excuse some of the "US-centric" rhetoric from the below copy/paste from my original post on RX7Club.com. If you are interested in one of these, please reply here or on the original post.

As some of you may know, Euro spec and some Canadian spec FDs came from the factory with a larger washer tank, mounted in the rear hatch, behind the plastic panel. The reason for the larger tank was to feed three thirsty systems; the front washers, the rear washer AND the headlight washers (which US cars didn't get). Capacity on this tank is a little over 1.5 Gallons (5.5 Liters) which makes it a GREAT option for a stealthy methanol / auxiliary injection tank.


Euro Tank Mounted

US spec models with rear wipers have a small reserviour in that spot - but the capacity doesn't instill a lot of other uses.


"cute"

The good news is: all FDs have the necessary mounting points and provisions to support the larger tank.

The problem is: finding Euro spec washer tanks. They simply aren't readily available, they are NLA from Mazda and they come with their own share of downsides if we're being perfectly honest.

"Wait a minute... downsides?"

Yeah. There are a few downsides to the Euro washer tank in it's current form.

1) Since the tank is made to house three pumps, that does two things. It eats up internal capacity and has potential areas that can leak:


2) Since the tank is a two-piece design, it has a weird rubber connector between the two tanks. Again, eats up internal capacity and has another potential leak area:


3) There are sensors and hose routing that take capacity and just aren't needed:


4) They don't really have a natural place to add fluid level sensors or nozzles. Most tanks I've seen have even MORE holes drilled to accommodate these guys.

5) It's not cheap. I've seen these sell for over $400USD in old, beat up condition.


So that's the bad news. But the GOOD news is, we've 3D scanned a Euro tank, made modifications in CAD and found a manufacturer to make these. We've addressed the potential issues and made this the best version of rear Euro washer tank that we could.


FRONT


REAR


TOP


BOSS DETAIL


REAR LEFT


REAR RIGHT


FEATURES OF NEW TANK
* Redundant systems, leak points and sensors have been deleted
* Design is now one piece to increase capacity and ease install
* Capacity should be right around 2 Gallons (7.5Liters)
* It will bolt in requiring zero modification
* It should be "agnostic" to whatever injection kit you run
* We provide a large boss for a level sensor as well as a smaller boss for a nozzle on the side of the tank, with an additional three nozzle bosses to accommodate multi-nozzle setups. Each boss would have to be drilled/tapped for your own sensor/nozzle.


Now the only remaining question is: does anyone want this? Tooling costs are not cheap and minimum orders are not low. So this can only really happen if there's real interest. Prices can't be discussed in an interest thread - but it would be around 1/2 the price of used units - but that also depends on how many people commit.

If you're interested, add your name below. If you have questions, by all means ask away. If you can share this on social media / other forums to drum up some interest - that'd be great too. The more interest, the more likely this happens and the lower the price will be.

LINK TO THE ORIGINAL POST / INTEREST LIST: https://www.rx7club.com/group-buy-pr.../#post12198009

[Re7]

nice added my self to the motherforum...

[Baconhunter]

I've been eyeing off this aluminum tank, but the capacity is much better in your design.

Is there going to be internal baffling?

[MattGold]

I've been eyeing off this aluminum tank, but the capacity is much better in your design.

Is there going to be internal baffling?

Methanol will eat aluminum in time - but not HDPE (what we're using).

No internal baffles. I would have loved to have them, but the manufacturing process won't allow for it. However, the "sumped" design and the low placement of the primary nozzle should help with slosh a lot. If you notice, the nozzle sits in the lowest possible position while the sensor sits level with the the "other" side of the tank. It would take a pretty empty tank and a lot of Gs to move the fluid out of that sump. Your level sensor would also be throwing an alert by that time as well.

That said, the other idea we had for people that would be in those extreme situations was to use the secondary nozzles with extension hoses (internally) to effectively place "pick ups" in other areas of the tank. Meaning, if the tank is running low and you're in an extreme G situation, the pick ups would grab what's available.

[gav240z]

Very cool, I'm impressed by the CAD process although I don't have an immediate need for this myself. Interested to see how you go.

Of course it's not just Euro spec cars that got these larger bottles. AUDM cars also had them!

[MattGold]

Very cool, I'm impressed by the CAD process although I don't have an immediate need for this myself. Interested to see how you go.

Of course it's not just Euro spec cars that got these larger bottles. AUDM cars also had them!

Thanks so much. CAD is a lot of fun especially with all the technologies coming down in price (3D scanning, 3D printing, etc). We have another project we're working on that should come along once this wraps up.

Ah! Learned something new. I've never seen them on Japanese vehicles either - but maybe I'll stand corrected on that as well.

[gav240z]

UK and AU market spec cars are very similar to each other and I assume Euro also (apart from being LHD). UK spec had MPH speedometer and AU spec has a 280 km/h cluster.

In terms of Japanese market cars it's possible the Type X model had the larger washer bottle as the Type X had a sunroof, cruise control, airbag steering wheel, climate control, headlight washers etc.. (think only 1 oil cooler) and came in both auto and manual. But I've never checked to confirm they had the larger bottle.

I can see the CAD process being extremely useful for reproduction of classic car parts that are NLA.

Good luck!

[Clarke86]

Hi Matt, ive been through the thread on RX7club, will you still be shipping these to AUS once they are made? and idea on time atm?

very interested

[MattGold]

Hi Matt, ive been through the thread on RX7club, will you still be shipping these to AUS once they are made? and idea on time atm?

very interested

Oh yeah! We will ship international for sure. We already have some guys in France, Cyprus, Canada, South America and others in Australia interested.

No solid time frame right now. In order to ensure the life cycle of the product past the initial group buy we are working with a 3rd party to take on the heavy lifting once the initial run is over. Because of THAT, we need to make sure the product is not only up to my standards, but theirs as well.

The product is currently in another round of modifications - but I have a feeling it's the last. We're actually waiting for the 3D printer to finish (it takes a LONG time to print) and once that's done - we'll do some in-car testing to see how it performs.

After we give it the "greenlight" it'll be about 60 days from production of the mold, actual production of the tank and shipping. At that point, we'll start collecting deposits.

[Clarke86]

Sounds great!

Well I'll definately be in for one.

[MattGold]

Sounds great!

Well I'll definately be in for one.

Awesome. I really appreciate the support.

[MattGold]

Ok guys! It's happening. We're here. We made it!






First and foremost, I want to give everyone a huge THANK YOU for showing interest and sticking through it with me for this ride. If we didn't have the interest we did and the input you gave, we probably would have released a sub-par product and been kicking ourselves with all the coulda', woulda' shoulda's after you guys started installing them. However, I think this really is the best version that this product could be.

Bringing a product to life is an adventure. I hope you enjoyed seeing how a product goes from concept to reality and all the available technology that's out there to push it along.

From here on out SakeBomb Garage is going to take the lead on this project, but I will still be around to see it through. That reminds me, I need to give Heath and SakeBomb a huge THANK YOU as well for helping bring this product to see the light of day. Without their support, I'm not sure it would not have happened... well, at least it wouldn't have been as cool.

So anyhow, we're gonna keep this thread open, BUT, the OFFICIAL GROUP BUY is over at the RX7Club SakeBomb Garage subforum:
https://www.rx7club.com/sakebomb-gar...p-buy-1128093/

Please add your name to the NEW thread with "PAID IN FULL" or "PAID DEPOSIT" so we can keep track of everyone (although the SBG website will also organize everything).

If you prepay in full you save an additional $50. Or you can leave a $125 deposit to secure your spot and pay the balance before shipping.

Here are the details:
Payment in Full $325:
Trunk-Mount Water Injection Tank - SakeBomb Garage LLC

Deposit Page Only $125 + $250 final payment ($375 total):
DEPOSIT PAGE ONLY - Trunk-Mount Water Injection Tank - SakeBomb Garage LLC

We are estimating an October delivery. Pre-Order pricing expires in ONE MONTH (August 15th) so get your orders in now.

This is also a LIMITED RUN product. The interest on this thread is around 175 tanks - if everyone buys one - that means there will only be a handful left for future orders (and at full price to boot). If you EVER want to own one, now is the time.

Ok guys. Thanks again.

[Clarke86]

Thanks for all your work Matt, the end product looks great, will it be blue like in the video? or white like a standard bottle?

[Clarke86]

Wow wait! $93 USD postage!

thats like $125 Australian

[MattGold]

Thanks for all your work Matt, the end product looks great, will it be blue like in the video? or white like a standard bottle?

End product will be white/opaque like the OEM tank. Blue just looks better as a render.

Wow wait! $93 USD postage!

thats like $125 Australian

PM SakeBomb Garage. This is only day 1 for getting everything setup and there may be more dialing in for international shipping. That said, the box is BIG. 90cm x 30cm x 30cm.

[Baconhunter]

I might give myus.com ago for shipping, there is a deal right now for them on ozbargain.



Their shipping rates are "by weight ONLY, regardless of package size and count". A 2 KG parcel comes out to $42USD, not including the 20% premium members discount.

[Clarke86]

Let me know how you go with it baconhunter.

I've PMd sakebomb on the mother site. See what they can come up with

[Re7]

Christian got back me to saying thats about the best (US$93) but if we were to combine and send a few together may be cheaper? but then i guess we'll be hit with taxes here... shipito is slightly cheaper @ US$75 using USPS, but myus looks to be the best @ moment circa $42 plus if we value item @ $150 another $15 for tax...

[MattGold]

Check out the site now.


http://www.sakebombgarage.com/trunk-...njection-tank/



Flat rate to Australia is $70USD.


The only catch is, you need to check the box BEFORE you add the item to the cart:





Then on the checkout page, it will charge you another $35 in addition to the International "checkbox" fee. The total of which is $70.

PLEASE NOTE: The Flat Rate is for the tank and the tank ONLY. If you add a Meth Kit or a Handle or ANY other product, shipping will have to be recalculated. If you want more than one item, it might make sense to place two different orders so not to throw off the shipping calculator.

[Clarke86]

Done! Thanks for looking after the international customers Matt. I'll be purchasing mine tonight