Radium Fuel Collection Check Valve for Collector Boxes

Radium Engineering Fuel Collection Check Valve for Collector Boxes - Part #20-0151

A fuel cell without a collector box starves the pickup in long corners once it's below half a tank. The fix is a box around the pickup with one-way doors that let fuel in but not out, and Radium's 20-0151 is the door: a ball check valve that mounts through the wall of a collector box or an in-tank sump, sized so fuel floods in on one side and can't slosh back out on the other.

What It Is and Why It Works

The valve is a two-piece anodized 6061 aluminum housing with a 1 inch nylon ball inside. Fuel pushing in lifts the ball off its seat; fuel trying to leave pushes the ball onto it. The ball is large so the open flow area is big enough not to choke the pickup, and it rides in full-length travel slots so it can't jam sideways under G load. Nylon doesn't swell in ethanol, so it works in gasoline and E85 alike. You run several of these in the walls of a collector box, facing inward, and the box stays full while the rest of the cell sloshes. It mounts in a 1-1/8 inch hole in material up to 1/4 inch thick, which covers fuel cell foam baffles, aluminum tank walls, and fabricated boxes.

Specs

Fitment

Not vehicle-specific. Sold individually; a collector box typically uses two to four.

What to Know Before You Buy

Plan the box before you buy valves. The pickup goes in the box, the valves go in the walls facing in, and the box should be at the lowest point of the cell so gravity keeps it full. Two valves on opposite walls is the minimum for a road course car; four is better. Drill the 1-1/8 inch holes clean and deburr them, because a burr on the seat side is a valve that doesn't close. If your tank walls are thicker than 1/4 inch, the housing won't clamp; use a thinner baffle plate inside the box. This is a cell and sump part, not a fuel line check valve; for a line, Radium makes inline check valves with AN fittings.