I'm a bit confused on my 95 Rans S7 project. The fuel placards near the gas caps say capacity 10 gallons. On the wing root it says 7.6 gal capacity. I do know my tanks are the plastic tanks that came out right after the fiberglass tank issues. I'm not sure but I heard the 7.6 gal tanks were the fiberglass and the first plastic tanks were 10gal. I'm not sure of that or if there really is 2.4 gal unusable in each tank. Anybody have the lowdown?

Also, has anyone done the 13 gal tank retrofit? Is it a fairly forward swap from the 10 gal? I have the fabric off the wings so that makes it a lot easier. I haven't called Rans to find out what the cost is so it might be a bit pricey for 6 gallons more but maybe not.

Has anyone done the vertical instrument panel upgrade? What all does that entail? Is it a formed piece that screws over the existing panel mount that come back further and is vertical? I hear the original slanted panel gives you a HUD of all your instruments glaring onto the windshield.

Any advice is much appreciated.

My 96 model state 9 gallons. I guess I have never measured from totally empty, so they might hold 10 gallons. I believe I checked with RANS several years ago and they said the early S-7 (short tail) were not able to use the extended tanks. Best answer, call them and ask. Get the answer from the manufacturer.

I ended up putting a couple of 5 gallon external tanks on my struts. They worked great and did not have any effect of my speed.

WWhunter wrote:I guess I have never measured from totally empty, so they might hold 10 gallons. I believe I checked with RANS several years ago and they said the early S-7 (short tail) were not able to use the extended tanks. Best answer, call them and ask. Get the answer from the manufacturer.

I ended up putting a couple of 5 gallon external tanks on my struts. They worked great and did not have any effect of my speed.

I called Rans and they said to email. I did email and the answer I got wasn't very convincing as it said, "The old tanks are 9 gallons, the new ones are 13 gallons. These tanks are retrofittable, but to be honest, I don't know how far back that goes." Reading between the lines my translation is, "we don't know if they will fit yours or not." This is why I thought I'd ask here hoping someone knew.

How do you move fuel from the external tanks? Do you have electric pumps to pump up to the mains, if so how do you run the lines? I flew some 206s with Flint tip tanks that we pumped into the main tanks after burning off fuel in the mains to make room. Perhaps you gravity feed down lines along the struts somehow into the main line after shutting of the main lines? Can you send a photo? This probably would be cheaper too. Do you leave them on or do you only put them on when flying long distance? I think I've seen the setup on some Chinook ultralight type planes if they are what I'm thinking. Are they the "football" opaque plastic tanks? Where can one source them?

Thanks,
Jay

They are actually the tanks used on the Chinook ultra light. I bought them at the 'Red Barn' at Oshkosh but I see them in the Wag aero catalog.
They were gravity feed and worked great. I installed a shut off on each tank and put a 'T' fitting where the wing tanks feed into the main line shutoff. I ran the fuel line along the backside of the strut and through a small hole I put in near the gear fitting. I also put small air vents in the caps.

If you click on my name, look in my photos and you should find a couple of pictures of my S-7 with the tanks.

I did talk with Randy the other day. The fiberglass tanks were 7.5 gallons roughly. The first gen plastic tanks were 9 gallons. The builder told me his plane was right about that switchover from fiberglass to plastic so he must have had both stickers and used them both.

Randy wasn't sure if the 13 gallon tanks would fit but with their return policy and restocking fee, I don't want to risk it so if I decide to upgrade I'll do the football wing strut tanks. I appreciate the info on those as they aren't all that expensive and can be easily added when wanted and removed when flying around the patch.

Thanks,
Jay

Sounds like you came to the same conclusion that I came to!! LOL