Well I tried. I bought a Skunk2 composite fuel rail because it had a large ID, was composite and *supposedly* e85 safe and might serve to provide a little more thermo resistance to underhood temperature changes. Upon opening the box, it was a good looking piece of kit. Then I tried to install it...

First, the stock FPR bolt holes are wider than the supplied AN fitting. No big deal I tell myself, I'll just notch the bolt holes a little with a dremel...here you can see the size differences.


Next, after pulling the factory fuel rail which was sitting on PTE 880's, I noticed that when I tried to install the Skunk2 rail that the diameters on the spacers are larger than the holes in the rails. Stock spacer is 11.9mm OD, Skunk 2 hole is 8.7mm.


So, again, not a big deal, I briefly thought about drilling out the fuel rail hole, or cutting off the centering ring on the stock spacers. But before I did that, I decided to test fit everything, just in case. That's when I discovered 2 showstoppers. Showstopper #1 pictured below. Yes that's right, that's the throttle cable bending around the plug. No way around it. I decided not to hack up my spacers, so in this picture the gap is exactly the same as the spacer height, as you can see from the parallel alignment of the mounting surfaces.


So, I thought to myself: self, maybe the alignment is off since I didn't want to machine my spacers, let's see where the rail ends up if I bend the rail (and the injectors in their seals) so that it just barely clears the throttle cable (towards front of car). And showstopper #2. Notice the angles and how there's no way a straight bolt will fit.


At this point I said F this, and reinstalled the stock fuel rail on top of the FIC 1150's, which fit perfect, just as it did with the PTE 880's. So I know the injectors are not the source of the problem.

So before posting this on the forums, I sent pictures to Joe S at Skunk2. He informed me that a "Dr. Charles" said that all I needed to do was grind off the centering rings on the stock spacers and I would be good to go. I thought I might have been out of it when I installed the rail since it was late and I had already installed a bunch of parts, so I pulled the stock rail again and test fitted the Skunk2 rail again. You guessed it, still didn't fit. I emailed Joe back and said the spacers aren't the problem, it's the interference with the throttle cable, and a poor design that doesn't fit and I would like a refund. He offered an exchange (???) or I could return it to the vendor for a refund. Of course i'm outside the 14day return period from the vendor I bought it from, and I'll be damned if I waste money shipping and exchanging a paper weight.

So, bottom line; don't buy the Skunk2 fuel composite fuel rail. It's garbage. If you read the review of their intake manifold you'll see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I wish I would have read that before I decided to give their rail a try.

On another note, does anyone know if the Magnus rail is e85 compatible and actually fits??? I'm guessing the hard anodized one should be, and from the pictures it would appear to not interfere with anything, but at this point I am once bitten and twice shy.

 

I have the aeromotive fuel rail and it's a perfect fit and E85 compatible..

 

Have a Wilson "D" rail. it is e85 compatible.

 

Yeah I wanted a Wilson rail, but they were out when I went to order, so that's why I went with the Junk2 rail.

And now their site is down for maintenance. Anyone got any experience with the Magnus? It appears to have the largest ID of any I've seen.

 

all of skunk 2 products need work in order to run them the only thing i dident have a problem with was there exhaust system.

 

Mine works great, did have to slot the FPR and made my own spacers. Otherwise works as it should keeping the fuel cool, after a run it is cool to the touch. Also the inside diameter is very large giving the injectors a nice volume to pull from.

 

I would say it's a hell of a lot better than an AEM rail which is heavier and flows less then stock anyways.

 

You didnt use the included fuel rail spacers that came with your Skunk2 intake manifold?

 

Any chance we can get a company to make these that fit without issue?

 

The thing is, it's a log with some holes in it. All you have to do is copy the stock locations and make a larger log. I do not want to have my throttle cable bend around the spare port. If Skunk2 can screw up something as simple as a fuel rail, I can't imagine a complicated part with many different tolerances.

Looks like I'm picking up a Aeromotive rail, anyone want to buy a skunk 2 fuel rail?

 

This is a prime example as to why I refer to them as Junk2.

 

They are in fact e-85 compatible. However, they are really designed for BIG fuel setups.
I'm sitting on one that I picked up a while ago and decided I did not need (yet). Only issue you'll have with the Magnus rail is that it requires you to modify you fuel lines to AN and will require an aftermarket FPR. Otherwise, it's an excellent fuel rail.

 

Good write up. I hate when products don't fit right. Minor tweaks are one thing but when something blatantly doesn't fit blahh.

When I ran e85 I was using my AMS rail without any issues. It fits perfectly, has a port for a gauge, is made in the USA and is larger than stock.

 

Junk2, haha! I'll have to use this around my Hawnduh friends!

 

Curt I'm probably guessing you're on an aftermarket Intake Manifold that may not have throttle linkage issues. I also understand they sponsor you. I paid $210 for a part that didn't fit, which ticks me off. If I was given something that doesn't fit, I wouldn't be nearly as upset since I didn't part with any of my hard earned cash.

Like I said earlier, I had no issues getting creative with the spacers and making it work, nor notching the FPR bolt holes, it was the interference with the throttle linkage that sent me over the edge.

I'm amazed a company would spend the time, money and effort to make what could be an excellent product, yet neglect something so simple as a test fit before giving it the OK for production. I mean, if you're going to go through all that effort, why not make something good instead of something that's **** poor?