Gas tank question?
 

I am going to move my tank out of the cab, I have read of many conversions on these pages, one thing that I have not come across yet is a gas tank for a boat, I have a Cabela's catalog, and they have ALUM. 50 gal tank pretty resonable, do you guys think these would work? Also they have poly tanks, in different sizes also.They come with sending unit, and looking at the pictures they have three nipple welded to them. I know I could get one from a parts supplier from the board for a Blazer or Burb. but I want more compacity. Tell me what you think?
Sam

50 gallons? thats a ton of extra fuel and weight 2 be packing around, plus i diubt u would have room for it without huge alterations 2 the truck. as for the samller tanks, if u think it will fit, u can try it. let the rest of us know waht u figure out!!

I would have to mearsure it out to see how it would fit, I have not got under the truck yet to check this out, but the tank that hold 50 gals measures 12.5" wide 45" L 22" H , this is a poly tank, goes for $ 132.00, there are three nipples on it, one for filling, one for pumping fuel out to engine, and a vent. As far as the extra weight goes, I am building a 383, with about 450 to 500 HP, I would think this would help me out a little with the traction problem I am going to have.
Sam

Sam,

I am in the process of installing an aluminum tank under my
tool box. It is a marine tank and is working out very well. It
is all hooked up and I should finish the wiring today.

I am going to use it as an aux. tank. It is about 18 gallons.
You can get them in several sizes. The sending unit and
vent came from a local dealer. Living on the coast has some
benefits.

I would have liked to use a larger tank but we had this one
as a spare and so it was free. I had to fabricate the brackets
and used a section of the rubber mat to lay it on. I used
marine fuel line and replaced the original line with it.

I had some alkaline paint left over from another project and
used it to paint the tank and brackets. I used Bulldog primer
to etch the aluminum.

I used a piece of 3/4 inch conduet under the bed to route the
line. I was able to use the regular clamps and existing carrage
bolts to secure it.

I will post some pictures as soon as I finish.

EdB

Between the frame rails where the spare goes the measurements are 27" from frame rail to rail (side to side) and you have 17 or 18" from crossmember to crossmember. The depth is up to how low you wan the tank to hang. Double check those measurements as I am going from memory here.

sam's 72, EdB, are you setting these up as saddle tanks, or between the frame rails where the spare went?

I am not ready to do this project just yet, but it is comming real soon, I have two other project in front of this one. But what I am doing is getting my tank out of the cab and going to put it under the truck, I am just kicking ideals around right now, I know alot of you guys have done this. When I was looking through a boat catalog, this is what gave me the ideal of useing a tank like this. When it come right down to it, if I have to get one custom made I will.
Sam

Actually, this is a project yet to do on my list as well. I'd like to get the gas tank out of the cab (I don't really like the idea of riding in the same cubicle with a potential bomb). I'd like to put some speaker boxes back there, and go to saddle tanks, even though this may not be a real safe option if you happen to get t-boned in a wreck. I believe there was a recall on saddle tanks in our trucks way back when, but I still see them around. When I do this, I'm going to weld in some fuel doors in the bed sides. I didn't want to go the Blazer or Burb tank route, I'd like to hang a spare tire back there again some day.

My truck was set up with saddle tanks in a previous life, all the supply plumbing is still there, but the tanks are not. And there are no left over fuel doors or fuel neck holes in the bed sides, or inside the bed. I believe the bed is original, because it is was painted the same 3 colors as the rest of the truck. Makes me wonder how a previous owner gassed up the saddle tanks. :confused:

I watch for posts on gas tanks to get clues on what works and how-to-dos. Good luck on your endeavor.

Sam,

I put it under the tool box. I am attaching two pictures. I will
post the second one right after this one.

Everything works. The fuel gauge is a different on the aux.
tank because the marine sending unit works different. I do
not know if I will be able to fix it without a marine gauge.
I need to do some research on this.

I did not want to mount a tank and lose my spare tire
carrier.

EdB

Sam,

This is what it looks like with the tool box installed.

EdB

Sam,

PICKMUP has some nice fuel tank kits...I have seen them in person and you can contact him via this board.

Sam, why 50 gal? You do realize that you will have to mortgage the truck to fill it up.
If you do use the 50 make sure you have mounts with enough capacity to hold 400+ #'s of fuel tank and jarring from road roughness.

Sam: Jegs and many others sell fuel cells that come in all different sizes and are very reasonably priced. Seeings we don't use our box, and we have a tonneau cover on top, we put ours in the box, its relatively light and easy accessible without putting alot of junk under the truck.

I too am in the process of removing the gas tank from my cab my c20 also is equiped with duel saddle tanks which I plan on selling cmplete with the access doors that you put in the bed side ifd anyone is interested in these send me an e-mail:bowtie:

Before I had my truck painted; I removed the 2 saddle tanks and moved the fill spouts to the rear and welded in at about a 45 degree angle. This enables filling from inside the rear wheel well just ahead of the rear tire. I didn't like the looks of the side panel fill doors so they were removed and filled in before painting....
I much like the looks of the flat sides without those ugly fuel tank fill doors !!!