Been watching this for a while Matt, same old thing that people have been asking
ever since I joined up way back when.
First---safety: The tank in its stock location is in just about the most well protected
spot that it could be in. It's protected from the front the rear and from the sides
by lots of body work and frame. If you got hit hard enough to get into the tank
that would be your last worry.
Second: guys that put them under the back of the bed where the spare was
stored are asking for the "Pinto" syndrome where when they are ars holed,
they are sitting in a pool of fuel.
Third: the early 'Bolts had the tanks mounted under the front right side of the
box just inside the frame. If hit from the right side, again, your sitting in a pool
of fuel.
Forth: If the tank doesn't have a lot of rust, and a lot of them don't, then a
decent inline replaceable filter before the fuel pump will take care of any
fine rust or other small particulates. If it's badly rusted then as posted,
they are around $200 brand new. If you make sure the replacement tank
you get is from Spectra Premium Industries
http://www.spectrapremium.com/products/fuel_tank.html the threads will all be correct, i.e., not metric. If you get an import tank
from one of the vendors because it will save you $20, you will probably
end up with metric threads as mentioned.
Fifth: The fuel delivery system that was designed for the truck is perfectly
adequate for the stock engine. No need to worry about changing that.
And lastly, as the guys mentioned, no matter what you end up doing,
make sure you replace the gasket and hoses with new items and the
only gas smell that you will get in the cab will be what you spilled on
yourself when you filled up.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/fuel__air_filtering&page=all Denny Graham
Sandwich,IL
