The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Gas tank ????

I am ready to put a gas tank under the bed in back on my 41 1/2 ton rod project. I have seen some mention of tanks but the aftermarket ones seem like lots of $$. Can I go to a salvage yard with a tape and find a tank they take off before they crush the rest of the car that will work for a tank. Has anyone done this. Should I look for one with an in tank pump? What should I look for? Thanks
Bob

Bob, I would recommend you take measurements of the area you want to install the tank and then do an ebay search in the auto parts section for gas tank. Many of the auctions will include outside dimensions you can compare to those you wrote down. Once you identify a tank that will fit you can then look around the local yards. The ones off ebay will probably not come with the sending unit which you will need. If you are using a mechanical fuel pump you will not want a tank with an in-tank fuel pump as those are intended for fuel injection type motors. If that is what you are running then the options available to you increase.
I used an 18 gallon tank from a 67-69 camaro on my 54. Others recommend the blazer 31 gallon tank. If a camaro tank will fit for you I know of one in Wabash some old man has. You can probably talk him out of it pretty easily. Right Popcorn!

Houston54, Thanks for the ideas. I have a yard not too far away that has 300 cars ready for the crusher with a pile of tanks I can sort through. Any reasons why a salvage tank will not work if it will fit in the space?
Bob
PS my son lives on north edge of Houston I visited last September, nice place.

Guys the majority of salvage yard punch holes in the gas tanks and drain themprior to putting them in the yard due to insurance risks. Call and ask prior to doing the junk yard crawl.

The previous owner put a 30-gallon tank in my truck -- I love it, too! He put it where the spare tire mount was and did a great job running the filler over to the wheel well on the passenger side.

I believe he took the tank, as well as the filler door, from a mid-70s Cadillac.

I have some pics Here

And a couple more pics Here

Alan, Thanks for the reply. I took a look at your pictures and like your tank and filler set up. I have seen some of the tanks mounted like this and fill through the bed. Anyone have this set up and does it work ok for you? Alan I see you play guitar. I have built a few and my son plays them. This winter I built two hard guitarcases for him and coated them with the dupli/color roll on bed liner and it made a nice finish on them. Got the idea from local Amish buggy shop. Well sorry I got off topic I did not check on the salvage tanks to see if they poke them or not yet but hope to soon.
Bob

I put a 31 gallon tank (76 full size blazer) between the frame behind the axle on my 49 sub. $129 new at my local NAPA. I think used tanks are trouble. Rust, leaks dents etc etc. Although if a known good one could be found the price would be considerably less. My 2 cents. Weeds.

I've never seen gas tanks destroyed at the yards I frequent. Sounds like a case of either some idiotic state laws or lazy people at the yard.

Bob: Been missing in action send me the measurements or Mr. Houston might know but I got the camaro tank cleaned and stored with his stuff LOL> The old man in wabash In.

popcorn The Truth is Out There (You are welcome to it) Ben

Bob-

With the help of my bro-in-law, I found that a saddle tank from later C-series GM trucks can be rotated and put between AD frames

At our pick-n-pulls, gas and coolant must be drained, but that's about it. Wheels stay on until they're sold or the remains are crushed. Transmissions and axles seem to be left alone. Batterys are removed and properly recycled, they usually sell the ones that are in good shape. In fact, the yard I go to most often drains coolant and washer fluid, filters it, and sells it cheap.

At the yard I worked for in Reno we had a big open tank with a big spike sticking up out of the middle,and when we were loading the crusher we'd pick the car up with a CAT 988 with forks on it and go over and impale the tank of the car. The loader operator,d jiggle the car sideways to rip a bigger hole in the gas tank and let it drain for a minute then go drop it into the crusher. The gas was filtered,and was used to run the tow trucks,the yard goat and the bosses truck. (or an employee's truck if we got too close to empty before payday.)
Speed

Well I went to a small yard with a pile of tanks they had some that looked like new that would fit but noticed each had a 2" puncture in one corner. How far is wabash? I intend to look at one more yard popcorn, but that tank is sounding better. One good note the yard I went to yesterday had a 53AD to be crushed but someone put some money down to save it. I was going to put it on the Bolt for sale but it is going to a good home. Well thanks for all the ideas.
Bob

i have heard good things about the blazer gas tank swap. i have not ever done it, but i have read a few articles online and in magazines that made it sound appealing.

Jim, The link to keep me busy returns no results?? What should I try?
Bob

HUMMMMMM
i see that... try this one

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi...d=results&record=2453761-164456-6P37

what i did was to go to search: type in --
''under bed gas tank''
the return link came up w/ 83 matches.
now that oughta keep you busy
I am in the process of doing this same thing. I bought a 16 gal tank from (tanks inc.)http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=82/category_id=69/home_id=59/mode=prod/prd82.htm
US-1: @ 16 gallon , 34 x 10 x 11" $240.00 for all steel. I used the original cab spout filler and rotated it 180 degrees, mounted it just infront of the pass rear fender, below the bed. There is room at the bed skirting, about 4-5'' and the tank is held up by 4, 1/2'' rods, the mounting nuts welded to the cross bed board steel cross bed mounts. I had to cut the trianglated steel factory 'corner' plate to fit the tank up higher. I also installed a 12 bolt rear end and moved it back about 2-1/2 to 3'' The tank fits very well, it's solid as a rock, easy to plumb lines to the engine, ground wire and sender gauge wire up w/ a weather proof two wire plug to the new dash inst. gauge.
Sorry I do not have a digital camera but will soon. if you have any questions... ask us

My vote is to build your own tank out of aluminum. It cheap easy and easy to fabricate. I have also made the suggestion to get a keg of beer and keep the keg. Its already sealed and you can have fun drinking it rather than building the tank from scratch. You will loose your deposit, but its cheaper than buying a tank.

One problem with junkyard tanks is they tend to get wet and often are close to having pin holes without knowing it. The shapes also suck to work with and look stupid mounted out of place. You may find yourself mounting it with rope, because you can't weld to it and its not made for your truck.

I built one out of 1/8inch aluminum if you want to see a couple of pics:
Pics of custom tank

You will see that you can make some crazy shapes. But for the most part, you just need a rectangle.

Buzztrader, isn't the cost of buying the 1/4" aluminum sheets more expensive than buying a new tank? What did you use to weld, a MIG? If so, what type of wire did you use. What part of florida are you from? I'm living in Vero Beach.

MIG aluminum wire is...well...MIG aluminum wire.

Well I hope my tank search is over. I went to three parts yards and brought two tanks home. They both had pin holes in them and did not fit real well. I just finished my engine and decided it would be stupid to put gas from a dirty tank in an all new engine. I measured my space where I wanted the tank and then spent some time on ebay looking for a new tank. A lot of the adds give the dimensions of the tanks. A tank from a 70's Jeep was just the size I needed and found a new one for $49 + $30 S&H. I hope to get it next week and will let you all know how it works out.
Bob