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Any recommendations for a tank to go under the bed that will not require removal of stock crossmembers and doesn’t sit too low. This is for my 1950 3100. Prefer side fill or rear fill, want to stay away from filling in the bed.

Thank you

Joining this as I want to do this as well. To me having to lower the tailgate and have the hose going in the bed is problematic to me.

One thing I thought of is the 47-48 factory under bed tank. But as I would like it on the drivers side and need an EFI setup, that tank is not ideal.

I had a 1995 ford F150 with two gas tanks (side between the frame rails and a rear tank), both having rubber hoses to the fuel doors in the side of body. If I could find something similar to that, which fits a 3100 short bed, it would be ideal. I should be able to use those aftermarket weld on fuel doors to go in the rear fender.

I like the 48 tank location but I have an explorer axle and the differential is shifted 2inches to the passenger side frame rail so clearance is an issue.
There is a person on a Facebook group that says a F150/250 tank from the mid 90s fits perfect with side fill but it looks that it might be a bit long front to back.

Guys, like you, I decided there was no way I was going to put my filler neck thru the floor of my white oak bed, AND I definitely wanted to keep my spare where it belonged. Here was my answer, but admittedly it was a buttload of work. GM discontinued the Pontiac Fiero in 1988. The tanks are steel and about 10 gallons each. I remember buying the pair for $100. I did not have to relocate or modify any crossmember, however, it did require that I had to relocate the e-brake crossbar forward in the frame. I did all this probably 20 years ago, so the details are a bit foggy but the pictures should speak for themselves. Good luck, Dave

Long ago, before there were kits for such things, I seem to remember using an early Camaro tank to fuel from the rear. I might be wrong.

Many folks used Mustang tanks.

Do you know the year and model of the mustang tank you are mentioning? thx

I bought a 69' mustang tank for my 59', I found that Rock Auto had all the dimensions and the best price. Measure between your rear frame rails, you may need to consider moving a crossmember. There are several ways to add a filler neck, I plan on using a Chevelle style tag bracket to hide the filler neck behind.

Many owners are using the 70'-72' K5 blazer tank in their AD's, the filler neck is on the rear drivers side.

That is impressive work looks well planned out and you still have the cab fill by the looks of it. I would be happy with the 47-48 tank in the bed but unfortunately I have a 8.8 ford rear end that is shifted two inches to the passenger side so the clearance between the tank and the drive shaft is slim to none from what I have read. Do you still have the truck?

The tanks that I am looking at come in two versions, one with an opening with an ecc valve or a one without the opening?. I was wondering what are the pros and cons to each configuration? I would think getting a tank with the ecc valve would allow me to vent the tank almost anywhere and not need to configure a filler tube with a vent tube, is this correct?
I have never swapped out a tank so this is all new.
Thanks

My thinking is that the EEC opening/valve will be too small to perform as a fill vent. You'll likely get gas burping out of the fill tube if you don't put a generously sized vent in as well.

On my setup, the ECC hose was too small to use as a vent and I had to put in one of the hose within a hose fillers.

We use a Blazer side filler tank and have a muffler shop bend up a filler tube that runs to a pop up (motorcycle style) gas cap. There is plenty of room in AD rear fenders for the tube. If painted body color the pop up cap is nearly invisible and entire set up takes gas a full nozzle volume.

A 49 getting the Blazer tank:
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/TyNkMCpL/020.jpg[/img]

Blazer tank hung with all factory cross members intact;
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/RJLK9ZXs/003.jpg[/img]

Filler tube bent up by muffler shop;
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/VJVMzTW8/004.jpg[/img]

Pop Up gas cap in driver side rear fendeer:
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/ZvHB2D5X/016.jpg[/img]

Coilover thanks for the pictures. I do like the clean looking filler in the fender. Do you happen to have any showing the tank from the top before the bed was installed?

Eric

Eric,

I followed Coilover’s guidance an installed the S10, Blazer tank in my 51, 3100.

Here’s a picture from the top. I added the front bar on top of the tank and used 66 Chevelle gas tank straps, if I remember correctly. The straps go thru slots in the front bar and attached at the original crossmember.

I did not have my cap painted as I figured clumsy me would drop it sometime and I’d mess up the paint. The gas cap assembly was glued into place on the fender with panel adhesive by my body man.

I used a roll over vent in the RH rear stake pocket for venting. It sits higher then the gas cap assembly and the tank will take gas as fast as the gas pump will pump.

Thanks Coilover for sharing. It was relatively easy to do and works great!

That looks really clean. I was noticing the 80s tanks are 13 gallons and the later ones are 19 gallons. It also appears that some of the late 90s-2000 had a second tube next to the fill tube that would probably interfere with the crossmember. Do you recall which year you used?

I bought mine at GTD, item 2200.

2200 MTS, 20 gallon, 1983-1995 S10 Blazer and S15 Jimmy

DB, that is an excellent tank option! Looks like it will perfect for my 51 3100 project, thanks!

Now just need to which gas caps are available and what fuel pump and tubing is available?

Thanks for the compliment but I can’t take credit for which tank to use, Coilover shared how his shop does it.

I used a Bikers Choice motorcycle cap.

As for the fuel pump, I used the S10 fuel pump/sender unit that matches the tank. I’m running a 5.3 LS engine in the truck and needed 58 psi of fuel pressure. Got the pump from the same place.

Great job Dan!
Now I'm going to take a page from your book and mount the fill tube/cap a little further from the bed side for easier nozzle access. I was concerned about having the cap in the tighter fender radius but yours looks like this is a non problem. Thanks; Evan

16 gallon fuel cell, triumph spitfire filler, fuel filler hose from oreilly, small piece of exhaust tubing and a large elbow from a radiator hose.

I noticed that a lot of the newer tanks that I consider only come with a sending unit for fuel injection and are high pressure. Has anyone here ran a carb with the injection pump or know what is involved with doing it? I know the pressure would need to be reduced in some manner. Thank you

Dongray,

I think something like this would work if you want to use your engine driven, low pressure fuel pump. The vendor can probably set you up with something that will work with the tank you choose.

https://www.gastankdepot.com/such-05-1968-70-skylark-chevelle-el-camino-gto-cutlass.html

Pick your favorite parts vendor and get an adjustable fuel regulator to bring the pressure down.

Alternatively, a *lot* of the injection fuel pumps are flow-through style. This means that fuel can still be drawn through them when they are powered off. If the pump you get is that style, you can just not hook it up and keep using the mechanical pump on the engine (or put in a carb-pressure electric pump).

DB,

Can you tell me how much clearance there is between the tank and the differential? Also, Do you think the tank could be moved back so the fill tube was on the other side of the crossmember? More bracing would be required but just curious. Thanks

I can get some pictures from underneath and take some measurements. Might take a couple days before I get around to it but I’ll get it done.

[quote=coilover]We use a Blazer side filler tank and have a muffler shop bend up a filler tube that runs to a pop up (motorcycle style) gas cap. There is plenty of room in AD rear fenders for the tube. If painted body color the pop up cap is nearly invisible and entire set up takes gas a full nozzle volume.


Coilover,

I was wondering what you used to get the stance in the front? I see you have blocks in the rear. I’m thinking if you were determined to keep the crossmember intact and gave blocks that the front us a dropped straight axle? Are the wheels 15”?
I noticed you are in the North Dallas area not to far from me. Would like to take a look at your 49 sometime if willing?
Thanks

Thanks DB! No rush. What did you use to hang the front of the tank? I don’t see any connections to either of the forward crossmembers. I think you said 66 chevelle straps were used.

Dongray,

3” from the pumpkin to the front of the tank.

I do believe the tank could be moved back so the filler is on the aft side of the crossmember. There is 11” from the back of the tank to the roll pan (option I added) on my truck. Of course that that will make the tank more visible and maybe not as crash worthy being that far back.

I’ve attached a picture of the tank, forward strap attachment. I attached a piece of angle iron to the bottom of the coilover crossmember. Slots for the straps to go thru were added to the angle iron.

If my memory serves me right, the straps are from a 66 Chevelle.

Hope this helps

The more of that setup I see, the more I like it.

Dan, I was wondering why there were no visible attachments on the front of the tank. The slotted angle iron is a pretty slick idea and the angle iron on top of the tank is to contain it makes sense now.
Can you tell me why you went for the plastic tank vs a metallic one? The metal ones are less expensive but is there a draw back to metal vs plastic?
I noticed the sending unit has 4 lines running off of it and it appears that you use two for your set up? I would assume if I am running a standard carburetor I would block off three and just maintain the one that extends to the bottom of the tank? Can you tell me what is used to block them off? I see some just appear to have a rubber end cap placed on the end but I can't imagine that being sufficient to contain fuel. Thanks for all the help its definitely all new to me and this is a good learning experience. I just keep telling myself that the next project will be that much easier, which is a good selling point for when I need to talk the wife into another one, lol.

You can block off the extra ports with rubber caps that are clamped on. They can be used for vents, an evap system, or whatever else you might want to hook up to the tank.

Dongray,
You or anyone else are welcome to come by the shop anytime. I live in the house behind so weekends are fine also. There is no office or "insurance regulations" sign so when you step through the door you are in the middle of the insanity. If your ride is being worked on wear old clothes and we will put you to work on it. The shop has a 2.5 year waiting time for frame off or from a scratch built street rod but we can squeeze in small jobs. More now than ever before as many parts we need are on cargo ships off the California coast. Shop is on hwy 121 at Trenton, Texas and has a Facebook page: 121 Rod and Restoration.

Dongray,

I went with the plastic tank to eliminate any internal corrosion issues and with it being black it blends in with the chassis. I’d like to think it’s less noticeable when viewing the truck from the rear.

The sender/fuel pump assembly in my tank is for a fuel injected engine, which you do not want. If you are running an in-line 6 with a mechanical engine driven fuel pump, all you need is the fuel sending unit similar (not the correct sender for your application, just an example) to the first attachment below.

It will have a fuel pick up tube and some come with an evap tube that you can use as a vent for the tank. I ran fuel resistant hose to the RH rear stake pocket, attached a roll over vent and placed it above the fill tube level. The second attachment is the vent I used.

You’ll probably have an Ohm mismatch between your tank sender and fuel gauge. Classic Instruments sells a small device that’s easy to install and calibrate, that syncs the sender to the gauge for correct fuel level indication. See third attachment.

Can’t say this is the 100% correct way to do this but it’s how I did mine.

https://www.gastankdepot.com/such-05-1968-70-skylark-chevelle-el-camino-gto-cutlass.html.

https://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=98/mode=prod/prd98.htm?msclkid=49295653598b183bc4933781b3788c06&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP%20Shop%20-%20Under%20%2420&utm_term=4588193303723311&utm_content=98%20%7C%20Remote%20Mount%20Rollover%20Vent%20Valve%20%7C%20%2415

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Classic-Instruments-SN34-Fuel-Link-Interface,230181.html