The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Replacement Gas Tank

New tank arrived today- fast shipping!

Someone asked me share whether there is any apparent difference between my new tank and the one that failed at the fuel line connecting plate. It appears to me that there is evidence of more aggressive heating in that area of the new tank. I’m taking that as a positive indicator given the fact that the failure of the old tank was the apparent result of a cold/weak solder joint. Someone more versed in welding and soldering may be able to comment or clarify. The new tank has the brass plug.

In the area of the filler and vent it appears that the worker wanted to use up all of the solder he had on hand - it looks like he poured the stuff on!

I am confident that my fuel tank troubles are behind me , and grateful that Spectra stepped up to the plate after a month of communications. I just needed to work my way up to the right person ; that person was the regional sales rep.
He was a very decisive person, all business.

Hi Wave. That was me. Look inside the sending unit hole and look at the outlet. The one that failed had no evidence of welding or soldering on the inside. The new one did have evidence of extra work attaching the outlet flange inside the tank.

Here are the two attachment points , inside view.
The brighter one is the new.
Can’t say that I see much difference, except for the halo.
Indication of more heat, perhaps?

What did you see?

Looks like Spectrum stepped up and took care of their customer like a quality company should. This renews my faith in their products. That is a bit of a relief considering I have a brand new Spectrum tank ready to go into my truck.

Thanks Otto and Waveski for your follow up!

Take a look inside your tank, Phil and see if there's any "glue/weld/solder" on the inside around the flange. The one that failed on me (probably helped along by the lack of a rubber transition hose to the solid fuel line) had no evidence of anything on the inside.

I saw no bonding material in the interior.
Review the pictures I posted, let me know what you think.

Upon further review, there appears to be a small doughnut of material surrounding the opening in the new tank. Is that what you are referring to?

Wave, your interior shot doesn't look different from the one of mine that failed. However, your outside attachment area definitely looks different from both of our failed ones. I suspect they got the situation in hand.

Believe it or not, after I threaded in my petcock, I manually tried to move it back and forth (not super hard, just a light touch the way it was when the first one broke). I figured if it was going to break off, it would do so with minimal force just like the first one did. Of course it didn't move at all.

I keep looking under the truck for signs of leakage or anything and so far so good - over 600 miles so far.

Did you incorporate a flexible hose section?
I never gave that a thought till you mentioned it.

Yes.

I never knew it was supposed to have one because it didn't have one when I got it. I only learned of it's necessity on this forum. I was going to order one and install it before the bad gas incident forced me to open the drain plug. Trying to open the plug is what broke the flange off.

I ordered the rubber section from Jim Carter

Where did you locate it?
I have a flexible section in the engine compartment.

It's supposed to be between the petcock and the steel line. It's a rubber hose with crimped fittings on each end.

Ok , now I have something else to think about.
I don’t have a petcock valve either.

This illustration is from LMC. Items 4 (petcock) and 5 (rubber hose). One end of the hose (circled in red) is 1/4” NPT and is threaded into the side of the petcock (red arrow). The other side of the hose is an inverted flare (don’t remember the size) that connects to the fuel line going to the fuel pump.

a) So you are saying that proper plumbing of the fuel tank should include the valve and flexible section?

b) In the illustration, what is that line lead up over the side and top of the tank?

I did a search on LMC and came up empty.
Can you give me some vectors regarding finding that part?

The picture snippet Phil posted came from this LMC Fuel and Vacuum Lines web page.

That line you mentioned is for 1955.2 and later trucks. At least that's what the parts description indicates for Item #2. A design change to the fuel delivery system.

I got the rubber transition piece from Jim carter. I bought everything else from NPD, including the petcock, pre-bent fuel line, gas tank, whatever.

Most of the vendors probably have that rubber fuel line. The petcock isn't necessary but it's handy to have because it has a fuel shutoff valve like a radiator petcock, and has a built-in drain plug in the bottom of it.

I went ahead and used that for the sake of simplicity since I was using a factory style fuel line fuel and I wanted everything to match up and connect properly.

The 1955.2 parts have me scratching my head.

I found a pet cock (odd term) for that tank from Car and Truck Orange County, but no flex hose.
Car and Truck is a good source, btw.

The fuel hose is part # ME456 at Jim Carter. I think Rock Auto has it, too.

I have also used regular fuel hose with fittings and clamps when the hose was not available .

Here's the setup under the truck.

Excellent pictures , thank you.

Looks likeJim Carter is the source.

A cock is a valve or stop used to keep gases and fluids from leaking out of or getting into containers. Stopcock, seacock, petcock

The term petcock comes from the historical meaning of "pet", which is small.

Later fuel trucks had the fuel delivery line coming up thru the top with the sending unit, with no hole in the bottom of the tank. That LMC figure just shows all the options in one picture.

I have a rubber grommet (same as speedo grommet) that I'll install around the petcock supply tube in the floor of the truck. I just left it off after installing the new tank so I could keep a close watch on the connection and the outlet flange. I'll install it later on after I'm confident that the new tank and flange connection is OK.

The catalog screen shot KEVINSKI posted above shows the part # as ME607 for 1954-1960. You'll need the lower flex hose for 1949-1953 ALL. The one I ordered is part # ME456. I think it's a little longer than the later models.

Here's the correct one. https://oldchevytrucks.com/me456.html

I know little of plumbing connections.
What is the interface or coupling between the flex hose and the steel line? How is that accomplished?

Waveski, both ends of the rubber flex in the pictures appear to be inverted flare, that is the same type of fitting for brake lines and most fuel connections at the carburetor and pump. I can't tell from the pics what size it is but I would guess at 1/4" or 5/16", the inverted flare would be bigger than those dimensions.

So , would the end of the steel fuel line need to be flared?

The stock fuel line from the fuel pump has a flared end with a male threaded fitting on it. That end threads into a female fitting which is crimped to the rubber line. The other end of the rubber hose has a fitting that mimics the one on the end of the steel line so it threads right into the female fitting on the petcock.

Well , that fuel line is non-stock on my truck, along with a lot of other things.
I guess I need to take a crash course in flaring. I know a guy who has the tool.

Auto Zone, Advance Auto, etc will lone you a flaring kit. You can practice on spare pieces of tubing.

Depending on the condition of your existing steel line, you may wish to order a new pre-bent section that already has the correct fitting attached and is the correct length to connect to the rubber line and petcock. The pump to tank line is about $100.

The nickel/copper brake line is easy to work with, bends very smoothly and flares well. I ordered a 25 ft. roll of 1/4" from Summit to do my brakes, double flared all the brake lines, wasn't too bad to work even with double flare. The steel lines from the factory were double flared in later years, I don't know about the AD trucks but I would guess they were also. I used 5/16" nickel/copper for my fuel line from the tank to the pump with plain rubber fuel hose at the pump for an isolation flex joint.

Buckshot,
So you don’t have a flex section near the tank?

Btw, I did locate a flaring tool.

The Task Force trucks have the steel line exiting from the top of the tank, going to the right and behind the tank through a small hole in the floor, then over to the right frame rail and on to the pump, I have no rubber or other flex connection in the line until it gets to the pump. The flaring tool you show should serve you well for auto, propane, and any other soft tubing flare jobs.

I forgot that you have an entirely different truck.