The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Where do you put the new gas tank

Dear Stovebolters,
When putting the new gas tank on my 1946 chevy one ton, where does it officially go and is there a better place to put it?
I want safety over original on this matter. thanks!

I dont know what is best but I made mine out of a water preasure tank and mounted it on the side of the bed just behind the driver side door.It hangs under the bed like the ones on the big trucks.

My '42 1 1/2 ton is under the seat, and that is where it will stay.

Both my '46's have the tank under the seat in the stock location, and it ain't a problem.

Anything hits me hard enough to buckle the frame enough to rupture the fuel tank, and i'm sure the impact and the flying shards of laminated glass will kill me long before any explosion will.

Besides.. isn't IN the passenger compartment where they put the fuel tanks in race cars for saftey?

whoa good point Frank, never thought of that. interesting to say the least.

Frank:

I haven't done anything with mine because of all of the reasons you have just outlined.

That, and I'm lazy.

GM still puts gas tanks in/under passenger compartments. The tank in my 1999 Bonneville is under the back seat.

Mine is in the original position,behind the seat.Thats where it will stay unless I decide to do some more modifications on the truck Only reason I would put it under the bed is to have a little more room in the cab.

Remember the Pinto. Wasn't the tank out back aft of the axle? Mine is in the cab, thank you!

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Chevy move the tank from behind the seat, to behind the cab in 1973? Which also caused some to catch on fire from side collisions. I believe that there was a recall of some sort because of lawsuits. I think it was regarding the tank being outside the frame rails. Which only provided sheet metal as a buffer during a collision.
If that is all correct (which I think it is), if you decide to move it out of the cab, you had probably better to try and keep it between the frame rails also. That could be difficult, as I don't think that there is a lot of room.
As I said earlier, under the seat works for me. So long as you don't have any leaks, I don't see why to bother with moving it.

As far as that goes, I don't see an issue with leaving it in the cab even if there IS a leak. Just patch/replace it and keep going.

Getting extra cab space is the only reason I could understand wanting to move the fuel tank, but you'd want to put it between the frame rails, with enough "buffer" between the front and rear of the vehicle to prevent a rear collision from causing tank rupture.. which is probably why GM engineers put the fuel tank in the cab in the first place.

Only time fumes would be an issue in the cab is if you spilled gas while pumping and it ran down the filler neck into the cab, or if you've got a leaking fuel tank.

When I restored my 46 I decided to move the tank out inside the frame. Still filled from cab via a maze of bent pipe etc. Was planning AC/radio under the seat in my new found space. Well after a while filling really became a problem with this new set up and I went back with the stock tank. I do know some LARGE flat beds of those years had a tank under the bed on the side. Chevy still kept the hole in the right side of the cab on those big trucks, filled the hole with a flat plate held on with the stock ring.

i know on the the older international trucks (my 1968 is like this) the tank was under the bed/cab on the passenger side and the filler neck came out of the cab but it was down low not up where it is on these old Chevs and yes in 73 chevy took the tank out of the cab and mounted them on the outside of the frame on both sides (if dual tanks) they called them saddle tanks in 88 with the new styling the moved the tank inside the frame rails funny think is in 73-87 the tanks were 16 (short box) or 20 gallons (long box) on my dads 88 chevy long box 1/2 ton the tank is 30-35 gallons the tank inside the frame rails is good idea but makes it hard to route exhaust so i'd just keep it in the cab best place for it, lots of protection and will not be near any hot exhuast pipes

The problem with the tank in the cab is in a roll over the cap comes off and the gas spills out right in the sparks from the steel rubbing the pavement. It happend a lot back then. A couple of kids burned to death a few years ago in a restored f###d pickup. Was'nt mich of a wreck except for the fire. An onlooker got burned pretty bad trying to get them out.It was all over in just minutes. One of my trucks still has the tank in the cab but I dont drive it fast enough to turn over.

Seems like you'd have that problem anytime the filler neck stuck out with a twist on cap.

My guess is flipping over and sliding isn't nearly as common as getting t-boned or rear ended.

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=003566;p=1#000005

In the 70s, our neighbor had a F**d pickup that his hired hand drove, and it had the in-the-cab gas tank.

The hand's wife took it shopping, rolled it somehow, and the resulting fire killed her little girl. I don't know if the wreck would have killed her anyway.

One can't protect against every possible hazard, but this incident is certainly in my mind when I consider where to put the gas tank in the truck we're restoring for my 17-year-old daughter.

i need to ask, did 53 3/4's have there fuel tanks under the seat. Mine's in the back between the chasis rails???
Brendon