The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Underbed gas tanks

Hi Everyone
I am restring my 48 3100 shortbox. I am lowering it alittle. The front and back will be approx. 8" off the ground.

My question is without spending $500. for a fuel cell, what are my options for a gas tank that fits in between the rear frame rails...

Thanks for the help
Tom

do a search
this topic has been talked about quit a bit.
the short answer is yes

if you do , which a lot have, and you get hit from behind, you might think that your are drivin a crown vic..

That's great. I did a search and still didn't get an answer.
Thanks

sup tomy,
I used a 67-69 ford mustang tank then built a frame out of 1in sq. tubing. you'll have to modify the rear cross member and box it in but it really worked great. send me your e-mail and i'll send you pics. [email protected]

Hi, Tomy2,

I decided to do the same thing in an economical manner for my '59 Apache. What I did was look up gas tanks in the J. C. Whitney catalog. I found a general tank type I thought would work, then contacted JCW customer service to get dimensions. The customer service people were very cooperative and supplied me with all the info I needed about several gas tanks. I ordered a 25 gallon steel tank (they had plastic ones as well) and it turned out to be just as described. I think I paid under $150, so was quite happy with the results.
Apache

A65 Mustang will fit perfect on the back rails

do a search on ''under bed gas tanks''.

Ours is set just like a 48 under bed tank, filler on the side!!!!
ours is inside the frame, passenger side, in front of the rear axle. Had to cut that small triangled sheet steel out to make it clear to fit higher. Used the old filler but extended the tube to accept a 2'' gas hose and attached the filler to the outside wall of the bed just below the wood bed. It has an anti-roll vent. No rear enders for us !! accident fires and rear end tanks!

Side fill like the 1948's
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/
you'll have to scroll down the page after you open the link ... forget the logon bit at the top.
The tank is from tanks inc. a universal 16 gal e/w anti roll valve.

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=002404#000006

try these

The only problem with the mustang tank is the sending unit is for a positive ground and GM uses a negative ground system. Or is it the other way around? Either way your sending unit will not function correctly if you use the standard ford unit. Other than that the early mustang tank(68-69 is the best bet for larger capacity) is a good way to go. I used an 18 gal 1st generation camaro tank

I like the way the ford gas tank mounts. Does the 1st gen Camaros tank look the same?

my 1 ton gmc flatbed has the tank inside the frame rales and just behind the cab. wonder if one out of a flatbed would work in the same place as the flatbed has them.... :confused:

The camaro tank uses straps to mount while the mustang tank has a mounting flange built into the tank.

There is a picture of my tank installation in the following picture album.
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=5860053&uid=2902753

that makes a big differance. Can a person make a chevy sending unit work in a ford tank?

Tom

What happened to your 48 tank? 47 and 48 were the two years that AD trucks had frame mounted tanks, in 49 they went in the cab. The fuel filler tube on a 48 comes through the very bottom of the bed on the passenger side just above the filler panel at the rear of the running board, and held about 16 gallons. Correction on an earlier post on this subject: ford has not had positve ground since 1955 but their sender signal is backwad to GM's 0-90 ohm signal. Your gas guage will work but full will be empty and visa-versa with a mustang tank.

My gas tank was missing when I bought the truck. I would like to place my tank in the back of the truck, with a flush mount filler neck.

Hey Apache, did JC have a plastic tank to fit in place of original '48 chevy. I have the original but instead of going thru the trouble of beating the old gas and rust scales and ol gas of 50 some years, thought I would try to find one in plastic to fit its place! Thanx ,bowtie

Tomy2tone01, I can tell yuo that a 1987 Toyota 1/2 ton tank is a perfect fit. I have installed a 76 Jag XJ6 rear end in my 49 chev and the gas tank sits between it and the last crossmember. It goes between the frame rails really nicely.

Hwymen49
Sounds good but what about the sending unit?
Tom

another option is 83 el camino which already has sending unit.

Hi there,
I'm at the same cross roads. I'm restoring a 1950 3100 P/U and got some issues on where to place the filler neck. Any of these tanks going to work for me if I put filler tank out throught sheet metal in the side of box, behind rear drivers wheel.???????

SADDLE TANK?

Has anyone thought about a saddle tank?

You know, one that goes above the driveshaft, below the bed, behind the tranny and between the rails?

I've seen one or two in the junk yards but can't remember what they were under.

Saddle tanks sound like Ford or International. I am going up to the yard this week end might be a good reason to snoop around.

Tom

I found a site,check it out http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=170484

I saw a thread with a link to a site with pictures of the guy installing the tank on the passanger side, like the '49, and running the filler neck to the rear fender and putting a 'door' there. It looked nice when it was done, but not stock.

I wonder if you could put a tank along the frame rail on the passangers side and ran a hose/pipe into the cab and up to the original filler neck. The pipe/hose might come in the inner cab corner and up and use a grommet similar to the one used on the filler neck, the pipe/hose and filler neck could probably remain behind a panel.

Just a thought!

http://community.webshots.com/mypho...mp;albumID=491369445&security=OSysPm Here's a link to some pics of my 53 project. the gas tank is behind the rear end housing and the filler neck is hidden in the middle behind the pull down license plate holder. A little modification was done to shorten the neck, but it's all nicely tucked away out of site now.
resto44

go to my community webshots at the bottom of this post, pics. of my 54 install. ron

Hey, Bowtie,

If you don't have a JCW catalog, you can go to:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...tank&searchbtn.x=7&searchbtn.y=6

and have a look around.

Have a look at P/N WK070065. I also think there's a plastic version of the steel tank P/N WK862180.

I got the steel version, and am installing it right now. It measures (from memory) about 29" X 29" X 9" deep, which fits between my '59 frame rails fine. I have it as far forward as possible for safety reasons. There's about 17" distance between the back of the tank and the fron to the rear bumper (but then it's a Fleetline bed). I'm using rubber hose to keep a flexible link to avoid making any sparks.

You can get a universal sending unit for Ford/Chevy/Stewart-Warner at JCP. P/N WK132950 for GM vehicles with 0 - 90 ohms resistance.

Regards,
Apache Kid