The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk problem with a new Chevy Duty gas tank

Has anyone installed a gas tank from Chevy Duty? I just purchased one for my 53. Mounts behind the seat. The issue is the outlet for the fuel line is a bolt. No threaded pipe fitting just a nut welded to the inside and a bolt screwed into it. Its metric to boot.

I was wondering how others have solved this. I was thinking that I could:

1. Drill out the nut and tap for a pipe but I think it would be tight since the nut is small.

2. Weld a fitting to the bottom of the tank and thread the pipe into the fitting.

3. Try a bulkhead fitting if I can get the welded bolt out of the way some how.

Any thoughts???

Rich

have you called them and asked them about it?

-W

Try a search, this has been covered before.

Rich,

I have stuck the link in to the 'covered before' thread....it's sure fishy!


http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=004735#000000

Stuart

I also got a new tank from Chevy Duty. Had no problem with the outlet, but have had major problems with the inlet. It doesn't seem to line up with the hole in the cab. Got a couple things to try whenever I get back to it.

My inlet was not lining up either. A big Snap-On pry bar made it line up better. At some point I'll clean up the old tank and put it back in.

Maybe I wasn't clear. The outlet is a very small metric bolt thread. It is too small for any pipe fitting I have ever seen. I don't know if it will leak since I cannot use the tank with a bolt blocking the outlet.

I see what you mean about the inlet though. The pipe is at significantly different angle. And the spot welded outlet reinforcement looks like this method would leak 50% of the time.

I think welding a fitting over the drilled out bolt in the bottom of the tank will ensure a leak proof fitting.

I will let you know how it goes.
Rich

Rich:

If you haven't already modified the tank, I would see if Classic Parts is willing to make good on the purchase. Fortunately, I live 20 minutes from Classic Parts, formerly Chevy Duty, therefore I am able to look things over prior to walking out of the store with it.

I hope they make good on it.

Tony

I'd be interested in knowing how that works out. I bought a tank for my TF from Chevy Duty about a year and a half ago and haven't even taken it out of the box to look at it but I'm assuming mine will have the same issue. I hate that! Even if they are made in China what is so damned hard about using the correct threads for the original fitting. As for repro parts, I'd like to find at least SOMETHING that doesn't have to be modified in order to fit. I'd say that's a slight misrepresentation of what they are selling.

Haven't done anything yet ...no time this week.

I actually got the tank from LMC. I had 2 orders come in at the same time, 1 from CD and 1 from LMC. I mixed them up.

My apologies to CD...not their tank.

Jim Carter's gas tank for 49-55 has a disclaimer on it that says it has the "correct pipe threads" on the outlet, followed by a warning that this has not been done to other vendors tanks.

Hmmmm.......

Rich,

If there is enough meat on the flange, drilling and tapping for 1/4" or 3/8" pipe is a simple chore....it's the point though.


Stuart

I don't remember where I got my tank , I think it had 1/8" pipe thread.

tell them you want a free replacement tank with the right fitting thats what i did with some of my windowes that came broken i have a tank from a 60s chevy its the same shape but the outlet is on top im going to use it so any leak would be air

Stuart,

I will try that first. I am afraid that the nut (about a 7/16 welded inside the tank may be too small for drilling and tapping.

I don't have a pipe thread tap though. Do I have to get this form a plumbing supplier. I have not seen them in HD or Lowes.

Rich

Rich,

I'm not intimate with the big box stores so I don't know about them. A ACE or True Value would be my first thought. Be sure to get the tap drill too if you're going to attempt this.

As Beaver noted, maybe 1/8" pipe would be sufficient...don't go larger than the original, and measure and make sure you have the meat in the nut (just like you pointed out).

Stuart

As said sooooo many times before,,,welcome to the world of repro parts. It seems theres always "something" wrong with them.
When it says "fits just like original" in the catalog,that means,,,you hafta be a machinist,,sheet metal worker,,carpenter,,and all around wizard to make it fit. What theyre selling are "cores",,,,something rebuildable to be used again.
Ive been going thru it since 1973.......it hasnt changed.
Marty

Marty,

If it hasn't changed since '73 I'll bet it never will. I guess one should either accept it as is, or take night school courses in sheet metal fabrication, machine tool operation and carpentry.

Stuart

If this hobby was easy, most of us probably wouldn't do it.

The repros atleast give us a place to start. I agree though that we should be paying core prices for this stuff.

What befuddles me about this tank is ... a bolt in the outlet???.... Why put anything if you are going to put something so useless. I can forgive the inlet at the wrong angle, the inner to outer cowls that need major surgery to fit, even the brand new out of the box master cylinder that leaks, but to purposely install something in a part that can't possibly perform the intended use is beyond shoddy engineering. Its more like sabotage.

I would rather they just let me drill and tap my own hole in the tank then to weld a too small nut inside a too small hole that the has to be worked around.

Rich

Rich,

That is bizarre. Are you sure it couldn't be 1/8" pipe...that's pretty small too. Have you tried screwing a small nipple into it.

Stuart

Maybe I am misunderstanding this but is this welded bolt on the bottom of the tank? According to my experience on my 53 the hole on the bottom is simply a drain. The outlet should be on top where the sender goes. The sender has a pickup attached to it and the flexible line runs down in front of the tank thru a grommet in the floor and hooks up to the hard line. In the Chevy assembly Manual (green book) there is a drawing of this set up.

olblu,
This gets more and more confusing. The original tank on my truck had a sending unit with no fuel line outlet on it. The mounting surface on the sender is a solid plate with 5 holes for screws and one contact for wire connection. The tank had a 3 inch long 1/8 in nipple coming out of the bottom which passed through the floor opening/grommet.

I see in the green book the set up you are talking about but in LMC and Classic parts catalog the sending unit for 53 has no fuel line attachment. As a matter of fact the LMC book states that 47 to 53 had tank mounted fuel lines. :confused:

I know when I test ran the truck I would have to have the gas supply higher than the fuel pump or no gas would flow. This could be due to many of the other "test" conditions, but it made sense that fuel would travel out the bottom of the tank.

What kind of sending unit do you have. Is it new or original?

Even more interesting in the LMC catalog it states that the tank for 54 through 59 has a sending unit feed line and that if the sending unit is used for a 47 through 53 they sell a plug for the sending unit feed line.

I am contacting LMC (as was suggested at first by Woogeroo) The packing slip says I got the right tank but there are no markings on the tank ...maybe they sent the wrong one.

Did the 54 to 59 tanks mount behind the seat like the 53

I found a number on the box. It is the correct tank accoring to the box any way.

After purchasing my new tank a couple of years ago, I looked at my new tank for the first time yesterday (it was still in the box) and I also have the bolt in the bottom that you all are talking about. Then I realized that olblu49 is correct! Now that I think about it my TF tank outlet is at the top and is integral with the sending unit and the outlet on the bottom (in the case of TF trucks) is only there for a drain. I removed my original tank yesterday and it didn't have any drain in the bottom at all. I left the bolt in and installed the new tank with no problems except it didn't line up properly with inlet and vent hoses. After some struggle I managed to make it work OK and everything seems like it might work. I'll know when I put some gas in later today.

What is a TF truck??

My only concedrn then is can my fuel pump ull fule form the bottom to the top of the tank. That is easy enough to test.

TF = Task Force
This is what Chevy called the 1955-1959 series of trucks.

I will add more to this confusion. On my 49 the sender is just that, a bolted down cap with 2 wires coming out of it. My tank does drain from the bottom. However when I had my 53 the sender was different with a pickup attached but someone had put a cap on the outlet and brazed a piece of steel tubing thru that hole in the bottom. But there was a hole with a grommet going thru the floor in front of the tank.
Going back to the green book, although it says 1947-54 on the cover, the book is geared primarily to 1954. As an example check the sheet metal section and the driveshaft section. Nothing like a 47-53 in there. So maybe the drawing I mentioned in that book pertains to a 1954.
Are you confused yet!

I think it is the 54 that has the fuel outlet on the sending unit. However the engines and fuel pumps are the same and since I need to buy a sender anyway. I will test the pump with a gas can in place of the tank and see if it can indeed feed the engine through the top of the tank. If so I will buy the sender with fuel outlet.

I am not doing an authetic restoration. I just want some thing with the look and feel of 1953. So as long as the test works I will buy the sender with the fuel outlet and not sweat(pun intended)the drain plug at the bottom of the tank or the lack of authenticity of this solution.

Funny thing is in the LMC catalogue is says if you have a 47-53 you need to purchase a plug for the sending unit outlet. Their customer service tells me you need to buy the sender with outlet to use that tank in a 47 to 53. I just wish I knew that so I could avoid the extra shipping I will now incur on the sender as well.

It is also funny that the things I think will be the easiest on this truck turn into big projects and the seemingly hard stuff turns out often to be easier than expected. Maybe its just frame of mind???

Thanks for all the advice on this guys. It is truly a great help having access to everones opinion.


Rich

Can you not get a brass threaded plug to fit on it? If you ever need a good visual of a part, look at the Brothers Trucks web site. They have all the parts in photographs. Incidentally it shows the sender with the pickup as being the same for all years of AD trucks.

Did you double check to make sure that a 1/8" pipe wouldn't fit as suggested above by atomarc? I was messing around with my tank today and took the pipe out of the bottom of my 53's tank and it was a standard 1/8" pipe thread according to my tap+die set.

olbly49, the sender changed in 1954!

It is definitely not a pipe thread in the new tank. It is a 12 mm metric bolt thread.

olblu49, I believe that extra hole in front of the tank is for the sending unit wire.

I was busy painting my interior today. I will check the fuel pump effectiveness with a gas can in place of the tank later this week once the paint cures. If that works I will buy the sender with the fuel outlet and be done with this confusion.

Rich

You'd think for the kind of jack they charge you for that repop stuff, they'd at least include some kind of crude diagram explaining what stuff was.

Yet another reason why I don't buy repop stuff.

Mighty big sending wire!!! No the sending wire went thru another hole.

olblu49,

Mine had a big fat grommet in it with a small hole (1/8 inch) I can imagine only a wire would fit through. There was nothing in there but the grommet when I got it, but the 47 to 54 assembly manual shows the sending wire going down through a hole in the cab floor a few inches forward and several inches to the left of the hole directly under the tank.

Rich

just get a 12mm. nipple to hook your fule line to if thats the tread size they got to make them

I was looking at something totally off-topic on a different forum today (Jeep) and came across a thread about air compressors that apparently had the same issue: a 12MM x 1.5 pitch thread instead of NPT. I also found a thread relevant to an oil pressure gauge with again the same problem. All items have one thing in common apparently: foreign manufacture. One of the threads did have a source though to adapt it:

http://www.isspro.com/proddetail.php?prod=R7962

I am sure it could be found cheaper elsewhere but this mismatch thread issue is obviously not just applicable to our Stovebolt repop parts.

That is cool! How did you ever find that?