The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors So, just how did you install that Gas Tank?????

Well yesterday was another one of those days when you unwrap the package and it leaves you disappointed. I was installing a reproduction behind the seat gas tank in a stock 1950 1/2 ton pickup yesterday and ran into problems right from the start. The tank came from Classic Parts of America a earlier this fall. It looks real nice at first glance and next to the original tank it even looked quite original, till you started looking at some of the details.

The first thing that we noticed was the flange on the original one was flattened down in the areas where it sat in the saddle and where the straps went over the top, the flange on the repro wasn’t. now the last thing that you want to do is start bending a welded seam with out any way of leak checking it after it’s bent. The second thing that popped up was the fuel outlet at the bottom. The tank can only sit in the saddle in one way and it is strapped against the back cab braces with rubber bumpers so you really can’t rotate it forward or backward. The pipe nipple is resting against the back of the hole where it goes through the floor pan and it has to be filled out oval shaped for clearance.

But all that wasn’t the killer. When we went to install the fuel filler neck the filler spout and vent tubes were way off angle. There was about 20° misalignment of the filler stub and the vent was pointing toward the front rather than the side and was off by about 30°.
The two pieces of hose that they sent were way to short to make up for any misalignment and would look really bogus even if they were long enough.

So, with all of the tanks that have been replaced in these Advance Design trucks, my question is, did we just get a bad tank or have any of you run into the same sort of alignment problems?????
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Could it be for a different truck and they sent You the wrong one ? Mabe somone put it the wrong box or the part # is wrong.
Always something

Pete

Denny,
I got the same tank from Classic Parts and ran into the exact same problems. The filler tube angle is so far off that it split the gasket in the hole in the cab that it sticks through. Also, the tube is just barely long enough to get the gas cap on. It wasn't just you.

Thanks Pablo, I was begining to think it was me since no one else seems to have had a problem with them. The tank is my buddy's and I was just installing it for him. I think its past the 30days return so I think he's stuck with it. What a piece of crap, I wish I had known about the outfit Ken posted in another thread. Those tanks look right based on the picture, even the flanges are folded down on them where the straps go.
DG

Denny, yes that repo tank is f***ed up, I had to use a conduit bender to get mine close enough to make it work. OH YEA, MADE IN TAIWAN, great stuff! Oh, the pipe thread on the bottom was metric and I had to redo that to accomodate for the US application!! After a lot of frustration it is now just fine, a nice, new, clean tank from TAIWAN!!

Well that's two, I wonder just how many more are out there who aren't speeking up. Boy we sure should be letting people know about this.
Denny Graham

These tanks come that way. My suggestion is to send them back and make sure you get your shipping back for both ways. If they (any vendor) want to fight you on that ask them if they sent you a replacement if it would fit with no problems, Most of us know that many aftermarket parts need a bit of massaging to get them to fit properly we understand (to a point) but I do not believe that a fuel tank should ever need this. There is too much to loose with safety and liability.
Mike Taylor

Massaging a part to fit is one thing, reworking by cutting, welding or bending welded flanges or pipes is a entirely different situation.
And just how in the world you can dictate to a vendor about what he is or isn’t going to do to rectify the situation is beyond anything that I've ever been able to accomplish.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

That was my point. Along with returning the tank.

Mike Taylor

You can mess with those cheapo Chinese repop tanks if you want but...
Nothin' beats a properly cleaned & sealed original tank.
http://www.por15.com/US-STANDARD-TANK-SEALER/productinfo/TSG/

I had many of the same issues with the biggest issue being the metric thread at the bottom. They (CD) also sold me a US thread extention at the same time. Now how is that supposed to work?

I had the same problem when I got my new tank from American Classic. I cut the vent tube down and used a longer hose to connect it to the filler. I tried to bend it but it was going to require to much pressure. Don't recall a problem with metric. Got a new sending unit at the time also, still haven't got that thing working. Can the gauge on the dash burn out or ware out?
I will say I am having a lot of fun drive the truck around town now.

I guess I need to pull mine out of the box again and check it. ordered mine through LMC and though it looked good at first glance I never really put it side by side to the old one. Ill do today and let you know what theirs looks like although I am sure they are pretty much all the same. And like many, I have had it sitting for months now waiting its turn to be installed so it is past any return date even if it is bad.

Well we got the new fuel tank that Ken turned us on to. It's made by Spectra Premium Industries Inc. http://www.spectrapremium.com/spectra.html and we installed it today. I didn’t want to comment any more till we had a chance to look it over good and install it. And this one is certainly not a cheap repop off shore tank. It looks as good as the original tank and it fits just as good and I might add that one would be hard pressed to tell this tank from an original. And the best thing about a new tank is there is no rust to remove which means no thin spots to worry about in the future, no worry that the rubber or plastic or paint coating inside may come loose and clog up your system and you will have a tank that is Ni-terne coated inside and out just as the original ones were before the insides were eaten away after years of use. If the original tank lasted 60 years then the forum member that’s around in 2070 can report back on whether this one has stood the test of time.
The line up:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/119916599
All connected up:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/119916777
The original threaded outlet and the new, both 1/8” NPT and in this case not metric as in the first one made off shore. http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/119916657

Lesson learned, don’t buy your replacement tank unless the vendor can tell you where it’s coming from, and whether it has a standard NPT pipe fitting in the bottom. If it’s coming from off shore tell them they can keep it, if it’s coming out of Spectra Premium then you’re assured of getting a good product.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny,
How much was your tank through spectra? I visited their site and it was not easy to navigate and I did not see any prices.

Sent you back a pm.
DG

Denny My tank was the same way ,bought it from Classic parts also.I should of known better they were the cheapest that's what I get for not checking before buying.I sent it back and just cleaned up the old tank really well and used POR15 tank sealer .

OH crap! I will have to look at mine. But for me it is too late. Got it months ago from Classic Parts and I decided to paint it before testing the fit. Visually it looked OK other than my old tank looked a bit straighter, as far as the actual full lenght of the tank was concerned. And there was a bit of shipping damage.

Mine is for a 57 3100 but looks like a have problems. The tank kind of fits the floor OK but the filler necks are off quite a bit! They are pointing too far up and to far into the cab (forward) area.

And I see that the little bump from shipping that bent the edge of the pipe actually pushed the pipe base mounting area in at the top of the gas tank and out at the bottom of the filler neck So mine had more damage in shipping than I thought! crap. Should have regected it from UPS.

And to top that off if I cover the sender holes and the filler neck and pressurize the tank a bit there is a leak somewhere around the base of the filler tubes or in the seam of the tank around that area. I can not tell exactly but it leaks air so it will leak gas. That is why I was replacing the original one!

Well I guess I ate that $145 plus $28 shipping.!

I guess I could look into having someone try to bend it back into shape and try to weld the hole wherever that is.

Is that stupid or is it something that could be done?


EDIT: I found that there is a really small pinhole at the base of the big neck where it attaches to the tank. Is there a way to patch it? Like with JB-weld or something? I see they have a JB Water Weld that they say can be used for gas tanks, water and fuel cans, ruptured radiators, oil pans etc.

Also is three a good way to bend the pipes back into alighnment? They need to go down and toward the back of the cab about and inch or more in both directions.

Also how in the heck do you get the outside gas tank filler neck grommet on and be able to still put the filler neck up throught it?

I tried putting the grommet on and then put the filler up thru it from behind but there does not seem to be a way to do that. Hole is smaller than the filler neck. Also tried putting filler neck way up as far out of the hole as it would go and then put the grommet on but there is no room to manouver and get the grommet into the hole and fit around the inside of the hole. What is the correct way to do it?

I got one from LMC for a 58. It was the same as origional and installed wih no problem.
The modifications usually can be done by a good radiator repair shop, don't know the cost.They may be able to use the old filler neck. May be cheaper to buy another that fits.

Ok so I made a template using my old tank and marked the positions of the filler neck and the air breather pipe. Then I compared it to the new tank. It was like an inch too high and 1 1/2 inches too far forward toward the front of the truck.

I did that with the tanks out. Then I took a floor jack handle and stuck it down the filler neck and slowly applied pressure in the needed direction a few times. while doing this I also stuck a phillips head screw driver in the breather hole and bend that as needed to keep it aligned. I got the filler neck to be possitioned to behind the tank half seam again but I still needed it to go down more toward the floor. A few more slow bends and it lined up pretty perfectly.

Some of the paint around the neck chipped off (I had painted it with Tank Tone from Eastwood). But I did not see any damage resulting from bending it back. No tears.

As mentioned before there was a small pinhole at the bottom of the tank and it would leak air if I pressurzed with my mouth on the breather pipe and held the filler pipe closed with my hand and held my hand over the sending mount holes.

Well the really strange thing is now with it bent back to the correct location where everything lines up, the pin hole has stopped leaking!

I am not sure I understand that. It maybe got the metal close enough by bending it back that there is no longer a hole?

I pressurized it with my mouth again and held it for a 60 seconds and there was no hissing and when I released all the air came back out.


Well I guess to be safe I will take it to a radiator shop or somewhere and see if they can pressure test it and re-sweat it if needed.

I also tried seeing how it sits in the truck and everything lines up good. And with the pads under it it is pretty snug. Without the pads it teaters a bit as the tank is a bit bend over one of the pad areas causing it to teater. But with the pads it seems to be fine.

I guess I can use this tank. I just should get it pressure tested or something.

Another issue on the 55-59 gas tank I got. It too seems to maybe have metric threads on the location on top that you are suppose to install the sending unit. I think the 49-54 tanks had an issue with metric on the bottom plug mentione earlier in this thread.

I tried to install the sending unit (on top for 57) using the correct 10-32 1/2 pan head screws and the screws only went about 1 turn or so and then I had to use a slight bit of force to get the screws to continue threading. After removing the screw and trying again, as the original sending unit hit the tank lip and would not go down flush to the tank, I noticed the screw would jump down several threads acting like it was too small or stripped. All 5 screws are doing that as I screwed them all in together a bit at a time to get it seated.

I think this tanks sending unit holes may be M5 metric not 10-32 STD. I called the vender (classic Parts) and they are checking on it for me. But these 10-32 will not work as they appear to be too small a diameter for a secure fit.

Also I bought some M5 metric machine screws to test but they do not seem to fit either as the threads are probably a bit stripped in the tank now from trying to use the 10-32 screws!

I can tap it out I guess but I want to know what size they really are. I am starting to think they were made as M5. I compared M5 to 10-32 at the hardware store. The number of threads/inch is the same but the diameter is different I think. M5 seems slightly larger. As a result I think the thread pitch is flatter on M5. So slightly forcing the 10-32 probably messed up the screw and the threads in the tank.

I can take the new 10-32 screws and the old ones and both go into my old tank fine but both have issues trying to work in the new tank.

I for one am sick of waiting for parts to get here only to open a box of crap. I just got my front motor mount rubber tonight and it is so full of voids in the casting that I hate to put it on the truck. I will post the photos somewhere after I talk to the vendor. There order line is toll free the return line isn't.

I bought a tank years ago from Obselete Parts in Oklahoma City for my 55.2 and never had a problem.