Fuel tank ques.

[Shannon Thigpen]

Im wanting to move the gas tank from behind the seat. And try to mount one in between the frame rails. Has anyone had any luck in doing this? The area im wanting to put it is, between the frame rails and behind the rear axle. I would like to find a tank from a car with a rear filler tube and fab up a flip down tag, like they did on alot of cars in the 60s and 70s. Any ideas?

[FORDification]

Read this link...it'll show you how to mount a Mustang tank back there:

http://fordtruk.com/index24.html

[1971ford]

i dont see why not. as long as you can make special mounts for the underbed tank if needed.
i dont know if you could just get longer fuel line or what.

if you want it to look clean you'll have to patch the in-cab fillers hole of course too.

[1971ford]

Read this link...it'll show you how to mount a Mustang tank back there:

http://fordtruk.com/index24.html

wow that was cool

[Shannon Thigpen]

Thanks. That was just what I needed. But Im going with the flip down tag. The least amount of body work that I have to do the better. Ive got enuff on the cab.

[69timemachine]

I used to have a '72 Ford Gran Torino 2-door. I sold it about a month before I got my bump. Anyway, the '72 and '73 Torinos had the flip-down license plate for the fuel filler. With a little luck, you can probably find one on Ebay or at your local salvage yard. Hope that helps you.

For that matter, I'm curious as to whether or not a Torino tank would fit in a bump. I wish I knew what mine measured. On my truck, I think I'm going to get a friend of mine to build me a tank from scratch. He loves to play with his TIG, so might as well give him something to do.

[Shannon Thigpen]

I thought about that also, cuz my pops has a tig unit too. But I think building a frame would prob be easier. If you do build your owe let me know how it turns out. I might change my mind.

Oh yeah. Thanks for the info on the torino.

[69timemachine]

I got to looking at my truck and am wondering if having the filler behind the license plate would work on a bump. It looks like the license plate is quite a bit lower than where the top of the fuel tank would be. Sure would be cool if it would work. Keep me posted on developments!

I decided to build a mockup out of cardboard for my planned fuel tank just to see what it would look like. The dimensions I was thinking of using are roughly 20-3/4 x 22-1/2 x 8". I haven't done the math yet, but am guessing it would hold 13 to 15 gallons. That's about all the fuel a weekend cruiser needs to carry. Any more just slows you down. <LOL>

My tank would have the filler on top between the frame crossmembers and will have a fuel filler door mounted in the floor of the bed. The tank would be held in place by steel straps anchored to the crossmembers. Universal sending units for Fords are readily available from places like NAPA, JCWhitney, etc, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking of installing a sump on it too to eliminate fuel starvation. Here's a couple links to what I had in mind:

Sump: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku

Filler neck: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku

[Shannon Thigpen]

you might be right. I got to looking at my rear frame, and the way the tank would sit will be too high for a flip down tag. So back to the ole drawing board. I may go with the boat style filler neck, because Ive got to redo my whole bed or find me a better one. Which shouldnt be too hard. There alot of these trucks around here. I had thought about build a tank, but I dont want it to hang down too far. Plus I need a bigger tank than 12 or 13 gals. Mine is a daily driver. Let me know how yours turns out, I might steal me some ideas.

[69timemachine]

Will do. It may be a while before I tackle that part of the project though.

My plan was to just hang the tank under the crossmembers in their stock location. That would leave about a 4-inch gap between the top of the tank and the bed floor. Yes, it is a bit of a waste to have that gap, but I didn't really want to go to the trouble of relocating the rear crossmember. I also wanted to keep my frame somewhat original.

If you notice on my mockup picture, with the tank 8 inches deep, it doesn't hang below the axle tubes. I did that to use the axle as protection for the tank. Since you will need a larger tank, if you were to move your rear crossmember back, you could build a tank that would be roughly 3 inches wider, 3 inches taller, and maybe 6 inches longer than my mockup. Keep in mind that my truck has been lowered 3 inches too. If yours has not been lowered or you don't have any plans to lower it, then you could make the tank another 2 or 3 inches deeper and still be above the bottom of the axle tubes. Just guessing, I'd say that would make it closer to 18 to 22 gallons. I don't know how many gallons the Mustang tank holds, but if it's close to that, you'd probably be better off just installing one of those. It would be quite a bit of extra work to build a tank from scratch for roughly the same capacity as the Mustang tank.

Just some things to consider. Man, this is a lot to think about for a little metal box.

[Shannon Thigpen]

Yeah I know what you mean. Thats why I believe Im sticking with the stang tank. Now I just need to figure out the fill tube position. Ill keep everyone up to date with pics as I go.