NL2 Factory fuel cap hole location

[Hayseed4]

So I managed to score a NL2 fuel tank and filler neck for my 72 restoration, I got it all cleaned up, painted, wired and installed under the bed. The only thing I have left to do is to drill a hole in the bedside for the spout to come out of. Can someone who has one installed give me dimensions of the hole and exactly where it mounts in relationship to the top and front of the driver side bedside?

Any help is greatly appreciated. I will post some picks of the tank installed and how I did it a little later. I know this tank will be very valuable on those long summer road trips.

[Hayseed4]

Any help would be appreciated.

[HUSTLESTUFF]

I have that and don't have pics on my phone. I can get some next week. I want to make an aluminum one to replace the steel one for my truck. There is a simple cover that installs inside the bed that I don't see in your pile, I'll get dimensions for that as well. Mike

[Hayseed4]

Thanks. The donor truck in the junk yard didn't have that cover or the original switch. I got all of those parts for 60 bucks. I think I might have located the missing parts with a supplier in California. I bought the tank out west days before I had to have the truck on the road to move, so I didn't think to take measurements. Totally a life saver!

[57taskforce]

Those bolts and washers are hard as hell to find. My nl2 has all thread in place of the bolts. That's a real good score. I can get some measurements of the bed that was on my truck when I bought it. It's not an original nl2 bed however, Simone a long the way cut the home in the bed.

[Hayseed4]

Unfortunately the bolts an nuts on this were all rusted to the tank o ad to use a drill press to remove the remains of the bolts. I ended up taking half in 12in long carriage bolts and thread rod, beveling the ends, and welding them together, grinding it down and then ran my threading die over it. I made them longer than needed so I had plenty of space for attaching it. As for the nuts, I was able to save some of the washers on the bottom, drilled them out so I could put a 1in long nut through it, welded them together so that have lots of good purchase with the wrench when installing, and then cut most of the excess off after I had them installed. I also made to special washers on top to keep the carriage bolt from spinning. While it may not quite be "factory" it fulfills the same job and since original parts for that are rare at best I am satisfied. Working with my guys in a Fab shop has helped broaden my mind as to how to build things and make replacement parts. Hopefully this can help somebody else if they need to make these parts for their tank.

[Tdrcreyn4]

Hayseed4,

Here are the measurements that you requested. These pics are from my 1972 longhorn bed with an original NL2 auxiliary gas tank with the rubber removed. For reference I made the horizontal measurements from the position of a standard fleetside bed in the front. The Longhorn has an additional 6 inches on the front. The vertical measurements are measured to the flat of the top of the bed side using a level. All measurements were made to the edge of the hole on either side. Hope this helps.

Just in case you have trouble reading the numbers in the picture here they are:

Top of bedside to top edge of hole - 2 3/4 inches
Top of bedside to bottom edge of hole - 5 3/4 inches
Front seam of bed to left side of hole - 8 7/8 inches
Front seam of bed to right side of hole - 12 inches.

[HUSTLESTUFF]

I took a different approach by finding center of the 3" hole. It's 12 3/8 from front and 6 3/4 down. I put tape measure on front edge of bed and inside edge of bed rail.

[HUSTLESTUFF]

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[HUSTLESTUFF]

From top of bed

[HUSTLESTUFF]

Inside hole 2 5/8 diameter 13 1/4 inches from bottom of bed floor