Aux fuel tanks keep them or no?

[MAC71Cheyenne]

So my '71 has/had the two tanks. The 3 way valve was shot but its still available, lines were junk vinyl make do. I dropped them today to make sure the tanks themselves were solid and worth cleaning up. Fill necks and caps are good. There is nothing on the spid so I'm thinking maybe dealer installed?
The original owner bought this thing to haul a trailer but the second owner removed the fill doors from both sides of the box and pop riveted sheet over the bedside opening, not doing a great job. If anyone has aux bedside tanks...yah think it is worth the trouble to reinstall the tanks and find replacement fill doors that are "correct" and don't look like Lurch's body shop installed doggie doors? Maybe late '70s early '80s door assemblies! The tank neck fill is straight up 4 inch with the cap screwed on, wouldn't need the door and fill guts..just the doors. I dont really care about last chance for gas but the screwed up bed sides are making me crazy(er). Both mounts and door were just back of the cab. Thoughts and opinions guys?

[Getter-Done]

There are these type doors in link below for sale here.

Link: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ght=tank+doors













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[best view]

That’s all aftermarket system ,I would not bother gas stations are everywhere unless you drive long distance and pull a trailer

[jocko]

All aux tank setups are non-factory except for the NL2 option that only has a single filler neck with the on the upper part of the bed, somewhat aligned with the cab filler neck cap (pic 1)
Aux tanks are nice to have if you do any amount of distance driving. Personally, I prefer the aux tanks that have the filler necks inside the wheel well that do not require a door or bed cutting (barely visible in front of the left rear tire in pic 2)

I like the idea I think you're describing - it's one of those nice custom touches that look like they coulda/shoulda been factory and, at the very least, look much better than the aluminum flapper doors (pic3). You just have to go scrounge around a junkyard and find a door that looks good and chop out a donor section. I've seen them done with round doors also. I think I prefer the rectangle ones as they seem more in sync with the bed lines and they kinda put a modern spin on the aluminum rectangle doors. If I'm reading your post correctly, your current tanks are good but a prev owner just kinda hacked the bodywork when he hid the door openings - so this might actually be a great option for you to restore tank function and fix the bodywork of the po.

Having said that, the aluminum doors are definitely period correct and are the type of doors used on almost all dealer-installed or aftermarket aux tank setups.

[MAC71Cheyenne]

Jacko I like the square door like in your third pic. I could make that work with just the doors. The filler on these tanks would put them in a clear spot to full without issues. That looks to be the simplest answer without changing the fill to the back in the wheel well. Would also avoid the frozen winter mess. Its going to have to warm up past our current 12 degrees a bit before I do anything.
I don't have any long trips planned but the wife has designs on a small Shasta camper for short fishing get a ways.

[truckster]

As far as vinyl lines, unless it's rated for gasoline, I wouldn't do that.

If your auxiliary tanks are relatively rust-free, I can't see any reason not to use them. If you want to update the exterior, you might as well update the function and use the solenoids from the square body trucks for fuel switching.

[MAC71Cheyenne]

Hadn't thought about the solenoid switching but great idea. Had them on my '77 n '79.
The lines look more like air line for a small compressor, nothing would surprise me at this point. Had the same ones hooked up to a goofy oogha horn.
I've replaced all the other fuel lines with actual Gates rubber lines and will use it when I tackle refit. No rust or junk in the tanks. They will get a good cleanup inside and out before going online.

[jocko]

Radiator shops can do a great job at cleaning out the inside of these tanks (if they'll do it) before you pour the goopy coating on the inside. The DIY tank cleanout kits work pretty well also. I used one of those for an old tractor fuel tank once and it left a nice transparent/blue film throughout the inside of the tank, which made it easy to confirm where it was coated (or not).

[Stocker]

It depends on how you are planning on using the truck. Easiest thing would probably be to have just the one tank.
I bought my truck with twin Travel Tanks installed and I like being able to carry extra fuel, even if I don't go on long trips.

Side note, decades ago I drove it cross-country and can remember putting in just over 50 gallons at a time.

[Steeveedee]

Before I got this truck, my FiL put the plastic covers on. It originally had the metal doors. No telling why he did it. I'd like to find a set of metal doors and paint them to match, personally. But I'm in no hurry for that. The 4-way valve had been leaking, so he bypassed it many years ago. I had put fresh fuel in before finding that out, so I ended up taking 32 gallons of crappy gas to a toxic roundup. I had to drop the tanks to be sure to get all the guck out. I put in a new valve, and hooked up the driver's side tank, but haven't hooked up the passenger's side, yet.

The last time I went a distance with my truck, pulling a 26' travel trailer, I got 7 MPG, and made it 100 miles before switching tanks. It's better now, but I don't know how much. I don't think that I'd want to drive more than two hours at a stretch, now that I'm old, but I can stop anytime and refuel. Personally, I'd still say keep them. If you have to run some distance, and your destination has high prices, you could fill up before leaving and maybe dodge a high fuel price before the return trip.

[MAC71Cheyenne]

At the moment our gas prices are 15-25 cents less than everyone else in at least 150 mile radius...
I am going to reinstall them sometime soon. Just be nice I guess to have that extra, just in case.
Today has been a mess. Working on replacing the steering wheel on a tilt column and easy peasy turned into been cracked switch parts and replacing that whole mess, that now leads to a new post. Going to try 3 fingers in a glass to cool down first.

[dmjlambert]

I'm going to add tanks like that on each side when I get done with some of the higher priority projects. I like the idea of going hundreds of miles between fill-ups. I would like to add fuel senders and a switch to show the amount of fuel in each tank on the fuel gauge. I'm going to weld up the filler and just not use one, and run vent lines from the aux tanks to the in-cab tank. I'll gravity feed from the in-cab tank to each aux tank by using valves in the fuel lines. It may take me extra time to fill up, but that sounds fine to me.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

I'm going to add tanks like that on each side when I get done with some of the higher priority projects. I like the idea of going hundreds of miles between fill-ups. I would like to add fuel senders and a switch to show the amount of fuel in each tank on the fuel gauge. I'm going to weld up the filler and just not use one, and run vent lines from the aux tanks to the in-cab tank. I'll gravity feed from the in-cab tank to each aux tank by using valves in the fuel lines. It may take me extra time to fill up, but that sounds fine to me.

You know, welding the fillers shut sounds like a good idea. Getting the SMOG style filler hose at the gas stations into my saddle tanks isn't fun. But would the lines to the tanks allow fast enough flow that you wouldn't be blipping the pump handle, and waiting, repeatedly? The fittings on my saddle tanks use 1/4" hose. But if you are adding the tanks, you could put on more appropriately sized nipples.

[dmjlambert]

I imagine it will involve filling the cab tank, and open the valves to let the fuel go down into the saddle tanks and just wait maybe up to 5 minutes. Perhaps repeat that once if the tanks were all empty. I think it will take a little patience.