Newer fuel tank in a 72?

[72LoBurb]

Hey guys/gals, has anyone transplanted a fuel tank from a newer 'burb ('90) into a 67-72?
I've already sacrificed my '90 'burb and plan to transplant the drivetrain (tbi 350/700) into my '72, but I'm on a budget, hence wanting to try fitting the '90's tank. I want to keep the injection and plan on going with the Painless harness and '90 computer.
I would go and start measuring everything up...but -15 Celcius is less than pleasant to work on a hobby/obsession vehicle, after working in the cold for 8 hrs a day.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[70rs/ss]

I think you will have a problem unless you use the entire drivetrain from the 90. I think Chevy went to the offset drive line in order to mount the fuel tank inside the frame rail. If you look at the rear end in the 90, the pumkin is set more to the passengers side so the tank fits. If you use the offset driveline you should be able to shoehorn it in. You may want to explore adapting the 72 tank as it fits and the tbi only uses a faily low psi pump, so you might be able to mount the tbi pump in the 72 tank and then save some headaches.

[Captkaos]

Burb has the tank in the rear. I know someone here has put a 73-87 Blazer/burb tank in their 67-72 though, I think it was yank

I did it to my 73: http://www.captkaoscustoms.com/blazertank.html

[70rs/ss]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

Burb has the tank in the rear. I know someone here has put a 73-87 Blazer/burb tank in their 67-72 though, I think it was yank

I did it to my 73: http://www.captkaoscustoms.com/blazertank.html

I guess I knew that, but for some reason I was putting info down about the truck?! DUH, yeah what he said With the 73 and up the filler goes on the passengers side, right?

[Captkaos]

73-78 burbs are on the drivers side, 78-up is on the passenger side.

[1976K5CHALET]

When i converted my 79 K5 to efi the old 31 gallon tank found new life in a 72 sub owned by a dear friend of mine. The 2nd gen k5 tank had to be fabbed in of course but it looks like it belongs there. I don't have any pics with me on my laptop but i think i have some at home. Email me at azblazer@bresnan.net and i'll give you my friends email addy so we can get you hooked up to the source directly. You might also consider running the complete 90 burb harness in the 72 (cheaper than a howell harness) as the first gen wiring left a little . to be desired. My friend did this on the same burb....gives you more fused electrical options in the fuse box for options with the use of a gm pigtail. My friend who haunts this board has been a parts man all his life until recently and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to gm stuff and factory wiring parts and pieces.

His burb actually ran for a bit with a crate BB and a Th475/NP205 combo until he decided to bring home a cummins complete with a banks kit from the bone yard in phx for cheap....he has aquired all the major parts and adapters to put her in but about 2 years back he had his first child like me sowe don't tend to make a whole lot of progress these days...lol.

Doug W.

[qksilver]

I can tell you about the swap I am in the middle of.A 72 body and a 68 frame with 87 engine and 93 drive train. I measured the tank off the 87 burb and it will fit between the rails of the 68 frame. The frames are very close in measurments.
The trick I figured out was that the way the later model tank mounted would require using the later model cross members. I drilled the rivets out and trimed a little 1/4 off of each, the cross member in front and behind the 87 tank, removed the 2 cross members on the 72, measured back from the axle, same distance that was on the 87, then drilled holes to fit the 87 cromembers to the 72 frame. The 87 gas tank I have has a skid plate, the tank straps and skid plate bolt dirrectly to the cross members I installed. The gas inlet was on the same side as the 72, and I was able to use all the fuel lines from the 87 and run them down the 72 frame. The 87 had connectors for the gas lines close to the trans cross member. The wheel base for the 87 was 1 1/2 inch longer, so I cut the fuel lines a little shorter at the connectors and reflared the line and then reconnected. I used the electric fuel pump and sender with cutting and adapting the fuel pump wiring harness.
Everything fit well and looked factory, some measuring, fitting and drilling and you will be fine and way ahead of usinh after market stuff( money wise and reliabilty)
The only thing that might be a concern, mine is a 40 gallon tank, is that it sits pretty low now but I am going to be using a 4 inch lift next month.
As far as installing a painless wiring, save some money and use the factory harness, it works well.
You might have to modify the gas gauge to work with the new sender, haven't gotten that far yet, use a tee at the oil pressure sender, screw the tee into the engine and then screw the later model sender switch on one side and one for the orginial truck on the other.
Then make sure you have all the grounds mounted properly for the computer and engine harness, otherwise you will be chasing problems for a while.
the rest of the harness, get a wiring diagram from the dealer, ask to photocopy it, and see what you can remove, then talk to somebody who can reprogram the computer.
Steve

[72LoBurb]

Thanks for all of the great replies.
I wish I would have kept the carcass of the '90 around, I didn't remove the harness or any crossmembers from it; needed the room, and the carcass had to go. I did keep the computer, engine, trans, fuel tank, and the rear seats(to try to retrofit later).
I can go to the wrecker(or to be politically correct, recycler) and scavenge one at a later date.

I may have to rethink using the tank as my '72 is pretty low(4.5fr/ 7.5rr static, airbags in the future,hopefully near future). I guess a whole lot of measuring and attempting to fabricate will be in my future.

[qksilver]

With your truck lowered you could throw sparks! with the later burb tank, I am not sure how long it would stay together though.
Sounds like you need to get up with fuel cell guy and get one custom made.
Steve

[Tobasko]

I've put a '76 blazer tank in my suburban. To fit it I had to remove the cross section that is located directly behind the tank. The filler is now located to the front of the car. But with a longer filler hose it is no problem.

[badpeanut]

The '73-up Blazers had two gas tank sizes--a 25gallon and a 31gallon. Would the 25gallon be an easier swap into a '67-'72 (and give more capacity than a '69-'72 Blazer tank)?

[skeeter288]

unless you're on a time schedule, WAIT UNTIL SPRING.

[72LoBurb]

I am waiting 'til spring to get going on the work part, but for now I'm trying to gather parts.
I may end up trying an inline pump with the stock '72 tank, or I may hold off the efi for this year. Between work and family, I don't get alot of garage time.
For the initial part of my garage time I will be dropping the 700r4 into the beast, working on getting my 99 chev seats in, getting my billet grill and new front bumper(have to order the bumper) on. Hopefully I'll be able to afford some new wheels for it,too.