Factory auxiliary fuel tanks ? Surely not................

[Orange Crate]

Nice work there. Do you have any pictures/dimensions of the nuts for the bottom of the carriage bolts? I am getting ready to re-install my NL2 on my 72. The hardware was rusted beyond repair. I remade the carriage bolts from 1/2 stainless rod. I used a torch to form the heads and then ran those on my mill with a dividing head to make the square section. I would like to remake the nuts out of stainless also but need at least a picture to get started.

[PbFut]

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...&highlight=NL2
Really nice job on those carriage bolts.
Here is some other info in this thread.

[Orange Crate]

I did find a few pictures of the special nuts. Sometimes you need to spend three hours searching and not just two.....I need to source some stainless bar now. I am lucky that there is a store that deals in scrap metal close by, but they aren't open on Mondays....I think I'll try a different approach to the square drive. If I remember correctly that is where mine failed when trying to remove the old ones, the drive rounded out and they had to be ground off.

[PbFut]

The amount of rust in the mounting hardware tubes of my factory saddle tank was excessive. It rendered the long carriage bolts and factory flange keepers useless. At the time, another member found a machine shop to reproduce. They were very good quality but a bit spendy for my wallet. I ended up finding some 6"long carriage bolts and used some althread with a connector for correct length. Welded the connector and ground down for good clearance in the tank tube. I used the same althead connector and welded a grinding wheel keeper washer to it. Leaving enough room I used a bolt and nut to lock onto the assembly to rotate on the carriage bolt shaft to get a good tight fit. Then backed off the nut and removed the bolt. I marked the positions to verify nothing backed off. First photo is of the mount I made. The second is of the repaired bed rail. If you look past the bed rail you will see the two added mounts in the bed for aftermarket tank and the filler neck cover. It duplicates the factory look on the passenger side. The factory tank uses 3 mounts. The aftermarket tank given to me has only two mounting tubes but is every bit as solid and the factory 3 set up. Everything has been in place since spring 22. Last month I had a patch on the tank given to me start to drip. I was able to use the bolt and nut to lock down on the home made keepers and remove with no issue. I wondered if I would be able to do so or need to remove like I did the first time by grinding the carriage heads off but all was good. I had the tank out in about 20 minutes. Epoxy repaired and back in the next morning.

[Orange Crate]

Thanks, nice to have the option of all that fuel. You will need another tank and relief tube for "recycled coffee"! My SPID has NL2 but my new bed sides are not cut for the opening. I spent ALOT of money for them and I'm not too sure I want to cut a hole in them just yet. I was looking for a way to add the filler neck in the wheel well. Maybe someone has pictures of those filler necks?

[PbFut]

Understand the reluctance. I had a 71 c20 in the 90s. Great truck. I miss it. Anyways, it had 2 aftermarket saddles with wheel well fillers. They worked just fine but dirt contamination an issue at the gas pump. It would be very easy (assuming you prepped the tank for vapors) to chop off the oem or side filler necks and replace with a short basic filler neck. Cap and venting to your needs. If you weld the new neck, clean all the slag and smear a coating of jb weld to avoid any pin holes. You will like the convenience of the extra fuel.

[PbFut]

Oh as for cutting your fenders. A 3 inch hole saw from amazon.com was remarkably easy to use and perfect result for less than 15 bucks if I recall

[67RS/SSx2]

Originally Posted by Orange Crate

Nice work there. Do you have any pictures/dimensions of the nuts for the bottom of the carriage bolts? I am getting ready to re-install my NL2 on my 72. The hardware was rusted beyond repair. I remade the carriage bolts from 1/2 stainless rod. I used a torch to form the heads and then ran those on my mill with a dividing head to make the square section. I would like to remake the nuts out of stainless also but need at least a picture to get started.

These are some nuts I had a local machine shop make for me. They are copied from my original ones.

[Orange Crate]

Thanks for that. I ran across those in my search. I have a lathe a 20 ton press and welders, so I think I can come up with something. Here is their address:

Advanced Machining Solutions (https://www.amsokc.com/)
4703 Enterprise Dr
Oklahoma City, OK 73128
405-208-8737

[Orange Crate]

Here is what I came up with. I made the cups by forming stainless washers between two sockets and then hammering the edge to get a smooth transition back to flat. I think the nuts are too thick so I may spin them back up on the lathe and shave them down. Got a couple of drain holes in them too.