outback fuel tank options...

[no1udknow]

Hey everyone, I did some searching and found a few suggestions for different tanks to mount up under the bed and I was wondering if any of you have done this if you wouldn't mind sharing your info.

please put

Manufacturer:

Specific year/model application: (truck, blazer, camaro etc.)

Your filler location:

Cost:

Ease of instal 1-5: (5 being very difficult)

How it looks 1-5: (5 being very clean)


Thanks in advance I appreciate any information and I hope this helps some others also.

[no1udknow]

anybody? (....crickets.....)

[KMC3420]

Most of the gas tanks on the LS swaps are under bed. The thread below shows what each person has ran. Might be helpful. I ordered a Boyd's tank for my 5.3 Swap, have yet to receive it but got in on the group buy form AZ pro performance. Travis was great to deal with.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=566743

[no1udknow]

OK, I looked through a ton of threads and it looks like there are about 2-3 viable solutions. The 87-90 jeep wrangler tank, although it looks too tall, the f##d falcon tank, which is nice but spendy, and the 73-87 blazer tank. I am leaning towards the blazer tank, because I'm cheap, but there are two options, a 25gal, and a 32 gal. Anyone have a suggestion on which one?

[no1udknow]

scratch that.... Actually I just found out that the chevy hot rod shop down the street from me has both blazer tanks, and 1st gen camaro tanks at a very low price because I don't pay for shipping..... hmmmm

[davepl]

I frankly don't get it. We've seen lawsuits for people being burned to death by rear-mount fuel tanks in everything from Crown Victorias to Pintos to, this month, the Grand Cherokee and other vehicles.

We've seen saddle tank locations blow up (sometimes on TV with a little help).

You know what we don't see? People burned by in-cab-mount tanks. I don't think I've heard of any survivable contemporary accounts either.

I literally forgot about it until writing this post, but when I was little we had a local (2 blocks away) kid burned to death in his Nova near my house after being rear-ended. They blamed it on rear lift shackles (as was the style at the time).

My original intent was to relocate it like most others feel intuitively needs to be done, but I ultimately decided that if the cab were deformed enough to rupture an in-tank installation I probably wasn't around to worry about it anyway.

Besides, all you're doing is moving the tank back into a -more- vulnerable location with a whole bunch of extra fuel lines. Granted it's now outside the cab, but like I said, if you were hit hard enough that the tank would have been deformed had it been there, you're likely not springing out anyway, so who's to say how much it'd help in a worst-case scenario?

Ultimately people should make their own decisions, of course, because they have to live and die by them. I just feel some shaky assumptions go into the calculus of moving the tank, including my own initial desire to do so.

[alsriv2]

Putting a tank in the rear is one of the things on my "list of to do's". I have seen many arguments for either direction, leave it alone, put it in back. I had a '67 GMC 3/4 ton many years ago and it had the in cab tank along with 2 saddle tanks, one on each side. I loved the way that truck felt and performed as well as the total distance I could travel without having to fill up.
Back to current discussion. Many seem to want to relocate to the rear for two maybe three main reasons. 1. Get rid of the smell of gas in and around the cab 2. Add some additional space behind the seat 3. add some weight to the rear of the truck for stability and such.
For me, if I was driving a daily driver, (like my previous '67) I wouldn't change a thing, but my current '69 is a nicer truck and with the 396BB in it, I will want the extra weight in the rear to help keep the tires planted.

[oldertruckfan]

personally, I love the saddle tank idea. I had an 84 K10 with saddles and absolutely loved it. time and money not included, its a great idea.

[michael bustamante]

ive heard of early mustang and 1st gen camaro tanks in the rear for behind the lic plate fill.

[motorcritter]

I'm going with a Camaro tank with a license tag fill setup for the '69 GMC C2500, TBI conversion. The '70 Chevy C10 is getting saddle tanks with wheel well fill necks. Not sure on what engine is going on it just yet. Might be a Benz diesel from a Sprinter van.

[no1udknow]

Davepl, I get what you are saying. But fuel tank and fuel cell tecnology has become a lot better since many of these were first made. I also think that if you look at the rear ended vehicles you described, they all had one thing in common, pinto, nova, crown vic, none of them have ladder style frames like a truck. the crown victoria had 2 frame rails, but lacked lateral braces, most of the structural integrity comes from the unibody, the nova and pinto have no frame to speak of in the rear as they are sub framed cars. If someone rear ends my truck, the impact is likely going directly into the ends of the frame rails and will shove the whole truck forward, the lateral braces on both the front and rear of the fuel tank should hinder buckling which is what would likely puncture it, and it is lowered, so unless I get hit by a bumper dragging sports car, I don't see much of a chance of anyone getting underneath it. I have thought over the rear end scenario many times before deciding on this, I also considered saddle tanks, but I remembered the old stories from the 80's chevy pickups being t-boned and becoming fireballs, which incited fuel cell technology available today. I feel safer with it under the bed...... I just won't let my wife drive ;-)

[englands 71]

in 1987 Glasgow Ky on 31-E south my x girl friends aunt , uncle and cousin all burned in her uncles orange and white long bed. They got T-boned in the left cab side , the tank ruptured and gas spilled on them while the truck was on its side . Anyway , they all three burned and died. Don't ask me for proof or some kind of article , the point is it happened.
I can get a good look at a T-bone my sticking my head up a bulls a$$ but I'd rather take the butchers word for it.

[57taskforce]

My dad used a late 80s diesel suburban tank in his K/20. I don't have pics of it on my phone right now but it mounts similar to the blazer tank and holds something in the neighborhood of 40 gallons if I remember correctly.

[t76turbo]

I just installed a Boyd's tank under bed in my 70 c10 short bed.

I would rather have done some fancy fab work and had a filler in the stake pocket in the top of the bed or side of the bed. But I ended up buying a gas filler door assembly for a 2012-2014 f250 ford truck. One of the aluminum gas doors mostly for decorative purposes. But it was large enough to easily get my large hands in and remove gas cap.

We were able to trim and dolly down the ridges in the metal floor of the bed to make it sit almost flush.

It wasn't bad to install. Just a little 3/8's hard fuel line run along the frame with some rubber on each end to join it with the factory hard line in the front as well as a 90degree barb fitting on the front of the Boyd's tank.

I also used the little mounting bracket from Boyd's. Basically a thick flat of steel with 3 mounting holes threaded in along with bolts and rubber sheets to go between tank and frame for isolation.

I bought the Boyd's tank with electronic pump provision just in case I ever go LS and need a in tank pump.


I just filled it up for the first time yesterday. Filling in the bed was just as easy as anything else. Just have to take a second to let the fuel drip out the nozzle and then carefully turn the nozzle over as you pull it over the bed side. No big deal.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by no1udknow

Hey everyone, I did some searching and found a few suggestions for different tanks to mount up under the bed and I was wondering if any of you have done this if you wouldn't mind sharing your info.

Early Classic Enterprises stainless steel tank. Fill is boat deck fuel fitting in the bed. Four bolts, one hole, three screws and it's in. I use Earls rollover valve and surge valve on the vent so it doesn't spill gas every time you hit the brakes.

[boraxman]

Current stock in cab tank. Have a Boyds under bed ready with a bed fill set up for the LS.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by davepl

I frankly don't get it. We've seen lawsuits for people being burned to death by rear-mount fuel tanks in everything from Crown Victorias to Pintos to, this month, the Grand Cherokee and other vehicles.

We've seen saddle tank locations blow up (sometimes on TV with a little help).

You know what we don't see? People burned by in-cab-mount tanks. I don't think I've heard of any survivable contemporary accounts either.

I literally forgot about it until writing this post, but when I was little we had a local (2 blocks away) kid burned to death in his Nova near my house after being rear-ended. They blamed it on rear lift shackles (as was the style at the time).

My original intent was to relocate it like most others feel intuitively needs to be done, but I ultimately decided that if the cab were deformed enough to rupture an in-tank installation I probably wasn't around to worry about it anyway.

Besides, all you're doing is moving the tank back into a -more- vulnerable location with a whole bunch of extra fuel lines. Granted it's now outside the cab, but like I said, if you were hit hard enough that the tank would have been deformed had it been there, you're likely not springing out anyway, so who's to say how much it'd help in a worst-case scenario?

Ultimately people should make their own decisions, of course, because they have to live and die by them. I just feel some shaky assumptions go into the calculus of moving the tank, including my own initial desire to do so.

Dave, of all of the cars you mention the only one with a full frame is the crown Vic. The Jeep Cherokee, Pinto and Nova are all unibody cars which fold up like a beer can on impact. I can't say if the in-cab tank is safer or more dangerous than a rear mount tank. Who knows? I sure don't, but the persistent smell of gas in the cab of my truck vanished when I moved that tank.

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Dave, of all of the cars you mention the only one with a full frame is the crown Vic. The Jeep Cherokee, Pinto and Nova are all unibody cars which fold up like a beer can on impact. I can't say if the in-cab tank is safer or more dangerous than a rear mount tank. Who knows? I sure don't, but the persistent smell of gas in the cab of my truck vanished when I moved that tank.

I'd like to move my tank too just to free up tool storage space but I'll bet the gas fumes in your cab were the result of poor or no venting. What year is your truck? *Tank venting was really a 1971 and 1972 thing.*

[H20cooled]

I put a 1969 Camaro EFI tank on my 68 LS swap C10, it works great and it was not hard to install. I love the behind the license fill up and looks like a stock setup when the bed and bumper was back on.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

I'd like to move my tank too just to free up tool storage space but I'll bet the gas fumes in your cab were the result of poor or no venting. What year is your truck? *Tank venting was really a 1971 and 1972 thing.*

Who cares why the cab smelled of gas? I don't because it can't any longer. No tank, no vent, no fill in there and now I have room to slide the seats back, put in speakers and still have room for a toolbox.

It's a win any way you slice it.