fuel filler location - wheres yours?

[regan56]

doing some thinking on the gas tank for my 56 and in my opinion the one to choose is teh one that has the right filler location for your truck.

i'm inclined to go in the bed with my filler because i'm not experienced in metal fab, so teh idea of cutting open my fender to house the filler cap seems daunting to me.

where else could it go though really? Show me your filler cap locations and how you got it there...

[dsraven]

in the bed is nice and all. easy if you don't have fab skills. I havenever had one there because it would be a pain for me.
-you can't haul anything when you need gas
-you gotta jump in the bed to fill
-you may spill fuel on your nice finished bed boards

when thinking about the filler location think about fill and vent. to fill the tank it has to vent the same amount of air easily or it will burp on you or take forever to fill. the filler needs to be higher than the tank so it doesn't try to leak when you go up hills or around corners. the filler needs to be as straight a shot as possible down to the tank. don't forget to use a filler ground strap to handle the static charge.
there are filler cap/door assemblies available online that bolt to the fender if you wanted a weld free unit. try to keep the filler high on the fender if you do that, less chance of fill issues. look for a flat spot in the sheet metal. the other thing to do is use the same contour of hole as the cab has, like copy the hole from the cab, and then use the rubber and filler neck from the old set up. there is one on the forum somewhere that did that,can't remember who though.

[Speedbumpauto]

Here.

[capnduane]

Right where Chevrolet put it in 1955!

[Dan in Pasadena]

I'm about to cut the hole for my fill in my bed floor. I went with that because of the cost to have the body shop install a filler door in my fender and also because of the cost and hassle(frankly) to run a filler pipe over to the fender properly.

So I ordered the Mustang style tank made for our trucks from Tanks, Inc. But my problem is the tanks fills the space between the frame rails but their filler pipe is NOT in the center of their tank and so not in the center of my floor! It is slightly to the driver's side.

Now I'm going to have to fabricate a SLIGHT "S" shaped filler pipe to move it about 1-1/2" toward the middle of the bed. If I don't do this I have to cut one of the polished stainless bed strips and the filler door would be partially on top of that strip. It'll just look lame!

[idbeast]

I did the round one in the back of the fender, it was too cheep and flimsy (see last picture), so I went to the wrecking yard with one of the wire shape thingy's and found that an 89 ford windstar van has almost the same reverse radius the our rear fenders have, only requiring an 1/8" tweaking at the top and bottom! I personally have always been impressed when the fuel filler is not in the bed floor... but that is just my opinion....

[_Ogre]

i used a 90 chrysler new yorker gas door cuz it came with half a car i bought for the trunk lid
the door has a cable release inside the cab next to the driver's seat
it looked really good when the bed was up on saw horses while fabricating the bed
in hindsight it is way to low for a lowered truk, slow fill and hard to get at for a tall gimp

if i had a do over, i'd mount it in the top of the fender

[_Ogre]

if you are building a driver... avoid the bed
i've met many a truck enthusiast on hot rod power tour with in-bed filler that had to unload the bed to fuel
worst idea was the folding bed wood board, that guy had to unload everything from the bed, he hated it

if you are building a truck that will never leave the neighborhood the bed is fine

[regan56]

Great pics so far guys..keep em comin.

I won't be hauling stuff..maybe a cooler and lawn chairs but that's about it

[dsraven]

here is mine. 04 envoy parts but shaped to fit. just an idea of how I kept the filler higher than the tank as much as possible for ease of filling without the burp back. used the stock filler neck as well, just shortened. the door was pretty flat before I started but the door also easily comes off the hinged backer so it isn't that tough to reshape. the harder part is getting the surrounding metal frame, cut from the donor, to fit the fender shape.
still need to make a rock guard for the inside of the fender area.

[dsraven]

a couple more showing how I made sure the door clears the box rail when opening. leave enough room for your hand in the hole for access to the fill cap.

[Speedbumpauto]

As an add; Choice of tank filler location can make or break the ease of fill problem. Mine works well, but I chose a tank that filled from the side and angled sort of where I wanted to go. Door on top, no problem. Door on side needs a little thought. I built an old Ford some years ago without thinking it through and it was a pain in the butt to fill. Learned. Also, got my door kit from Hagan street rods. You might get some insight from their web site or others.

[vintovka]

Moved mine to rear of drivers side fender as shown. Nothing fancy as its a military type truck. Used a 25 gallon tank out of 84 k10 and modified the k10s filler as well. simple practical and works well. May add a stainless trim ring for S&G. Using the original K10 filler with the 1/2" breather tube works really well with no burps or splashs at any flow rate. Did have to notch the bottom of the bed to make clearance. Did drill a 1/16" hole in the non vented cap. Minor gas emmisions and no vacuum issues. Takes the fear out of fillups especially here in Oregon where attendants usually fill your tank.

Long Boring Warning: I'm an old retired engineer with more low level air sampling experience than i care to admit. According to "cab air" monitoring i've done please consider moving the tank out of the cab. It should have NEVER been there given what we know now about the toxicity of benzene and other gas constituents. Most can smell (gas) benzene at 1.5 to 4 PPM. Exposure limits are 1 PPM or lower based on Carcinogenicity. Even the most perfectly sealed tank and filler tubes won't stop it. Its why gas is a such a great and smelly solvent are it penetrates so well. (you don't want to know what your exposure is like at an average station visit - trust me you don't even with the new vapor recovery systems) In cab concentrations can go way up with heat and how well the cab is sealed. The oil and gas companies will never tell you any of this. Paranoia? nope. accurate results with lab calibrated instrumentation? yup. I just love all the extra cab space behind the seat.

[MiraclePieCo]

Bed mount is simple, no sheetmetal cutting.

[evilokc]

mines in the bed floor as well. I have a metal floor in mine though. if it were wood im not sure I would put it there.

[vintovka]

I do like the in bed mounts for simplicity and security. Would drive some of our OR attendants nuts. Curious, Does the tailgate get in the way or hamper filling the tank?

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by vintovka

I do like the in bed mounts for simplicity and security. Would drive some of our OR attendants nuts. Curious, Does the tailgate get in the way or hamper filling the tank?

I lower the tailgate to fill. Never been in the way.

If you're in Oregon, get a cardlock account. That way you can fill your own tank and not let some pump jockey spill fuel all over your bed.

[my56chevytruck]

well, it's not a great amount of "fab" work as it is just to run the filler hose. No biggie. I went to Harley Davidson and bought one of the screw in pop open caps and went for it. I like it since it's nearly flush with the fender. My tank is out of a suburban, 30+ gallons and an elbow gas filler from the tank itself. I failed to mention that these are paintable!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Bed mount is simple, no sheetmetal cutting.

MPC - Your pics have given me the idea of going to NAPA and searching for a radiator hose with a mild "S" shape in it I could use instead of fabricating one out of metal (See post #5).

Are any of these three trucks yours? All of them?

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by my56chevytruck

well, it's not a great amount of "fab" work as it is just to run the filler hose. No biggie. I went to Harley Davidson and bought one of the screw in pop open caps and went for it. I like it since it's nearly flush with the fender. My tank is out of a suburban, 30+ gallons and an elbow gas filler from the tank itself.

Gotta be one of the neatest ever seen!!!!

[G&R's57GMC]

Dan you need a fuel hose not a rad hose. Rad hose will melt over time.

The Fuel Hose has to be ethanol resistant. You can get it at NAPA.

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

i used a 90 chrysler new yorker gas door cuz it came with half a car i bought for the trunk lid
the door has a cable release inside the cab next to the driver's seat
it looked really good when the bed was up on saw horses while fabricating the bed
in hindsight it is way to low for a lowered truk, slow fill and hard to get at for a tall gimp

if i had a do over, i'd mount it in the top of the fender

Just wanted to add, what an awesome ride you have Ogre

[regan56]

Originally Posted by my56chevytruck

well, it's not a great amount of "fab" work as it is just to run the filler hose. No biggie. I went to Harley Davidson and bought one of the screw in pop open caps and went for it. I like it since it's nearly flush with the fender. My tank is out of a suburban, 30+ gallons and an elbow gas filler from the tank itself. I failed to mention that these are paintable!!

very cool..and simple

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by G&R's57GMC

Dan you need a fuel hose not a rad hose. Rad hose will melt over time.

The Fuel Hose has to be ethanol resistant. You can get it at NAPA.

Thanks Glen.

Yeah, I knew radiator hose wasn't truly fuel resistant but was thinking anything that is probably would be straight and not have the bends I'd need to avoid having to fab a metal mild "S". Chances are I will still have to, or have a muffler shop do it.