40 years in the making...

[GoldHawg]

Work on the stainless steel gas tank continues. Finished welding in the one end, as well as the gas filler neck. I used both aluminum angle underneath, and copper plates on top to draw out heat and trap the argon gas as I'm not purging the backside. You can also see that I welded in stitches to reduce the heat on a given area. I need to head to the metal store tomorrow to get some more 16ga SS to finish the end cap.

[sfdaugherty]

Looks great Jeff

Shannon

[GoldHawg]

I'm declaring victory on the main part of the tank; I didn't get rid of the warping, but I moved the metal to get a tack at each spot, and then welded it in. The slight warping on the top shouldn't have any effect on the operation. I still have the vent system to install, but that will be easy (famous last words).

[C.Costine]

They key to warp free welding is watching Youtube videos. Weld one minute, watch a video. Weld one minute watch a video......

[GoldHawg]

Finally got the vent system in place. I'm going to use the IIMuch vent system, along with a sealed 70 gas cap to hopefully prevent any fuel smell. I think with the Tee'd system on venting, I shouldn't have to use the small vent tube on the filler neck, but if I find I need that too, I have a small piece of SS fuel line I could use to connect it also. I plan on mounting the bracket I made as tight as possible and still allow me to get it in.

[GoldHawg]

I think I like these nut inserts (Astro Pneumatic Tool 1442 13" Hand Rivet Nut kit). I made a little SS bracket and got it mounted. Only issue is the base that screws on the the IIMuch cylinder rubs a bit on the wheel well and its hard to tighten. I think I'll just dimple it a bit. I should be able to get a short PTFE hose w/AN connector to go to the remaining T on the vent. This location is slightly higher than the gas fill neck.

[GoldHawg]

Now need to figure out straps for this tank, since the originals don't fit. I wanted to have something like Mike Young's gas tank bracket, but I decided to just weld an attachment on. I'm only using 1/8 steel, but I doubled it on the critical curve. Think it should be plenty strong. I just tacked it in place since I don't like welding down below; once done I'm going to go over every weld on the frame and flip over so I can weld horizontal. I also welded a nut on the top side so a socket can easily remove.

[GoldHawg]

I wanted the battery in the trunk to clean up the engine bay, so I went with the biggest braille I could get (the 17 lb version) that has 475 CCA. I made an aluminum box which fits down in the hole, and used the nut-serts to attach. My marking of the holes didn't evenly get it; I'll have to go back and enlarge each hole thru the aluminum bracket but I like the way it fits. I had to buy a hand operated nut insert tool and it worked well. I also had to pound in a dimpled part of the inner sheetmetal to get this to fit flush on the inside of the panel. I think I like it.

[GoldHawg]

Well, I wasn't really that happy with my gas tank. the initial design was 6" X 18" X 24"; that would allow me to have the tank be 24" X 48" except for the sides. That's really convenient since I can occasionally get that size in the remnant section of my local steel supplier (Alro Steel). However, to clear the vent lines I had to put some spacers to move the tank even lower, and then the end stuck down below the rear leafs--too visible in my mind. I started playing with a making it not rectangular, and then I found out that I could actually greatly increase the volume of the tank by changing the design. In the extreme, if I made it 12" X12" X 24", I could get 15 gallons! Hmmm...this one is not going to be the final design.

[GoldHawg]

So I settled on a deeper area under the car (7.25") with only 4" at the back near the bumper to try and get the slope roughly equal with the rear leaf spring. And since I had some pretty good warping on the fuel bucket ring on the first one, I just had the tig expert, Crummy Welding, do the magic (but I did loan him my copper chill bars). Part of it also was changing the vent lines to use SS fuel line welded that could have a AN fitting connect to. I kept this under 1", which is what the stock spacers are. And I'm very happy with the result. This design also gets me to 13 gallons; with E85 I'll need the extra capacity.

PS, if you're interested in the rectangular version I was originally going with, PM me and we can probably work something out. And you can see Roy Crumrine in action on the tank here:
https://www.instagram.com/crummywelding/

[GoldHawg]

Got straps for the tank fabbed up. May want to weld an "L" shape in the two 90 deg bolt locations to keep tight, but then I'll powdercoat and get a thin rubber strip to go between the tank and the straps.

[S Allen]

Looking good. Nice work.

S

[GoldHawg]

Added the "L" corners into the straps for add'l stability, and also welded a bracket for the remote starter. It's going to be a bit of a pain to install/take off (easiest to do w/o the battery in the box), but don't think I'll have to do that often and I wanted it out of the way. I'm trying to use that wheel well spot that really can't do much else.

[GoldHawg]

Hmmm...wonder what I can do with this as a start?

[GoldHawg]

Today was a nice sunny day here in Ohio, so a chance to be outside and fill both the gas tanks I've made with water, and then pressurize to make sure no leaks. Since gas is thinner than water, needed to put a bit of pressure to it to make sure no leaks. My rectangular tank was totally fine, but the one I'm going with I have a bit of leak in the AN connection, but I can work with that to make sure I get that leak free in the future. Since the tank itself didn't leak I'm good to go on the tank itself. If someone is interested in the rectangular tank, I'm willing to sell/trade it since I now verified it doesn't leak. PM if interested.