Home Brew Fuel Tank??

[CoreyPerez]

Although this isn't going to be placed in my Ram, I've considering making my own fuel tank and was wondering what thoughts that you guys (and gal's) may have about this. I've done a lot of welding, and its not a big deal for me, I'm also considering sending it out to a radiator/fuel tank shop to be lined incase there were some leaks that I didn't get!



My current thoughts are heavy duty bottom. Something like 1/4" (rock crawling offroad truck) a drain on the bottom as well as a side mounted or easly accessable fuel pump and strainer.



Well???



Thanks,



Corey

 

[Hummin Cummins]

mmmmmmmmmmmm... ..... home brew





seriously, i built one for my gasser years ago, mounted in truck bed. 90 gal polished aluminum saddle tank cut in half with flat bottom welded on. Electric pump and spin on filter right outside the tank, not sure how would work on ctd tho.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You should use aluminized (aluminum coated) steel or aluminum. Bare steel will continue to rust and send particles into the fuel over the life of the tank. While 1/4" plate sounds good at our desks, the tank will surely be heavy. go to www.transferflow.com and you will see that their tanks get quite heavy even with 0. 075-0. 10" thick steel. Their 54 gallon replacement tank weighs 186 lb. , and the 38 gallon aft-axle tank is 124 lb.



I extended the factory skid plate to cover the leading edge of the 54 gallon tank, but other than that, I hope I'll be going slow enough that the 0. 1" steel of the tank is plenty.

 

[CoreyPerez]

As far as the fuel tank, I'm not planning on making the entire tank out of 1/4" steel, just the bottom, and I'm considering relocating it and or atleast making it a smaller because my blazer has a tendancy to slide off rocks and onto the fuel tank skid plate. I'd much rather have something HEAVY duty. As far as the fuel tank rusting, thats the reason I was considering having it lined with the plastic type liquid liner you can have done at a fuel tank repair shop. I've had a couple done when I lived in Michigan. With the Salt, you need to do that type of stuff sometime!



Corey

 

[Blakers]

I think you're on the right track Corey, especially with the coating. That stuff really works - I even had the oil pan on my 77 Bronco done inside and out because it became a seive.



I think 1/4" is a little heavy, even for the bottom. You'd be surprised at how strong 10 gauge or even 11 gauge steel sheet is, especially when bent and welded into something.



Blake

 

[CoreyPerez]

Ya, 1/4 may be a little on the extreme side. But, there is nothing like the sound of the truck sliding off a rock and SLAM! right on the gas tank! Man that sucks! I also was thinking about Diamond Plate. That would look pretty cool also!



I'm still in the thinking process of it all. I was just wondering what others had thought.



Corey



If any body is interested, here is my "K" site (K5 Blazer) that is!

Blazer Link

Lots of the cool pic's in the "photo album" link on the site.

 

[SS]

1/4" fuel tank bottom

I have an aftermarket steel fuel tank on my Jeep - maybe 0. 1 - 0. 125" thick. After some nasty rocks reduced the capacity from 20 gallons to around 16, I cut the bottom of the tank off and had a 1/4" plate TIG welded in place - no leaks. It can take a pretty severe hit (haven't dented it yet, but scraped a LOT of paint off from it). I would do it over again.



Don't, don't, don't weld on it after it has had fuel in it! Take it to a radiator shop and have it flushed - safety is worth the $20. You can leak check it with water and let it evaporate when you're done.



I have used sealer-in-a-can (U. S. Fuel Tank Sealer I think?) and I can't get the dang stuff off my driveway after several years, but it did peel in big chunks from select areas inside the fuel tank. Maybe prep work wasn't what it should have been (you know, getting the Jeep ready just before a trip).

 

[BV]

Fuel Tank

Another thought is to put all your holes (fill and tranfer line) in the top of the tank that way if a line breaks it will have to slosh out or siphon instead of just running out the bottom. 1/4" is to thick.

 

[stlowry]

I recently installed a home built tank in my truck. It sits in the bed so I used 12ga for the bottom and back and used 1/8" diamond plate for the top, rear and ends. The baffels are made of 12ga. also. I didn't coat the inside because the fuel is oiley enough to prevent rust and it flowes directly into a 30 micron filter before it reaches the selector valve.

 

[Plowboy]

I'd use 1/4", the weight isn't really that much 10 pounds a square foot? And with 1/4" you can tap some pipe threads into it. Make sure you weld a dounut around the plug. I'd get the outside coated with a box liner coating. Then you can get almost any color and thickness you want. It's also pretty durable, and will hide any bubble gum welds. (hey nobody's perfect )

 

[RJOL]

Man it's great to have a brother that's a professional welder... He made a custom 37 gal aluminum tank (no rust) that fits in the back of my truck and gravity feeds into the main tank... You can go a long ways on 70 gals of diesel...

 

[Plowboy]

LOL, homebrew, just thinking here, my cousin welded a couple beer kegs together for a tank on a chev crew cab.