1969 Patrol, Take 2: Action!

[faux40]

another project in the works: I finally got the metal for my custom gas tank. All the other parts, like fittings and such, are on the way as well!

I have wanted to build my own gas tank for years! Post lots of step-by-step pics! Thanks!

John

[yitzac1990]

I am hopefully going to start on this today.....this is what it should look like!

[jwgreen]

Looks like a cool setup, how many gallons will it hold?

[moore_rb]

That is so cool... You young guys with your CAD-drawings... very impressive.

Of course, not as impressive as us old-guys, who can fab up an entire vehicle, after sketching it out, and doing a couple math problems with a broken crayon on the back of a bar-coaster napkin....


Without spilling any of our beer, no less...

[yitzac1990]

Looks like a cool setup, how many gallons will it hold?

I believe when I did my calculations many moons ago, it came out to about 24 gallons. Much more than the current tank!

[yitzac1990]

As requested, here are some progress pictures....

First I finished bending and welded up the "extension" piece that will go in the front of the tank. Then leak tested it. then fixed some pinholes....leak test, fix holes, repeat....



First baffle welded in:



Test fit! My measurements were pretty good...its a very snug fit! Honestly I would have liked to make it about 1" smaller on horizontal dimensions, but this will do.



My level sensor hole came out perfect to where I made the new pass through in the Patrol's floor. Also marked my "clear" areas for adding the barbs



barbs added for Return, Vent, and Feed. notice I changed where I put my feed port from my CAD model. I decided I wanted everything accessible via the removable floor plates in the Patrol.



One view of the feed line before closing up the tank:



Another view after tank has been tacked back together:



This is how I tied the top of the baffles into the top piece of the tank....cut a slit where the baffles would be and welded from the outside of the tank.



This is where Im at right now. All welded up and started cleaning up the welds. I ran out of grinding discs at this point...more work later today!

[faux40]

That looks great! What is the metal?

-- John

[plateaucal]

Sweet! Is that stainless. What welding process and welding alloy did you use?

[moore_rb]

Snazzy....

[yitzac1990]

its all 16 gauge cold rolled mild steel. Using MIG on all this. I believe I am using ER70S-6 wire, .030". The barbs, fuel inlet, and level sender adapter are all stainless though. I think I do okay for never having taken a welding class