Project WAR WAG

[Outback]

I just ordered my fuel tank and tank straps. They should arrive sometime this week. Not sure if the tank has a sending unit or not. If not I will order one after my tank arrives. I will also order my 3 way selector switch as shown earlier in the thread.

On another subject I ended up wiring my welder power supply. The welder works great. I need to weld up the fuel door. Its coming along but as usual pretty slow.

 

[Outback]

The fuel tank arrived. That and the two strap halves. Not entire straps. So today its back to the junk yard to remove the same passenger side fuel tank and its straps I pulled the fill nozzle assembly from. The tank I dont need of course but the straps I do. I will also be looking for a metal skid plate. These are good for either side. No need to find a passenger side specific one. Other than that I need a sending unit which I will order new, a fuel tank selector switch and the correct fuel lines. I may remove the hard metal fuel lines off of the donor truck as well and just use new rubber lines where needed.

 

[Outback]

OK so today I went and picked up the same passenger side diesel tank I took the fuel nozzle from. I love the junk yard! $28 bucks later I had an unusable tank but also the much needed and very usable tank mounting brackets and the fuel tank sending unit. After getting the tank home I took the brackets off and cleaned them up. GOOD AS NEW. Then I removed the sending unit and inspected it. It looked pretty much newish so I used it. About an hour later I had her installed. Here are a few pics. Sorry that they are not the greatest quality but I ran out of light. I ran the fuel lines to where they all meet and will plumb them in next weekend if all goes well. Stay thirsty my friends





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[Outback]

I need some rubber fuel lines, hose clamps, and 2 way switch so I can use the same fuel gauge and a fuel tank manual selector valve. A skid plate will be sourced from the junk yard as well.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

got to love the junkyards

 

[Outback]

got to love the junkyards

Not everything at a junk yard is a good deal but for sure stuff like brackets, and other parts can be as good as the day they were made. My fuel tank brackets were just dirty. Once I cleaned them up they looked new. I even cleaned the tar paper that was on them and used those . If you think about it this is a great way to recycle. In fact my whole truck has been recycled. At some point I would like to go the whole Veggie Oil route to further my "Greeness" not to mention save some of my greenbacks on fuel costs.

 

[Outback]

So here are a few things needed to be done to the new tank. The tank has two halves that are welded together. This welding area has a rather wide flange. You need to pound this flange down on each side. Make sure the flange is pounded down towards the bottom of the tank. This will keep debris from being trapped. You really need to find a passenger side tank at a junk yard. You best bet is to get a Diesel tank if your running a diesel and a petrol tank if you run petrol. Just get everything in one shot. Fuel filler nozzle, brackets, tank and skid plate. You can most likely reuse the fuel sender that is in the tank. Real simple to remove. If they didnt punch a huge hole in the tank I would have just used that tank as well. BUT a new tank is a good idea as there is no build up of crud in her. A few hours of work and you will have doubled you fuel capacity. Now to see if I can mount a suburban tank in. I have a rear winch mount in place of my rear cross member to mount a winch. So I may need to move the suburban tank forward a few inches. But that is another project for later on.

 

[Outback]

Just ordered my 3 way fuel valve. Should be here this week. I hope to have her all plumed in by this weekend. Will be nice to have twice the fuel on board!

 

[Outback]

OK so I have changed up a few things after trying to figure out how to plumb in the new tank. I decided the absolute easiest and the most reliable way to do it is to use a 3 way valve as stated before. The one I received though has a plastic insert in it NOT the stainless steel as advertised. This is a piece that can fail. So I found another 3 way valve. These are Bronze with no plastic parts. Saturn Surplus has them for an excellent price of $12.50 each. Thats a bargain. OK After reading the very few posts on how to do it I found one thread on a forum from a pretty smart individual named BearKiller. This is what he does. He has 2-3way valves. One for the fuel going to the Engine and one for the unused fuel that needs to go back to the tank. I will plumb these to just inside between my door and bench seat. On the dash I will wire up a Mil Spec SPDT switch (On-Off-On) I can switch my main fuel gauge to the tank im on to see the fuel level. Pretty simple and pretty much the most reliable way to plumb the tanks and use the same gauge.

 

[stevo-mt]

Are you still running the mechanical fuel lift pump on the side of the engine, or did you swap it out to electric? When I bought my truck the previous owner had already made the swap and it seems to work pretty well. I ended using the exact same pump as transfer pump from the aux tank to the main tank, for an on board spare. Not as convenient as being able to select which tank directly that's for sure, but I mainly did it so I couldn't run myself out of fuel with the diesel air/coolant heater and just run the transfer pump when it's needed.

 

[Outback]

Stevo,
I am running the stock Mechanical pump. I will replace it with a new unit after I get everything plumbed in. I will purchase a second one and keep her as a spare along with the original. I like the ease of the electrical fuel pump to transfer but will stick with the tank selectors. I bit more complicated and harder to plumb up as I will need to drop my drivers side tank to mount the manual valves where I need them. Everything takes time. Last weekend was a complete bust as no parts arrived. Still nothing as of today. Hope to see some parts by Friday?????

 

[Outback]

Just called Saturn Surplus. The items were shipped Tuesday. Maybe by the end of the week.

 

[stevo-mt]

Did you ever order a 700R4? I've been on a search lately contemplating a good setup for having a four speed transmission vs the gear vendor overdrive setup. I've pretty well come to the conclusion that I would be able to use a 4L80e transmission with a stand alone computer out of a newer Chevy. I didn't like the thought of having a computer on board, but I've been weighing the ideas of having a gear vendors, 700R4, manual 4L80e, or an automatic 4L80e w/stand alone computer. The 4L80e has the benefit of being an updated TH400 w/overdrive so no need for a gear vendors. I would end up using a transfer case from the same vintage most likely but they have an even better low range than any stock setups. I think the NP 241 fit behind those. As far as the computer goes there are a dozen of them, but I was able to find one that used a normal transmission and just needed a throttle position sensor. I'm starting to lean that way. There were a million of those Chevy's out there so parts would be no issue, ever. I would probably still have to do a slip yoke eliminator or something too.

 

[sjxj]

Any updates on this beast? Did the Banks turbo ever get installed?

 

[jbrooks19]

Any updates?