VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans So, just how did you install that Gas Tank?????

Well yesterday was another one of those days when you unwrap the package and it leaves you disappointed. I was installing a reproduction behind the seat gas tank in a stock 1950 1/2 ton pickup yesterday and ran into problems right from the start. The tank came from Classic Parts of America a earlier this fall. It looks real nice at first glance and next to the original tank it even looked quite original, till you started looking at some of the details.

The first thing that we noticed was the flange on the original one was flattened down in the areas where it sat in the saddle and where the straps went over the top, the flange on the repro wasn’t. now the last thing that you want to do is start bending a welded seam with out any way of leak checking it after it’s bent. The second thing that popped up was the fuel outlet at the bottom. The tank can only sit in the saddle in one way and it is strapped against the back cab braces with rubber bumpers so you really can’t rotate it forward or backward. The pipe nipple is resting against the back of the hole where it goes through the floor pan and it has to be filled out oval shaped for clearance.

But all that wasn’t the killer. When we went to install the fuel filler neck the filler spout and vent tubes were way off angle. There was about 20° misalignment of the filler stub and the vent was pointing toward the front rather than the side and was off by about 30°.
The two pieces of hose that they sent were way to short to make up for any misalignment and would look really bogus even if they were long enough.

So, with all of the tanks that have been replaced in these Advance Design trucks, 0my question is, is this just a bad tank or have any of you run into the same problems?????
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny-these are very common problems with new reproduction parts. If it were me I would be sending this unit back to Classic Parts of America for a full refund. You paid good money for something that has to be refabricated to work and then it still wouldn`t be satisfactory. Can`t you find an original that can be refurbished?

hoppy

The cheapo Chinese repop parts come back to haunt us once again.
There is a long line of guys that have the same problems you have with the ill fitting repop tank Denny.

Last guy we sold an original tank to.... gave up on trying to get the repop tank to fit.

Better to locate a nice used original one....
We have a pile of 'em here.

I cant understand why exact reproduction parts are hard to come by,you would think they would take a original and measure it and make it fit like it should.

The tank in question was bought by my friend, and I was installing it in his truck. Joe, I don’t think I could talk him into a used tank after the problems he’s had with his old tank. I run a good old tank in mine and now after seven or eight thousand miles all I get in the filters are a little red dust. I take care of that by changing the filters on a regular basis.

I’ve been told by a reliable source that has used them that the tanks made by Spectra Premium Tanks in Canada are really good, accurate reproductions and made to the original GM specs. The pictures that I’ve seen of them on Tanks-To-Pans.com look good, the flanges are folded down for the straps and the vent tube looks like it runs parallel to the fill tube as it should be. Problem he has now is trying to get Chevy Duty to take it back.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

You can mess with those cheap repop tanks if you want but nothin' beats a properly cleaned & coated original tank.

http://www.por15.com/US-STANDARD-TANK-SEALER/productinfo/TSG/

I used the POR 15 tank sealer and it works great. It takes a couple of days for proper curing, but it was well worth the effort.

Well we got the new fuel tank that Ken turned us on to made by Spectra Premium Industries Inc. http://www.spectrapremium.com/spectra.html and installed it today. I didn’t want to comment any more till we had a chance to look it over good and install it. And this one is certainly not a cheap repop off shore tank. It looks as good as the original tank and it fits just as good and I might add that one would be hard pressed to tell this tank from an original. And the best thing about a new tank is there is no rust to remove which means no thin spots to worry about in the future, no worry that the rubber or plastic or paint coating inside may come loose and clog up your system and you will have a tank that is Ni-terne coated inside and out just as the original ones were before the insides were eaten away after years of use. If the original tank lasted 60 years then the forum member that’s around in 2070 can report back on whether this one has stood the test of time.
The line up:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/119916599
All connected up:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/119916777
The original threaded outlet and the new, both 1/8” NPT and in this case not metric as in the first one made off shore. http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/119916657

Lesson learned, don’t buy your replacement tank unless the vendor can tell you where it’s coming from, and whether it has a standard NPT pipe fitting in the bottom. If it’s coming from off shore tell them they can keep it, if it’s coming out of Spectra Premium then you’re assured of getting a good product.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL