Building a new fuel tank?

[Critter]

My current place of employment has a shop full of TIG welders and extremely talented people to run them (I am not one of those people). I have been kicking around the idea of having one of the welders help me build an aluminum fuel tank. I could cut all the pieces and tack them together then have one of the talented guys run all the beads. The reason I am thinking about doing this is A) because I am going to be running an LS motor and might want a low sump on the tank for an external fuel pump. And B) just for the heck of it.

I'm picturing something simple and square, with the dropped down pickup and return tube...like this.


My question is what sort of baffeling should I put in? Does anybody have any pics of the inside of a nice aluminum fuel tank/cell for comparison? Also the cell pictured above is made from 0.100" thick aluminum, I would probably use 1/8" because that's what is around the shop. I'm guessing that would be strong enough material for underneath a blazer, right? I'm not going to be rock crawling or anything, just street and light trail use. Should I coat the inside with anything? Any ideas and thoughts are appreciated.

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

Subscribed... Cause I want the info as well lol cept in a Larger Scale and as an auxiliary tank on my flatbed

[BLUE THUNDER]

Critter!!!!!!!!!!! Let's get together soon and work on the Blazers.

[Jtrux]

So is it done yet?

[Critter]

Originally Posted by BLUE THUNDER

Critter!!!!!!!!!!! Let's get together soon and work on the Blazers.

Sounds good, I really need to lift the tub off the frame and I'm sure the more hands the better.

Originally Posted by Jtrux

So is it done yet?

I hate you, is there anyway I can block you from posting on my threads???

I do have another problem, one of the guys at work reminded me of something I have heard before but didn't pay much attention to. Aluminum and Ethanol don't mix. I can't really get a strait answer as to whether or not the 90/10% mix at the pump will harm raw aluminum. Apparently E85 definitely will. Anybody have any first hand experience with this issue? Maybe I can coat the inside of the tank with something???

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

oooooooooooooooooo thats a GOOD QUESTION!!!!!

[Critter]

Trying to do more research on the ethanol issue. Looks like its not so much the ethanol/alcohol that's the issue, its the amount of H2O that the ethanol attracts into the tank. When it mixes with the ethanol it reacts in a way that eats the aluminum when left alone for long periods of time. So it's an ethanol/water/aluminum mix that is bad! Once again, it looks like E10 wouldn't be a problem especially if the fuel is turned over quite a bit (aka the truck is driven and the fuel doesn't have a chance to sit and break down). I'm gonna talk to my boss about it, he is a genius when it comes to building things out of aluminum.

[coyote72]

I will have to dig thru my pics. I built a tank for my Nova out of 1/8" alum. and baffled the inside. Another thing to consider is putting a bladder inside the tank, I had looked into that but its been a while. I will post those pics up soon.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by Critter

My current place of employment has a shop full of TIG welders and extremely talented people to run them (I am not one of those people). I have been kicking around the idea of having one of the welders help me build an aluminum fuel tank. I could cut all the pieces and tack them together then have one of the talented guys run all the beads. The reason I am thinking about doing this is A) because I am going to be running an LS motor and might want a low sump on the tank for an external fuel pump. And B) just for the heck of it.

I'm picturing something simple and square, with the dropped down pickup and return tube...like this.


My question is what sort of baffeling should I put in? Does anybody have any pics of the inside of a nice aluminum fuel tank/cell for comparison? Also the cell pictured above is made from 0.100" thick aluminum, I would probably use 1/8" because that's what is around the shop. I'm guessing that would be strong enough material for underneath a blazer, right? I'm not going to be rock crawling or anything, just street and light trail use. Should I coat the inside with anything? Any ideas and thoughts are appreciated.

Critter, I've been working up a plan to do the exact same thing.

I've already swapped the LS, and currently use an external pump with the stock tank and it works flawlessly.
However what I really want is an internal pump for noise and longevity purposes, but I also want a larger capacity tank, something in the 35 gallon range.

So I can solve 2 issues at once with a custom tank. I haven't seen anything off the shelf as of yet that will do what I'm wanting to do.

[Critter]

Same here. We are thinking the same thing except I don't have a stock tank at the moment. So I would either have to get a stock tank and do what you are doing, or build one like I want. I would be happy with something in the 25 gallon range but either way I would like to put an internal pump in it.

[Critter]

I'm thinking something like this, or maybe this will be enough to ensure I don't have problems. Both of them specifically say they work on all metals (I'm sure that would include aluminum) and protect against ethanol. I'm assuming most of the tank sealers out on the market will work so I'm going to proceed with the tank build and plan on sealing it with one of these.

Now I just need to decide what aftermarket in-tank pump to use.

[Firebirdjones]

I was planning to use a sealer inside as well Critter. I've used stuff for old gas tanks that worked great to protect against scale and rust issues that I bought from Eastwood. Don't see why that wouldn't work for aluminum too.

[mcmlxix]

A Walbro pump is the usual upgrade for intank pumps in the factory locations.

I was thining about the later EFI Suburban tank, but the 40 gallon is just too big and the 30 gallon requires moving crossmembers....

Check out my buld thread for a tank I was designing for my Chevelle... here

Here is a surge tank that you could install into a custom tank.... here



This website also has parts you can use to build your own surge tank.... like check valves

[Critter]

Ok, I need to do a little research I guess. What exactly does a surge tank do? Does it take the place of baffles and uses 1-way ports??? I'm checking out your links as well.