My 71 gmc suburban

[kev2809]

man that looks amazing!

[BAD1916]

Thank you!

[BAD1916]

A couple years back I was given a dual tank setup that a friend of my dads had on his 68 Suburban. I mocked it up a while back which required trimming of some crossmember and notching a spot on the frame. I had never tried it with the modified original tank that came with it. I have a little bit of figuring out to do but shouldn’t be too bad to dial in. Only downside is my hitch won’t work with this setup but I don’t haul much and with a 454 the extra fuel will be nice. Besides who doesn’t want $150 plus fill ups🤬

[BAD1916]

A few pics of it loosely installed

[BAD1916]

A little more progress today. Got the engine and trans testing where it should be. Hopefully start getting pulleys and such this coming week.

[CG]

Interesting how the dual tanks look to work. Do they get connected via a hose down low?
How do you determine how much gas you have?

I had a burb I parted years ago that had dual tanks, but they were separate like a dual tank set up with a truck would be. Had an extra filler right next to the stock one.

[BAD1916]

The tanks have a pipe at the bottom that will get connected with a short hose. From what the guy that gave it to me said is that due to the way it fills that it just uses the stock sending unit. Hopefully it works well.

[BAD1916]

Got a few more things buttoned up today. Torqued the torque converter nuts and engine mounts. Added a few more brackets to the engine and installed the sway bar. Luckily I noticed while doing this that the upper control arms were in the wrong side🤬. Better to find it now I guess so I got that corrected.

[BAD1916]

I have a question and hopefully someone will have an answer🤣 On my alternator bracket when I install it it wants to go behind the alternator instead of in front. Should there be spacers at the water pump and at the intake to get it in front of the alternator? The pulley lines up to the crank pulley just fine.

[kev2809]

that looks like it would be a pretty good size spacer..like an inch? if I remember right my old 305 had alt bracket spacers for the same reason

[BAD1916]

It will be a decent sized spacer. I just don’t remember from years back if there was one when I got it. It always lined up behind the alternator and that is how I was running it but then I noticed that every other big block I see the brackets in front and it does look better.

[BAD1916]

I haven’t updated this in a little while.over the last few weeks I was able to get most of the front together, got brakes roughly bled yesterday but I need an assistant to help me finish that off. Finished up my dual tank install today and topped off fluids and got her running today. Still need to route wiring properly and dial in timing. I also still need to figure out the issue with alternator pulley alignment and also my fuel gauge shows way past full even with the wire to sender disconnected. Anybody ever see that and have any advise?

[kev2809]

looks good! where did you get those alignment shims for the upper A arms? when I pulled mine off 1 side had 3 and the other none. I'm sure when I get it aligned waaay down the road that will change. will be nice to have a pack of them ready to put in or adjust

[BAD1916]

Thanks. The shims are what were on it when I took it apart. I tried to get close to what it had as a starting point for alignment.

[kev2809]

Originally Posted by BAD1916

Thanks. The shims are what were on it when I took it apart. I tried to get close to what it had as a starting point for alignment.

ya that's what I hear too. but no way mine would have that less lol. thanks for the info. I'll have to look into some aftermarket ones

[BAD1916]

I’m not sure if what I have is excessive or if that’s normal. Not too familiar with these trucks. I just went through your whole build thread last week over a few days and damn your Suburban looks bad ass all layed out😎

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work on your suburban. On the fuel gauge issue, have you checked to see if the printed circuit on the back of the cluster is still ok?

[BAD1916]

Thank you. The fuel gauge is working correctly now. Turns out I knocked the wire off the sending unit while I was installing it.

[BAD1916]

Got the truck buttoned up for the most part. I still need to install the bumper and get it aligned. I drove it to the gas station today to fill up the dual tank. Turns out it takes around 45 gallons to fill it up. The gauge reads full so hopefully it all functions well. This set up uses a second tank with a hose joint at the bottom so it uses the stock fuel gauge which is nice.I was able to install a T inline for venting purposes. The one side in the picture is connected now.

[kev2809]

45 gallons?? Jesus lol that's like $130 bucks around here

[BAD1916]

Damn California.It had 7 gallons in when I drove it to the gas station and it cost me around 190 for the 38 gallons to top it off

[kev2809]

Originally Posted by BAD1916

Damn California.It had 7 gallons in when I drove it to the gas station and it cost me around 190 for the 38 gallons to top it off

ouch were about 2.90 in my neck of the woods, and I still complain lol

[BigBird05]

With the price of gas today I would put some extra protection on the vent hose wear it touches that support rib.

[BigBird05]

About your alt bracket, I saw an original single arm bracket that went to the back side of the alt.

[BAD1916]

Originally Posted by kev2809

ouch were about 2.90 in my neck of the woods, and I still complain lol

$4.70 for premium here. Yep we complain a lot too