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Gas tank is in

Well,I wanted a new fuel tank,not a cell but a factory galv. tank that is readily available.After browsing different models it dawned on me that a 55'-57' Chevy tank has the inlet on the driver side which fills by the tail light.If that tank is rotated 180 the inlet faces the pass side in the vicinity of the Vega inlet pipe from the quarter panel.So I got a Spectra tank that has a built in fuel trough and in tank pump with round corners.



The inlet and outlet areas.

Also wanted the tank centered so that meant cutting the tire tub

Saving as much sheet metal as I can just went around the tub,trimmed at the bottom of the quarter panel and angle cut between the two.



Using some 16 gauge galv. put a 90 bend long way to make a shelf for the larger sheet to sit on

Cleaned the area put a little weld through primer on there and tacked in


Got a card board template going for the large sheet

Put a 1 inch drop bend at 45 deg to give strength and get the sheet down to the shelf sheet.traced and cut the sheet and tacked

With the floor sheet in,extra pieces at rear areas.A rod template for a moon like filler.



Welded all the way around the top of the main floor sheet.Set back another area with a small sheet to clear the sending unit and welded it up.


One final piece to cap the bottom of the cut tub




Welded all the way around and stitch welded to the left under the bracing to the inside quarter panel.Made a brace sheet with a 90 on it and welded it on top.since there is no reason to open this area any more will screw down some plywood to to the brace and around the edges ans cover with carpet.

Get that tank up and back as far as possible to clear the pan hard bar.


Good clearance on each side.Enough for mufflers?Dynomax VTs?Sure is


Purchased a set of 57' Chevy tank straps but had to trim the length and re drill them.Made slotted strap tabs

Fitted the straps,tacked and welded on the tabs


drilled and tapped the front tube and cut and re drilled the straps.


fits good


Turning to the filler piping.First cut out the rest of the old tank brackets for clearance

Picked up an arm full of pipe to get started

Cleaned up the original cap/filler pipe.Best bet is an adapter to bring down the pipe size on the tank.


Had to cut and shorten the Vega filler to raise some as to get as much slant as possible to the tank and to clear the exhaust.

A muffler shop carefully expanded the pipe to slip over the cut piece.This is thin stuff!

Galv. pipe,as well as gal. sheet,is soldered together from the factory so that's what I did also.When I used some aluminized,I ground that off,tinned and soldered it.

Actually welded the adapter to a curved pipe though and found the correct install angles and tacked it together.Then carefully soldered it to the tank inlet



Hey the inlet is that close now to the filler.Could not get by with a straight fuel hose no matter hoe hard I tried so this is a Gates 45 Deg.

Care full cutting,that's a $30 hose




Alright.

That is some awesome fab work!!!!

Not nearly the build jobs some of the folks here are doing but my goal is to retain as much stock metal as possible with nice upgrades.This is a viable tank for such projects with 16 Gal. with internal sump and larger pump with the return line feeding back into the internal sump.Now I have to figure out how to get a 90 ohm sender in and the 57' Chev 30 ohm sender replaced for the Vega gauge.Was happy when muffs will fit in like they do.

beautiful job vegabee. just curious, what kind of rubber hose was that (gates)? art

Hi Art.Been looking for fuel hose and found that O'Reillys has straight lengths in many sizes in stock.Then I ran across the gates 2" fuel hose on Amazon in 45 or 90 deg. bend.Put that Gates number in Amazon.Had to run a steel pipe a ways out of the tank past the exhaust pipe .The rubber strips on top of that tank give clearance for fuel lines and make it easy to just strap right up to the floor.I still have to get the lines facing to the front of the car since there is no room to face out the back.Then 3/8 steel line and 5/16 return and filter like factory.

vegabee. didnt know you could buy the ful line like that. i needed 1 4 inch piece for mine and paid $2 per inch at truck supply house. again, nice job on that project. art

I didn't know they made it either till it popped up on line,glad it did.All that fuel hose is expensive,2" at O'Reillys is $22-$23 per foot.The needed fuel resistant neoprene coating is in it.For straight galv. steel tubing that can be bent as fuel filler is the EMT electrical conduit.OEM tanks and pipe connections are soldered as radiators are to be corrosion free.

hey vegabee cant wait to see what you fab up next. keep up the good work art

Ran some wire 10GA fuel pump looks like factory used a vinyl cover for their tail wiring so only had clear at the store but should protect well any how

Using these speaker housings but read they needed a little help so used black duct tape to line them keeping water and dirt out and changing the sound a bit

Crimped on these plated stereo connectors correct size and fit very very tight

Drilled and installed rubber grommet ran wire and covered with loom cover.ran in corner of floor a taped down

Ran up clipped behind kick panel ...one done.

Sweet job on the tank conversion!

Thanks Fits in there well any one but you guys won't Know its for a '56' Chevy

Installed the pass side speaker both rears in

Typ H-bod putting something where it has never been but there nice and solid mounted now

Doing the front but have an idea to help that drainage out the bottom fenders I would like to try
These are headlights I purchased Looks like they make the sealed bulb with a number of diff bulbs inside even the super bright ones.this falls into the medium range won't be cranking to fast at night with Wisc deer out then

Also ordered this to try people seem to like it and we have been driving with auto headlights for a while on the new cars just used to it now
http://www.amazon.com/Directed-Electron ... ite+System
Got these plugs
http://www.ebay.com/itm/H6054-H6024-H4- ... vf&vxp=mtr
Will lay all this out with the old loom and add where needed and subtract where not but this should cover the headlghts.
Also ordered this alternator wire kit for the AD244 145 amp alt
http://madelectrical.com/catalog/cs-130.shtml
I have been searching for prob a day and a half getting a handle on how to wire in the up dates going in to the car this is some good basic recommendations here
http://www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/hot-rod-wiring.html
One thing is that most of the power needed is at the front of the car:Head lights,electric fan,ignition box,charge and alt sensor wire,even the power to the factory originates up front so a distribution terminal of some kind is needed.Although couldn't find one that I would like to use.browsing battery connectors and batteries at the local stores i came across these coated marine terminals for top post battery and also a Vega application combination top/side post battery.Thinking that maybe they could work together for cranking and relayed power supply.If I could make it work my idea is to use the side terminals for cranking the starter only and the top terminals for power distribution.

drilled the connector out to bolt on a studded buss bar

mounted 1" flat steel to connector with 7/16 bolt

drilled and tapped for 5/16 studs

shaped and mounted on

put covers on but could not get the whole thing in so trimmed a little will cover bolt head later maybe

what it looks like mounted



added some ring terminals for up to 8 gauge

also have a nice mount for grounds

should be able to power up these systems with relays originating from the dash and keep them charged with the charge and sensor wire connected there also.not 100% sure am going to use this so will assess it more

Interesting bus bar solution, but making it out of steel may not have been the best choice; it really should be brass or copper. You will find that it will corrode quickly. Dis-similar metals in the presence of acid fumes from the battery will grow "fur" in a hurry. Spray it with some kind of protectant and keep an eye on it.

I found this site in an "H-Body add" on the bottom of the pages here, probably followed somebodies product link, "Zeke?" maybe, any way they have a pile of cool/neat products, unfortunately not the one I was looking for, for you. I was thinking the factory style battery clamps that they use in the Diesel/dual battery set-ups or the aftermarket style either. I am sure if you look with a couple of different "Keywords" something will pop! Harry http://www.waytekwire.com/products/1424 ... ageSize=36 but there is this type from the car audio types http://www.autozone.com/batteries-start ... 88120_0_0/ there are a couple of different designs of this as well http://www.autozone.com/batteries-start ... 18280_0_0/

Don't remember where these came from but are an option for adding on circuits. Makes use of your dual terminal battery's side terminal. Can replace the stock side terminal bolt as well.