Technical Tapping a tank for a fuel pickup.

The car is my 64 Riviera. Has anyone ever tapped the tank to accept a fuel pickup tube? I bought a Tanks Inc "floatless sender", and my dumb ass didn't realize it didn't have a pickup tube. What am I dealing with to make this happen? Scared of cutting into the tank, it's been empty for a year now but still smells like gas. I don't care much for being a marshmellow over that thing. Thought about trying to put a hole through the plastic housing of the floatless sender to run a 3/8 tube down the side but it might be too tight a fit.

I bought a stainless steel "reproduction" fuel sender /pickup, and it's typical chineseum. Had to modify it to fit the tank. Instead of reading 0 to 90, it goes 0 to 77 or whatever it feels like. Looking for better options. Any thoughts or experiences?

 

You would have to drill a hole and weld, braze, or solder a threaded bung over the hole.

 

My first choice would be to get a better quality correct sender / pickup. If you want to add a pickup, I would think that it would be easier for you to get a Tanks pickup plate. You will need to cut a hole with a hole saw, but you won't need to weld anything. The other option would be to make a flanged pick up and screw it on. If you decide to weld on a bung, reinforce the area so it doesn't crack out latter.

 

I helped a friend weld his tank after there was gas in it. We hooked it up the exhaust on his daily and once we thought it was purged, we went to work.

 

Clean a spot. drill the right size hole, solder a piece of tubing in the hole using a big soldering iron.

 

If you can't, or don't want to weld, or if the mounting plate is other than steel, You can always use a bulkhead fitting, and use fuel proof viton washers to seal it to the plate (or top of the tank). You may have to drill the bulkhead straight through, so the tube can go all the way through it into the tank.

 

You can safely cut, weld, etc. on a used gas tank if you clean it well and purge the oxygen from it. I cut the tank out of a Model A cowl after cleaning it a few times with Simple Green and water, then purging the tank with MIG gas - as already mentioned some use vehicle exhaust instead.

I didn’t have any problems, however, I also poked a flame on the end of a broom handle into the tank before I cut just to be sure! Probably not necessary.

 

I've welded several gas tanks before. Just run a garden hose in it for a few minutes and empty it out. I don't recommend this to you, and then I flash the filler neck with a torch. Never even had a WOOF!

 

Thanks for the tips and info. I don't have access to a welder, but I do have a high temp soldering gun (I think 475F) and some silver solder. It would be enough to solder on a bung or something?

 

Check this out...



Sold by Classic Performance Products (CPP).

 

Along the lines of what "chopolds" has said this is the way I would go.

 

Maybe an RCI aluminum fuel cell with the 0-90 fuel sender. Get the dual sumped tank and run two 3/8" lines to a tee at the fuel pump with a 1/4" return. Your fuel issues will all be a thing of the past and that 401 will scream when you drop the hammer..

 

This looks interesting, i'm going to pursue this and see what I get.

I appreciate all the info everyone, thanks!