Well, I was humming along niclely with my AV8 project when I hit a wall. Pennsylvania Enhanced Inspection, to be exact. I'm trying to keep my build mostly traditional, and went down the Vern Tardel tank in the rumble well route, which the inspection station says will never fly. Sure I can build two firewalls and cut the original floor out of the car and seal it off, etc, etc...but that just seems wrong on so many levels. I could relocate my entire electrical setup and remove my 32 dash and column drop just to put the stock tank back in for a bit, but then I'd need a stock tank and that seems like alot of work too. Then I came across Dagel's site and thought about adding framerails to the back to hold a 32 tank under the car. A nice idea, that would probably pass inspection, but I'd still have to build framerails and buy a 32 tank. So what I'm looking for is idea's for an elegant solution to this issue. I was thinking a small tank that I could mount betwen the framerails somewhere, or something like that. Does anybody out there have an idea that might work? I need an external fill and it cannot be a hand fabricated tank. Moving had crossed my mind, but I'd consider that defeat, so try to suggest something other than that. Thanks!
What exactly did the inspector say they require? Only asking because I can't see any diffence with the rumble well mounted tank and a stock A one. If it's that it needs to be external fill, then put the cap on the outside with the filler pipe running to the tank. A tanks sit on top of your legs, single skin construction. Motorcycles have the tanks next to your balls!
I put the 32 tank on my 29 roadster before Dagel had his all I did was but a set of rear horns and added them to the back frame gusseted it and put the tank in and used a set of fiberglass frame covers and it worked great.Did it back in 90's
motorcycles may have a tank between your legs yes, but on a cycle your not trapped inside a vehicle, you are on it. ,so to me thats the difference you can get away from it fairly easy and quick. and I dont feel safe with the single wall original tank either the 32 tank out back is not a horrible comprimise, and it can be made to look like it belongs there, although on a fenderless ride , I agree they dont look that great. could you build a tank that would be the floor of the trunk/rumble area? or would they not pass that? they need to understaand that your really limited on space in these cars. although they probably dont care about limited space issues either.
Have you considered a custom tank (or two tanks; one on each side) mounted between the driveshaft and frame rails? I remember a thread on this subject a few years back and that was one HAMBer's solution.
Wait, Have you pointed out to this inspector the location of a stock Model "A" tank? I see no difference... How about another inspector? I know when I don't get the answer I want from the DMV here in Phoenix, I just pack it up and head to another DMV location. We don't have a state inspection, so I'm not sure how it works for you guys. I couldn't imagine my fate being determined by someone who knows lees about my car than me. I would do that long before I would hang an ugly assed deuce tank off the back of an "A". Always makes me nervous about rear hits with those. I don't even like stock tanks on deuces!
Take it to a different PA inspection station. The guy must have been smoking old socks before you came in.
I had a tank made that I mounted above the driveshaft just behind the cab on a 31 pickup. Works great for me. Butch
y dont you stick a pipe out from under the frame with a gas cap on it. weld the end so its sealed, throw a llittle bit of gas in there so it smells like its a gastank. and just throw somthing up under the car that looks like a tank. have the pipe look like its running to that. im sure there not gonna get under there with a light. so now you go to inspection and there not gonna pop the trunk. there gonna make sure it holds pressure or make sure the seal on the gas cap is sealed. then your good to go right? us NJ guys really know how to get around the mindless laws. there is really no other ways to function over here
Take an old pick up truck (with the tank behind the seat) to get inspected right along with yours. I don't see much different between the two.
Be nice to know more about your vehicle especially if you do have space under the floor roughly where the drive shaft runs. If you have parallel 4 bar rear there is an opportunity to put a gas tank under the floor. Any other kit of rear suspension usually prevents that option otherwise the saddle bags setup. Pic's always help folks get their heads around your problems better.
South Carolina dosen't have inspections anymore so I am not sure how other states work. Question is, the model A tank vents thru the cap, what do states with inspection say about that in case of a roll over? Upside down and gas will pour out, a very real fire danger.
Like Von Rigg Fink suggested make the rumble area floor the gas tank. My 70 Mustang had a shallow tank that bolted in and was the bottom of the trunk area. This is a way to satisfy the factory manufactured criteria and have a remote fill, just my 2 cents.
Gas tank in a C1 Corvette is right behind the drivers seat. It is covered with a fiberglass cover. The gas tank is a non vented type and there is a vent hose that exits the body in the same area with the gas cap under the gas tank lid on the side of the car. I can see some similarities and also some differences. If you were to model after that with some of the design differences, that would be an approach as well. Vented to outside. Fill from the outside It also has 3 big oval openings under it to the bottom of the car, I believe to add ventilation and not give any fu,Ed the chance to accumulate in a closed area or in the car.
send me an email and i,ll send you some pictures of an installation i did to put two gas tanks in side the frame rails of a model a . craig [email protected]
To answer some of the questions and give more information: My build is old school, all the way. No 4 link, no room under the car at all. Wishbones front and rear, closed driveshaft, original floor still intact in the car. I would be interested if someone did have a way to run parallel tanks, but there really isnt much room with the smithy's and pipes and bones and driveshaft back there. The PA answer to the "But the stock tank is in the dash and could drip gas on my foot" argument, along with the old pickup tank behind the seat, or the jeep tank under the seat or the volkswagon lift the bonnet to fill it is this; Those were federally approved vehicles and federal law preempts state law. Since I'm modifying the car to become a street rod, they want it to be safe, they don't care how Henry done it. The way I read the law (and I did actually read it) I would interpret it to say that if the car was originally equipped with a tank inside the passenger compartment then a tank inside the passenger compartment is ok)...because that IS what is says, but the people who can't read and understand English as well as I can (Harrisburg) interpret it to mean that the original unsafe tank is perfectly OK, but if I want to relocate it, then I have to put it somewhere outside of the passenger compartment and trunk. I agree that the 32 tank is a little ugly on a fenderless highboy, and putting the tank at the very back seems less safe to me than having it behind me in the cab, with 3 feet of sheetmetal and framing between it and the asshole rear ending me, rather than the first thing that gets hit. I like the idea of making the floor the tank, like a mustang. Does anybody know of a tank that will fit there between the A rails? The option I am leaning towards is something like the new vette actually. I think I may build a box out of 1" square tubing that encloses the rumble area where the T tank is currently. Then I'll seal it with a gasket on the bottom and bolt it down to make it the "new floor" and cut out as much as is necessary from underneath for venting. I don't know how much of the tank they need to see from the bottom, but 3 holes like the vette sounds good to me.
Since I have a real fear of being rear-ended by another car, my '29 Sedan will have the tank under the back seat area, visible from below. I will make a stout firewall inside the car, sealing it off from the interior. I may even double wall it. I realize doing it this way means removing the body from the frame to service the tank but really, how often does one service a cleaned out tank? An access door will be used to get to the sender. Anyway, my point is mount it where you want it down there, but wall it off from the interior.
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