I am in the process of converting over to a 1/2" fuel line, and was wondering what the best method of plumbing off the tank was.. A welding buddy of mine said that he "would not touch a used fuel tank with a 10ft pole". :( Are there people out there that will weld on a tank? And should I have them weld on a 1/2" pickup straight to the bottom, or a sump? Or do they have a stock style 1/2" pickup available?
As always, thanks for the help. I would never have got this far without you guys! graemlins/waving.gif graemlins/thumbsup.gif

hey,
I changed to 1/2" line and ran into the same problem that you have.
I am a welder and I wouldnt touch a used tank either. Just not worth it.

I also wanted to hide my system so you couldnt see a sump or lines from the back, bec. everybody sees them and thinks "oh this guy thinks he has a real race car......" and you know where that leads too.

so, I took out my tank, removed the sender, drilled out the small return line big enough to accept a 1/2" copper 90* elbow with a flare on one side(put flare on outside of sender).

Then I used a pencil torch and solder to seal it all up.

Then cut and bent a piece of copper tubing to match the 3/8" fuel line and connected it to the elbow with a copper line splice and some solder.

Next I ran a piece of copper from the flared end of the elbow out to the front of the tank and put a 90* bend in it towards the passanger side of the car and left enough line to use a compression fitting to connect to the aluminum line that goes on to the engine.


I did it so I could run the 1/2" for the engine, and use the 3/8" stock line and a electric pump for the NO2. And its all hidden under the car, still using the original style sender and gas guage.

hope this helps, mark

I saw a welder from the local CAT. dealer weld on a fuel tank on a piece of eguipment. He ran a big hose from the exhaust of his truck to the filler neck of the fuel tank. He said something about the exahust fumes would keep it from igniting.

I had the long established local radiator shop boil out my '70 Malibu's original gas tank, drill six 1" holes in the bottom, and weld in a Competition Engineering sump.
No problem...I think they charged me $50 total.
You need to find a shop that's equipped to do the job correctly and SAFELY. :cool:

Bad Rat, exhaust running through the tank is exactly the way my dad taught me how to weld on gas tanks. In the early '70's I worked with him repairing trucks around construction sites - construction guys seem to have a talent for jamming things into their gas tanks.

Thomas

I did the same as Billscamino, Had a radiator shop weld in 2 - 1/2" fittings in the rear of my tank.

Just a note...I believe competition engineering offers different size oulet bungs on the bottom of the sumps, if not I would try to locate bigger bungs to weld in if you are planning to run high horsepower. I purchased the one that Summit offers and it has the 3/8" oulets. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I had the unit completely welded in. I replaced them with 1/2" outlets. It's a chore to drill out and reweld the bungs once you have the sump installed.

I just did this last weekend. I removed my stock pickup and sending unit. Drilled a 1/2"+ hole next to the original pickup and welded a piece of 1/2" stainless tubing that I had pre-bent to the cover. It was close enough to the existing support for the 3/8" line that I got a couple of tacks on that too. It is extremely strong.

I then sealed it from the top side with a small amount of JB weld since there isn't enough room to weld all the way around the new tube.

Lastly, I connected a piece of aluminum to the stainless line with a stainless compression fitting and flared the aluminum to connect to the -8AN flex to go over the axle to the hard line. It seems to have worked great but I haven't been to the strip yet.

Sorry - I didn't take any pictures.

Troy.