Thread: I couldn't build it for $3 K either!

Tweet

After the fiberglass body work, I was glad to get back to metal fab.

The gas tank was next up on the agenda. I tried to find a plastic fuel cell, but had no luck. All the race cells were either to big or too tiny. I even looked at under deck marine tanks. Same story.

Nothing left to do but make one. I looked into aluminum sheet, but it was pretty expensive. Since I already had a good size piece of 14 guage steel, I decided to use that.

The dimensions are 31" long, 6 1/2" tall and 15" wide at the bottom. The back side slopes in to 13" at the top. This let it fit the contour of the seat insert better. The capacity should be right at 12 gallons, which should be more than enough. I added a baffle to help keep sloshing down. I don't have a picture, but I put in a small compartment around the fuel pickup to hold gas during braking and cornering.

The local machine shop sheared and broke the pieces. This eliminated the long seams on the bottom. The end seams were welded inside and out.

I wish I could say it all went together with no problems, but I had some warpage on the top when I welded the fittings in. In the pics, you can see the tourch marks where I had to shrink it. It's a lot better, but not perfect. I pressure tested it and was surprised to have no leaks! Believe me that's luck.

It's getting pretty crowded in the bed! I have just enough room to squeeze in the air compressor and valves.