Mounting a Gas tank

[Stu Cool]

As a part of my LS1 swap project I am replacing my stock Studebaker gas tank with a new, deeper tank from Tanks, Inc. The new tank will have an internal fuel pump to provide the needed pressure for the LS1 EFI.

Here's the question. The Studebaker tank was mounted directly to the frame. The new tank, actually a repro tank for a 53-54 Chevy, does not have the mounting tabs and is designed to be mounted using steel straps. My original thought was to mount the straps to the trunk floor, backing the bolts with large fender washers or backing plates. I have re-thought that and what I want to do now is run a couple of cross pieces between the frame rails in front of and behind the tank and then attach the straps to those. The straps would then hold the tank against the underside of the trunk floor. My questions is what type of material to use? The distance between the frame rails is about 38 inches. The frame is a box design with a 1 inch lip on the bottom that I can place the cross piece on top of then drill through to hold the cross piece in place. The tank is a 16 gallon unit so full of fuel it will weigh 125-130 pounds. The straps are 1" wide stainless steel and would be spaced evenly on the tank. My thoughts were to use angle iron or U channel. I believe I could also find some stamped channel of some kind too. What would you folks suggest? What thickness of material? The things I am thinking of is something that will be able to carry the weight without flexing or bending, but not be too heavy. I also want to position the straps in a way that the tank won't shift from g-forces of braking, turning or accelerating. One final thing, I want to put some sort of insulating material between the top of the tank and the trunk floor. I was thinking of some sort of dense foam, but not sure what material. Any suggestions? If I glue it to either the tank or the floor then the other side have a slightly tacky texture that would also help in keeping the tank in position so it would not slide around.

thanks for any ideas

Pat