Fitting a replacement fuel tank

The name does tend to give it away a bit. Like you I have a Surf, I bought the tank at the Track Care swap meet in Northbridge last year, and have been trying to get parts from the manufacturer ever since.

Its a Brown Davis tank and has a reported capacity of 110 litres, cost me $200. So far I have spent about $50 on parts locally as I got tired of waiting for the fitment kit to be priced (been waiting since November) in Victoria.

I have found a local who fitted the same tank to his 4 Runner, he indicated that none of the brackets lined up properly, so he cut them off and made his own.

He also indicated that a possible cause of BD tanks splitting may be because the brackets arent properly positioned ex factory, which places strain on the tank which inevitably leads to it splitting.

He hasnt had any problems with his tank due to this problem and he has agreed to install mine when he gets time. I was just after a bit of info on hose layout to assist in the final install process as no fitting instructions seem to be available.

At the end of the day, at $250 (plus whatever the install costs), its not going to break the bank if it doesnt work out. If it does, then I'm ahead. Heres hoping.

As previously stated in other threads, Brown Davis havent been all that customer friendly, and phone conversations have seen me bight my tongue at times, but I guess they arent getting much out of it in the way of financial return.

The company that sold me the tank at the swap meet no longer deal with Brown Davis, not sure why exactly.

My plan exactly. The tank occupies space above and on the other side of the drive shaft. A real bugger to fit apparently.

The ones I've seen fitted (BD and 4WD Systems) actually appeared to provide more clearance as there is no bash plate as with the factory tank.

I'd much prefer to fit the tank mid vehicle to spread out the weight, but if I have too (if tank fails) I'll fit a tank where my spare currently sits, probably by K&N, but thats big dollars, and not what I really want.

Last time I spoke to them I think they told me they no longer produced replacement tanks for 4 Runners/Surfs as it was too fiddly.

Jeff, & anyone else interested in this thread

This topic came up some time ago with reference to Surf/4Runner and it was mentioned that a GQ rear tank ( 90 litres ) can apparently be modified to fit in place of the spare wheel.

Mick & Sal - '90 4Runner & now '90 MWB Cruiser

"That idea apealed to me, however if I could put 100L or so where my main tank already is I could use the space at the back for water."

I have a '95 Surf and it also has a swing away rear spare tyre. I have fitted a 'Long Ranger' 60 litre aux fuel tank to the area where 4Runners have their spare. In point of fact - these tanks are designed to be fitted above the spare wheel, and there is a fabricated hole in the middle of the tank for the spare wheel lifting chain to hang through.

As I wasn't going to hang a spare below the fuel tank, I fitted a Camec 60 litre water tank below the fuel tank. This means that I now have a total of 125 Litres of fuel plus 60 litres of water.

Upgrading the rear springs and shocks was necessary to cater for the extra weight when all tanks are full. The vehicle is also fitted with a roller draw system and towbar for our camper trailer. I have used Kings springs (HD +50mm) and Rancho RS9000 shocks all around.

Tuco69, Thanks mate, that sounds absolutally perfect! I have upgraded my springs but still have std shocks, prob have to do the springs again with something even harder as they already struggle a little when roof rack and back are packed full I guess with all that extra weight... Oh well my wallet and wife are screaming loudly! ;-)

You will find that you will need an engineer's certificate for the mod. and going by a thread a couple of days ago on this site, someone was quoted somewhere around $400 just for the certificate.

I certainly wont be undertaking the modification myself, but as I said earlier, I know someone who has installed the same tank in his 4 Runner.

I have seen the work done by this individual and it is as good as, if not better quality than any workshop could produce. What he has done, and is planning to do to his vehicle outstanding.

Everything he does is approved by DPI here in WA and I have no doubt they will approve my tank install once its done, which as I understand it means a trip to the pits at a licencing centre and completing the appropriate forms.

The tank has the manufacturers stamp on it, which apparently goes a long way towards approval here in WA.

I went to a local distributor of BD tanks (who shall remain nameless) and they quoted a figure of $800 just to install it. They obviously didnt want the job. Mind you, in all fairness, it was an off the cuff quote.

Jeff-WA probabaly knows of him already, he's the one that has a 5 litre Ford V8 in his 4 Runner and has done a lot of work on the overheating problems suffered by Surfs.