Sunday, Aug 08, 2004 at 14:21
Madmud,
I made my own Long Range
Tank for my Ford Maverick trayback ute. I took out the spare wheel from under the tray and mounted that (with a second one) in the tray - a far more practical place for it. Ever tried lying in red dust or mud to get the spare wheel out when the truck is down due to a flat tyre? I then fitted a petrol
tank out of a Valiant Charger. I chose this 'cos it about 18 gallon (80 litres)
tank but more importantly, it's flat and wide. With a couple of welded up steel straps and a rubber mat to sit it on, if fit into the chassis like it was made to be there. I altered the filler neck slightly so that I could fill it from the same side as the main
tank. I then fitted a REPCO electric
fuel pump and piped to discharge pipe into the filler neck on the main
tank. Into this discharge line I fitted a simple in line
fuel filter - clear plastic, inlet pipe, outlet pipe - simple stuff. Now then, this Valiant
tank had been sitting in wreckers yard for about 10 years and was full of mud and rust. So, chuck into the
tank, two spades full of gravel and small rocks and shake it until yer arm near drops off. Then flush with
water. Allow to dry out thoroughly- about a week in summer or longer in winter. Now, I thoroughly expected to get a heap of smaller rust and crap into the filter between the two tanks - and sure enough there was heaps of it. So while I was driving in the city and not the bush I regularly filled up only this long range or "back tank" as I call it, and then switched on the REPCO pump to fill the main
tank. It took about 4 fills to clean up the "back tank" and I recall I had to change the "back tank" filter twice in that time. Since then I've never had a blockage in this filter (the crap is easily visible and there's a lot of capacity in the filter before it blocks) and I always carry 2 spare filters with me when I go bush. I have yet to use those 2 spares in the last 8 years. Cost of an ARB, ORE or Nissan ( read Ford) long range
tank? $800.00. Cost of
mine? $100.00
Depends how handy you are these things.
Bilbo
AnswerID:
71737