Self build custom fuel tank

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Saltlick

Saltlick

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,082
Location
Taunton, Somerset
I'm thinking that I'll build myself a new tank for my disco as I currently run a second tank in the boot for WVO, but it's a small steel marine tank and takes up a lot more room than it should due to its very basic shape and limited ways to secure it.

I have the basic design in mind and have tried researching common build methods but can't find a huge amount out there.
Can anyone offer any pointers please?

I think I'm heading towards making it in stainless steel to avoid the corrosion issues of mild steel, and welding issues of aluminium (I've only got mig & arc welders). If anyone could provide insight on breather and baffle design that would be a great help.
I've not welded very much stainless before, but shouldn't be too tricky from what I'm told as long as I'm aware of the heat/expansion problems.

It will all be new as I've never made a tank before, but should be a fun little project!
 
ah you are doing the same as me bud ;)

Ive just bought a full twin tank setup but need to sort out the breather design. Not sure if I want it venting inside...
I just bought a fancy tig with ac/dc so fancy doing myself a tank for under the drivers seat.

With regards to materials, are you making life more difficult for yourself making it out of stainless instead of mild? Mild is perfectly acceptable and obviously its not going to corrode from the inside. Provided you protect it with the right stuff on the outside itll last along long time.

Besides, I never really saw the point in making stuff out of stainless on the underside of a vehicle. The likelihood is that it wont be a high grade of stainless (as itll be choofin expensive if it is) so as soon as the roads get salted itll start to corrode.
 
You bought a two tank setup? Was that from someone like oilybits.com? I always thought the prices on pre made kits were a bit high for my liking, and not the way I would do it so just put it together my own way. Go the 6 way Pollack valve though if they're still available - top notch valves...

I'm on my second marine tank now, the first was a hoofing great red oblong thing of 62L, made out of poly which took up loads of room. I ran that for a couple of years but it made the boot almost unusable, so now I'm on the 25L ish steel tank and I'm always filling the fecking thing up!

You're probably right regarding the materials, I just thought to make it a bit more durable (rust wise) with SS, but the cost will very likely be high too. Probably better to make in mild and then coat the inside with Ferpox tank sealer for a fairly cheap build...

My tank is inside though (the new one mean) rather than underneath - I'll be utilising the wasted space behind the rear seats, in between the rear arches.

To vent it, I'd planned to fit a roll over valve that vents inside the rear quarter panel to prevent any holes being made in the floor - all my hoses are run inside the cab anyway as it keeps them warmer :)
 
I guess the next question would be: What thickness for the steel sheet?

I think this will probably be a good project for the sheet bender/folder, so making that will probably be the first priority. Having nice edges and folds on the tank will be a bit more important if it's on show every time I open the boot..

What are your plans so far Vil?
 
I made a couple for Kit cars I used 1.5mm stainless it was a big cuboid so I folded the shell and made 3 end caps, one end cap I cut the corners off and welded it in the middle of the shell as a baffle.
I cut a hole for a sender and had a hose tail out let at the bottom, and one at the top as a breather, very simple really assuming you have a folder or are happy to weld every seam.
I would suggest you pump a couple of PSI in to it with a bike pump and submerge it in the bath to ensure its water tight ( best done when the wife is out)
 
Saltlick said:
You bought a two tank setup? Was that from someone like oilybits.com? I always thought the prices on pre made kits were a bit high for my liking, and not the way I would do it so just put it together my own way. Go the 6 way Pollack valve though if they're still available - top notch valves...

I'm on my second marine tank now, the first was a hoofing great red oblong thing of 62L, made out of poly which took up loads of room. I ran that for a couple of years but it made the boot almost unusable, so now I'm on the 25L ish steel tank and I'm always filling the fecking thing up!

You're probably right regarding the materials, I just thought to make it a bit more durable (rust wise) with SS, but the cost will very likely be high too. Probably better to make in mild and then coat the inside with Ferpox tank sealer for a fairly cheap build...

My tank is inside though (the new one mean) rather than underneath - I'll be utilising the wasted space behind the rear seats, in between the rear arches.

To vent it, I'd planned to fit a roll over valve that vents inside the rear quarter panel to prevent any holes being made in the floor - all my hoses are run inside the cab anyway as it keeps them warmer :)
Click to expand...

oilybits are reknowned for being wwaayyy overpriced.

I refuse to buy any of their gear. I just bought a kit off a guy who bought it from biotuning, but its the top spec one with 13mm valves rather than 8mm. Would be about £400, its new (unfitted) for £200. The valves alone are £140 so bargain ;)

Ive got several marine tanks kicking about. Ive just dug out a 33ltr one (seems about the right size) as a temporary job to use until I build one for under the seat. I want it so you just open the door and the fuel caps there in front of you. Ive got a long range additional fuel tank to install in the rear offside behind the wheel which will add another 45 ltrs so 120 ltrs of svo and the 33 ltrs of diesel should give it a nice decent range :)

I'm planning to make my tank out of aluminium, namely as I just bought this tig so why the hell not.

I saw a really good tank the other month, for tuning normal csw into a double cab, it was shaped to form the bulkhead for the back of the cab to sit on and held about 100 ltrs. Looked really good! But it was in Ireland and I couldn't be arsed to go get it.

I think one of the key things with SVO is making it so its "normal" to use. Having to dick about to refuel is so annoying.

Ive just bought load of gear for SVO use, so will be using that to make a new filter setup. Ive been talking to the process engineers at work as well about optimising the filter system and cutting down on all the ****tyness.

This will be the first winter ill try to run on 100% svo so wanting to get a good setup :) Once this one is in the 3dr on the 200tdi, ill install similar on the p38 and the 5dr.
 
vilguy said:
oilybits are reknowned for being wwaayyy overpriced.

I refuse to buy any of their gear. I just bought a kit off a guy who bought it from biotuning, but its the top spec one with 13mm valves rather than 8mm. Would be about £400, its new (unfitted) for £200. The valves alone are £140 so bargain ;)

Ive got several marine tanks kicking about. Ive just dug out a 33ltr one (seems about the right size) as a temporary job to use until I build one for under the seat. I want it so you just open the door and the fuel caps there in front of you. Ive got a long range additional fuel tank to install in the rear offside behind the wheel which will add another 45 ltrs so 120 ltrs of svo and the 33 ltrs of diesel should give it a nice decent range :)

...

This will be the first winter ill try to run on 100% svo so wanting to get a good setup :) Once this one is in the 3dr on the 200tdi, ill install similar on the p38 and the 5dr.
Click to expand...
Sounds good! Is the underseat tank in a disco or deafner? I would have thought the underseat space in a disco would only be worth about 10-15 L so guess it must be a tratter!
I've had a few odds and sods from oilybits, inc the pollack valve which was on offer and a good price at the time, but everything else was eBay..

A mate of mine bought a pollack valve from them about a month later though and three days later they gave him a refund and told him they couldn't get the valves from the US anymore? Strange that they're still listing them along with the other uk stockists though!
 
winchman said:
I made a couple for Kit cars I used 1.5mm stainless it was a big cuboid so I folded the shell and made 3 end caps, one end cap I cut the corners off and welded it in the middle of the shell as a baffle.
I cut a hole for a sender and had a hose tail out let at the bottom, and one at the top as a breather, very simple really assuming you have a folder or are happy to weld every seam.
I would suggest you pump a couple of PSI in to it with a bike pump and submerge it in the bath to ensure its water tight ( best done when the wife is out)
Click to expand...
Good advice, thanks!
 
Saltlick said:
Sounds good! Is the underseat tank in a disco or deafner? I would have thought the underseat space in a disco would only be worth about 10-15 L so guess it must be a tratter!
I've had a few odds and sods from oilybits, inc the pollack valve which was on offer and a good price at the time, but everything else was eBay..

A mate of mine bought a pollack valve from them about a month later though and three days later they gave him a refund and told him they couldn't get the valves from the US anymore? Strange that they're still listing them along with the other uk stockists though!
Click to expand...

yeah its going in the defender. The P.O has already cut out the underseat storage area as it looks to have been rotten so I might as well make a use of the area.
I thought there was some issues with the Pollack valves failing? or something like that. I read about it along long time ago (in a forum far away)

Oilybits stuff is all way overpriced, they manage to sell stuff by being top of the lists when you google etc but also they explain stuff in simple terms ... so I suppose in a way fair play to them!
 
I think the issue with pollack valves is the fuel quality, they require the oil to be filtered to a minimum of 5 microns or finer. I run mine after the fuel filters anyway for peace of mind and since installing it a few years ago have had 100% trouble free service.

The thing that I like about them over solenoid valves is that they don't constantly draw power to stay switched to oil/derv, but that said, solenoid valves are a bit more simple and cheaper to buy which is never a bad thing..,
 
I think there was something about the setup you can do as well...

I want to run 2 filters, 1 for derv and 1 for svo. And have it so if power fails it going to derv valve open.
 
Definitely go for two filters!

I run mine in order of:
WVO TANK=> Plate heat exchanger=> Delphi filter=> pollack valve=> lift pump=> 12V Ali glo plug heater block=> Injection pump.

The derv line comes from the main tank=> standard filter=> pollack valve=> lift pump=> heater=> IP
 
how come your running of those glow plug heater blocks? Arent they a bit crap? Not much surface area for them to transfer much extra energy into the oil?
I am going to run...

WVO Tank - inline diaphragm pump - heated fuel filter - solenoid valves - plate heat exchanger (so most energy right at the end) - injection pump

I'm ditching the lift pump, for both fuels, using the electric ones makes it easier to do different things with the fuels :)
 
Heater block: It's not bad - I mainly use it when first switching over, or if I've forgotten to switch to derv the night before so that I'm not limited to engine heat only.

The plate heat exchanger is good but adds a lot of drag/load to the cooling system so be careful where it gets plumbed in, not that there are many options with a 2/300 - mine is plumbed inline with the cabin heater pipe that runs over the top of the engine, so it does reduce the heat coming out of the blower until things are at full temp.

Not sure I'd be brave enough to run a veg conversion on a P38 though - bit refined for chugging lard aren't they?! :D
 
I run a split system for my heater, with smaller bore pipes going to both so the overall flow is about right. Seems to work well, heated fuel filter on the 200tdi i have gets "ouch" hot and the blower still is hot too. Both get hot within a couple of miles :)

my "kit" just got delivered to the office. Cue much oh'ing and ah'ing in the mechanical office. Most of them dont ever actually touch anything physical engineering wise.

The p38 is on veg already, it seems to love it! only on about 40% mix though. Before it gets cold I want to get it converted :) Its actually a pretty simple engine really.
 
Nice one :)

Right, I've been pricing up steel, what suggestions for thickness? Thicker the better obviously, but I don't want to add a 100kg empty tank to the boot cos of it being made from 6mm plate!! :D

I'm thinking 1.6mm is prob ok, but also pricing up 1.8mm. 1.6 will be slightly easier to fold (once I've made the folder!) but it's not much different..
 
1.6 will be plenty, and give a reasonable corrosion allowance for longevity. I wouldnt bother with anything thicker, not going to give any benefit really.

Its relatively small though, have you considered just using 1.2mm? itll still be plenty strong (shape dependent)
 
hmm... it'll be just over a metre in length. 1070mm IIRC between the arches?
It really depends on the internal baffle design I guess.. If I could form/press some kind of ridge pattern into the skin of the tank to aid rigidity then it would help.
 
how many ltrs are you making it hold?

Are you planning on it having stuff placed on top? I guess it would be good to assume someone is going to stand on it at some point (worst case)

Other scenarios you cant really cater for without making it get a bit daft.

1.2mm will be pretty strong though, and shouldnt flex. Filler nozzle in the top? if you put it central that will give it some rigidity.

And a couple of baffle walls should make it more than up to the task :)
 
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