Today was a bit of a big day.
I actually started putting new stuff back on to Woody rather than taking old stuff off - a rather nice feeling.
First job was to mount the new fuel tank at the back of the bed rather than keeping me company in the cab. 2 main reasons - as already stated - didn't really want to share the same space as 15 gallons of fuel and needed a tank capable of taking an electric fuel pump for the LS.
There are a few options when it comes to tanks but I ended up going with a Jeep tank and a Blazer fuel sender, pump basket. Main reason is that it was what I could get but lets just pretend that it is for some other really good reason...
Wanted to mount the tank as high as possible so that it didn't hang down below the bumper and become too obvious but not so high that the fuel lines interfered with the bed wood.
That will do fine then.
Next job was to decide how to mount it. The great thing about C10's is that a lot of people have done a lot of things to them so you can usually find a few options when it comes to deciding how to do something.
Problem was with the rear tank is that a lot of these options seemed to dictate the use of angle iron and I was looking for something a little more...OEM...
So with that in mind purchase 4metres of 30 x 3 flat bar and started to come up with a plan using a trusty bit of cardboard.
I don't own a sheet metal brake so tried to bend the flat bar in the vice but couldn't get the sharp, crisp bends I was after plus, I needed to replicate the shapes at least twice so decided to see if I could make something quick and dirty utilising my press.
First thing was to cut up a bit of the dreaded angle iron.
Then a bit of old exhaust pipe was cut to size and welded to one of the bits of angle.
And... Voila!
Pretty crude but it did the job and made bending the bar quick, easy and repeatable. V2 will be incoming shortly after using it as there are a number of short comings but overall count me pleased.
Anyway.. Bend, Bend. Oh plums....
Never mind quick session with the hammer and we have 3 upper braces .
Next is to make the bottom cradle. Measure measure
Cut, Cut. Bend Bend
And a quick test fit.
Actually used my new Rivnut tool today but soon discovered that the chassis steel is a little too thick for it. Never mind, just used some long M8 bolts, will trim down later but for now just needed the adjustability.
Pretty pleased with that so next stage was to box up the end that I will be using to put tension on the cradle as I snug it up agains the top braces.
And there we go, tank mounted.
Now I have it in place will move one of the top braces closer to the centre of the tank as decided to route the fuel lines along the passenger side rail rather than the driver side.
So with the tank in place I can start to plan and build the fuel lines. I must admit that I took 5 minutes with a cup of tea at this stage and felt genuinely happy that after what has been an incredibly stressful 5 years I am now starting to build Woody to the vision I had right at the beginning of the journey.
Nice.
I had been collecting fuel fitting for the past few years and keeping them in a couple of tin biscuit boxes so it was rather pleasant to take them out of the packaging and put them to use.
First thing was to make up a mount for the bulkhead fittings to take the braided line from the tank to the chassis and hard lines.
Fittings out of the box and...
Loosely put together.
That is as far as I got but really got my Mojo back and will try and sneak some time this week to get the lines ran before I take the tank etc out for the last time to finish painting the chassis and tank braces etc.
Been a good weekend.
P.
