Author Topic: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?  (Read 2157 times)

Offline werewolfx13

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I've been sketching out plans for my '83, long story short its going to end up as an expedition/overlanding rig and I'm going to add both a passenger side saddle tank and a rear blazer tank to extend fuel range (from 16 gallons to either 57 or 63 gallons). For the RH saddle tank, can I just cut out a left hand door section from a junk yard and flip it upside down so it hinges correctly? The truck is in storage so I can't easily go look at how the hinge works. For the blazer tank, has anyone added a door in the bedside behind the axle? I seem to recall seeing a relief section in the bed floor by the filler neck for clearance, and I think its there on both sides for all trucks even if they only had one tank, but would I need to cut and fabricate a similar relief for the rear or is there adequate space without it?

Lastly, the specifications on the Standard/Pollack selector valves are rated for a max fuel pressure of 65 psi, the truck is getting a TPI setup which IIRC should be about 47 PSI. Has anyone actually run into any issues getting close to the pressure limit for the Standard FV5/Pollack selector valve? I've worked out the fuel routing and wiring for dual selector valves already, but I'd rather not find out the TPI fuel pressure shortens the lifespan of the valve significantly.

Thanks
Chris
'83 Chevy c10 Silverado SWB
'76 Chevy k20 LWB 6.5'x8' Flatbed
“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Offline Mike81K10

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2021, 07:29:25 PM »
Why not find a 81 to 87 truck and cut out the passenger side and weld it in or buy a duel tank bed if you can find one cheap at a salvage yard. You cannot put a drivers side door on the passenger side, it will open in the wrong direction. You said you have the wiring worked out. However, it might make it easy to buy the duel tank wiring harness from the salvage yard as well, along with the tank switch, tank selector valve, and etc. As you mentioned you are concerned about the selector valve. The 1987 truck had fuel injection and in tank pumps. The ideal thing would be to get everything from a donor 1987 or perhaps find a 1987 for a base to build from.

There are some others with much more experience on this forum that may have some better Advice. Hope I was at least a little helpful.
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -Benjamin Franklin

Offline VileZambonie

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2021, 03:03:30 PM »
Use a blazer filler setup
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74 GMC, 75 K5, 84 GMC, 85 K20, 86 k20, 79 K10

Offline chevn-up

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2021, 07:07:30 PM »
Wolf, check out my build for the Blazer tank in Members Rides. Might give ya some ideas.

Offline werewolfx13

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2021, 11:34:20 PM »
Use a blazer filler setup
Doesn’t the blazer’s flat floor allow more room for the filler neck? Or am I overthinking that and it can reach across under the bed and just come up at a slight angle between the inner and outer bedside?
Chris
'83 Chevy c10 Silverado SWB
'76 Chevy k20 LWB 6.5'x8' Flatbed
“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Offline werewolfx13

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2021, 11:35:05 PM »
Wolf, check out my build for the Blazer tank in Members Rides. Might give ya some ideas.

I’ll check it out, thanks
Chris
'83 Chevy c10 Silverado SWB
'76 Chevy k20 LWB 6.5'x8' Flatbed
“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Offline werewolfx13

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2021, 11:55:00 PM »
Why not find a 81 to 87 truck and cut out the passenger side and weld it in or buy a duel tank bed if you can find one cheap at a salvage yard. You cannot put a drivers side door on the passenger side, it will open in the wrong direction. You said you have the wiring worked out. However, it might make it easy to buy the duel tank wiring harness from the salvage yard as well, along with the tank switch, tank selector valve, and etc. As you mentioned you are concerned about the selector valve. The 1987 truck had fuel injection and in tank pumps. The ideal thing would be to get everything from a donor 1987 or perhaps find a 1987 for a base to build from.

There are some others with much more experience on this forum that may have some better Advice. Hope I was at least a little helpful.

I appreciate the input, but the salvage harness would be useless, as would the switch. What I’m talking about is running three fuel tanks, not two, which requires two switches and two valves. One for primary-auxiliary, and one for aux-1 to aux-2. Every mechanical/electrical part of this set up is going in brand new. I’ll be using tanks for 87 up trucks for certain. The likelyhood of finding a short bed dual tank bed in as good condition as my bed is is nil. What I’m talking about isnt just removing the door and moving it over, I’m planning to cut out a section around the door including the door, and flip it upside down so it hinges the right way. I just can’t remember if the door/hinge area would allow for proper connection of the filler assembly if upside down. Ideally i’ll find a couple dual tank beds with doors (or a dual tank bed and a blazer) and wont have to worry about the side to side flip and i can just hack plenty of metal out around the doors, and trim according to what i need to cut out of my bed.
Chris
'83 Chevy c10 Silverado SWB
'76 Chevy k20 LWB 6.5'x8' Flatbed
“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Offline VileZambonie

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2021, 06:36:32 AM »
Use a blazer filler setup
Doesn’t the blazer’s flat floor allow more room for the filler neck? Or am I overthinking that and it can reach across under the bed and just come up at a slight angle between the inner and outer bedside?

If I'm understanding you, you want to use the RH production tank and blazer rear tank. You want to add the other gas tank door to the same RH side of the bed. So basically you would use the entire blazer setup.
,                           ___ 
                         /  _ _ _\_
              ⌠¯¯¯¯¯'   [☼===☼]
              `()_);-;()_)--o--)_)

74 GMC, 75 K5, 84 GMC, 85 K20, 86 k20, 79 K10

Offline werewolfx13

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Re: Welding in RH fuel doors, clearance for door behind the wheel well?
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2021, 10:58:21 AM »
Nice! I didnt realize the blazer had that cutaway as well, thats perfect. Thanks Vile!
Chris
'83 Chevy c10 Silverado SWB
'76 Chevy k20 LWB 6.5'x8' Flatbed
“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”