57 Nomad-C4-LS1 called "Ozzy"

[WagonCrazy]

Update: investigating a fuel tank solution...

Custom made? or prefab? It all depends if it will fit. There is a bunch of room now that the spare tire well is out of the picture, but the limiting factor is the rear swaybay location as it crosses over the frame. Makes it a bit narrower between it and the frame cross piece in front of the rear bumper.

Boo hoo because for about $484 + tax and shipping...I can get a fairly stock looking fuel injection tank, in-tank pump, sending unit and straps.
here's a pic
prd_353.jpg

it's about 2 inches too "long". Won't fit up tight to the bottom of the cargo floor. Would have to move the swaybar out of the way.

This stock C4 rear swaybar pointing to the rear and over the frame is not helping to avoid a custom tank...

Maybe I could mount it pointing forward...attached to the AME cross member? Anybody done that with a C4 conversion frame? got any pics?

[chevynut]

Paul, I put Wade's swaybar in front of the rearend, below the frame. I don't like how it looks, because you can see it hanging down below the frame rails. The Wagons have a lot more vertical room from the frame to the floor....I think my tank is 10.5" deep. I had a custom swaybar made to be able to make the tank larger.

I think you can mount the stock tank spaced down a bit from the floor on a sedan or a HT. I have also seen them notched. Most guys use custom tanks like a Rick's tank which WILL fit behind the swaybar.

I have also seen the swaybar mounted below the frame, behind the IRS. The guy built new links to connect it to the knuckles.

[chevynut]

Paul, that looks like a pretty nice tank. Is it baffled? I wondered for a long time why someone didn't offer a direct replacement EFI tank.

What are the dimensions? Do you have a link?

I have been thinking about offering my own tanks, but I'm not sure I have time to design and build them.

[chevynut]

Paul, you can see Wade's swaybar in this picture.



And you can see it uner the car here:

[chevynut]

Hi Paul,

Thinking about your tank some more....I noticed a problem with the one you posted. The filler is in the wrong location for a wagon. My filler is at the very front of my tank, in the same location as a stock wagon filler as you can see in the pic below. In fact, I used part of the stock filler tube. I don't know how you could deal with that, but I suppose you could relocate it.








If you resolved the filler issue, in my opinion the easiest and cheapest solution to the swaybar problem would be a custom swaybar. I had mine made for only $250 to my specs but that company is now out of business. I would make it like the stock C4 swaybar back to the bushings, then I would have the center of it between the frame rails bent so it's 2" further forward to clear the tank. A lot of OEM swaybars are bent to go around other things on the car. I think Hellwig makes custom swaybars.

[chevynut]

One problem with putting the swaybar below the frame, behind the IRS is that it causes exhaust routing problems. I remember looking at that option at one point. You would have to drop it significantly below the frame to clear the tailpipes, and it would look like crap, imo.

[chevynut]

Here's some pics of a Rick's tank in a frame we built. NCW has used the Rick's tank in his frames too. The swaybar is in the same location on his frames.

[WagonCrazy]

Update- I ended up buying the Tanks Inc. setup mentioned a few posts ago. Got their FI tank 570-CG (its made for a sedan...they don't make 'em for a wagon just yet). Also got the GPA-4 in-tank pump setup for up to 600hp, and TAN-GME fuel sender unit (for my 0-30ohm Classic Instruments gauge) and the 567-STS stainless steel tank mounting straps and hardware. This tank appears to be 18 gallons and has the filler tube at the rear of the tank (not the front as on wagons and nomads). So...since my stock Nomad filler tubes dont line up for this rear filler tank, for another $100 in new parts (from Danchuk), I will swap the Nomad filler tubes out with new sedan upper and lower filler tubes. It should fit just like it came off the assembly line like that.

DSCN2428.jpg DSCN2437.jpg

So now the issue is the swaybar bushing/bracket mounting location at the very front of the tank. Without raising the swaybar up off the top of the frame, it hits the front of the fuel tank. I really wished this tank was made about 1 inch narrower (front to back) because it would have allowed use without any swaybar mounting mods. As you see in the next pic, the swaybar bushing/bracket mounting point at the frame (left and right) will need to be raised up minimum 2 inches and more like 2 1/2 inches in order to slide the tank far enough forward. I put some 1" square tubing in here for temporary spacers...

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So now I need to come up with a design for a "raised swaybar mounting perch" that can be welded to the frame. I will be removing these mount perches placed when I had the frame originally built. It will look wrong to just put a 2 1/2 inch spacer in there permanently. So I'll have to come up with something for new mounts.

The fuel tank is only 8 inches deep, so with it placed where you see in these pics...it sits up parallel with the bottom of the frame rails, and this still gives another 2 inches of clearance between top of tank and bottom of wagon floor. You can't see the tank from the back of the Nomad! Nice...

DSCN2445.jpg DSCN2431.jpg DSCN2438.jpg

I need to fab up some top-tank framework to weld between the frame rails "over the tank" so that I can use the stainless steel tank mounting straps and mount it tight to the bottom of that framework (not to the bottom of the wagon floor...I want this mounted using the strength of the frame...not the sheetmetal floor.)

So my cost to date...with the tank + pump + sender + straps + new upper and lower fuel filler pipes + misc stock brackets, hoses and o-rings for those filler pipes...I now have about $700 in this tank setup.

It's not the polished stainless that a custom tank would have been, but I'm about $500 under that deal.

More than anything I wanted to figure out if an "off the shelf" set of items can be configured to deal with a tri-5 FI tank setup that ends up saving significantly over the higher priced stainless tank setups offered in the marketplace. Hopefully this can become a lower cost way of doing it, for the next guys coming along...

I'll post more pics and notes as I move along here and build that "swaybar bracket perch" and "top-of-tank framework" for mounting the tank tight against it.

[chevynut]

Paul, looks good so far. I really wonder if your stock filler is going to work. The stock sedan tank sits pretty far forward of the rear crossmember, and I'm sure you're is all the way back. It will likely work, but not without some modification.

The extra parts sure added some cost to the tank setup. I think Rick's tank is "off the shelf", but it would also require a new filler tube.


So all you lack is 1" from making it work with the swaybar? I still think the custom swaybar may be the way to go. Problem is, then you're up near the cost of a Rick's tank. What about cutting and re-welding the swaybar? I think that can be done successfully. You could just move the mounts forward the 1" that you need then. I'd cut it close to the link end. If it's hollow like many of them are, you could reinforce it with another tube or rod,

[WagonCrazy]

It turns out that our favorite west coast tri-5 parts vendor is out of stock on the 57 sedan "upper and lower" fuel filler tubes...so I'm going to try a different route....

I have a 57 9 passenger wagon also. Got under it to see what that filler tube situation looked like, because the fuel tank sits at the very rear of the wagon, between the spare tire carrier and the rear-most frame crossmember. Son of a gun...the lower filler pipe passes thru the underfloor in the EXACT place I need it to run for this new tank.

DSCN2441.jpg DSCN2440.jpg

So I'm going to try using the upper fill tube from the 9 passenger wagon, and then cut and modify the lower fill tube I have from the Nomad.

More to come when parts show up and I figure this all out. I can't make the tank mount to frame apparatus until I can spot this tank exactly where the filler pipes need to come in, and then determine the swaybar mounting options.

I might even cut an inch off the ends of the swaybar and re-drill new end link mount holes...