39 Ford Project

[567chevys]

Hello Brian ,
Was looking through many of your posts . You do a great Job of posting your steps with Pictures & words . You are very good at coming up with ideas . In Fact some I will be using

Thanks Sid

[Custer55]

Hello Brian ,
Was looking through many of your posts . You do a great Job of posting your steps with Pictures & words . You are very good at coming up with ideas . In Fact some I will be using

Thanks Sid

Thanks, Sid
Glad to hear that some of it is helpful.
I'm always learning from others as well.

[Custer55]

This past week I have been working on getting the new gas tank mounted and started working on the fuel lines to the front. The Tanks Inc. gas tank is a very nice piece and bolts in the original location. I did have to open up the filler neck opening a bit to get it in place but think that is due to having parallel leaf springs in back vs the original transverse leaf spring. I had a heck of a time getting the old tank out as well because there is less room to slide the tank in and out with the parallel leaf springs.

The first step was to tape over the pick and sender holes to keep any debris out of the tank. Also marked the center of each to help locate an access door in the trunk floor.

Then based off of measurements I drilled 1/2" holes where the center of the holes in the tank should be. Then with the tank in place I used a Sharpie to make marks on the top of the tank through the 1/2" holes. Then I was able to get an accurate placement of the access opening.

Here the opening is cut out ready to make a cover. Problem is when I did my bead rolling for the trunk floor I did it based on where an access door would need to be on the original tank.
Unfortunately the original tank only had the sender on top of the tank while this one has the sender and fuel pick on the top.

I debated whether to bead roll the cover to go around the existing trunk floor or flatten out the bead rolling in the trunk floor. Neither option would be easy but I decided to flatten out the trunk floor even though I knew it wouldn't look great doing that but with a cover in place it won't show that much anyway. The pictures are a bit out of order here as I had weld nuts in place to bolt the cover down at this point.

Here I have the cover made up with 1/8" clecos holding it in place so the holes in the cover and the trunk floor are lined up with each other.

Cover bolted in place with 1/4-20 machine screws. I will be getting some button head allen bolts for this eventually.

Here I have the fuel pick up installed in the tank and the fuel gage sender set up for the tank depth ready to install. The fuel pick up is pretty nice as you just need to trim the pick up tubes to length as it is made for different tank depths, and it has provisions for a return line and a vent hose. I just plugged the return line as I won't need one. Either of the outer fittings can be the pick up or the return as well.

I then bent up a fuel line to get it close to the frame on the passenger side. There will be a flare fitting on the end of the line with a union. this should make things easier if the tank needs to be removed at a later date.

Here the end of the line is flared and the fitting and union in place. So the line wont rattle against the tank I made a bumper out of thin rubber gasket material wrapped around the fuel line with
a piece of larger shrink wrap tube over that to hold it in place.

And finally I mounted the vent / roll over to a bracket I made on the inner fender where it will be just higher than the filler neck. I had the wheel and fender off already as I had to open up the filler neck opening to install and remove the tank.
Next up I will be getting a fuel line bent up and run to the fuel pump. That should be a challenge as there is a lot of things to go through and around the way the frame is made!!
Brian

[bigblock]

That's some great engineering, nice work.

[Belair-o]

/\ /\ What he said! Great work!

[Custer55]

That's some great engineering, nice work.

Thanks,

[Custer55]

/\ /\ What he said! Great work!

Thanks Doug,

[Custer55]

Over the past week or so I finished up on running the fuel line up to the engine compartment. It was quite the pia at times as I had to run it through a couple of crossmembers, and from one side of the frame to the other to keep it away from the exhaust as much as possible.

From back to front I started at the tank. I had to drill a hole in one side of the rear crossmember and enlarge one hole on the other side of it. Using all 3/8" line front to back.

The next section in place. This one goes behind the front spring mount bracket and down under the oval opening in the Xmember section of the frame that the exhaust will pass through, then up and through another hole I drilled to get the line to the other side of the Xmember. I did this so the line wouldn't end up in the center of the frame right next to the transmission tail shaft.
My original plan was to make this line all the way from the fuel tank but I couldn't get that to work which is why there is a coupling in the line near the front of the rear tire.

At the end of the second section I mounted a fuel filter, from the filter the line ends up right near the engine mounted fuel pump. The line switches back to the other side of the Xmember again through a hole that was already in the frame. This was the most direct route to the fuel pump that I could still feed the line in place without too much trouble. The fuel filter I used is the K&N version of the fuel filter GM used from the early 80's through about 2013. It uses metric fittings with o-ring seals which was no problem for me as I have the Mastercool hydraulic flaring tool that has the dies that are needed to form the liines.

This shot shows the way the die forms the line for the o-ring and tube nut. What is nice about the dies is they make a nice barb for a rubber hose as well if you just form the line about halfway or less than what you have to do for the o-ring and tube nut. The O-ring flare is easier to do than a double flare as well as it is just a single operation and your done.

And here is the line up into the engine compartment with just a short piece of fuel hose to the fuel pump.

Here I have the fender bolted back on and the filler neck installed. I need to order the grommet that goes between the fender and the filler neck but the filler neck is solidly mounted just from the hose that connects the tank to the filler neck. The grommet will keep it from rattling against the fender and finish it off better though.

Next I finished up on my gauge panel. These are the indicator lights I bought from Amazon that I added ring terminals to the ground wires and spade terminal disconnects to the power side.

Here is the panel with all the gauges and indicator lights mounted. I have temporary power hooked to the gauges and the high beam indicator which I can tell from this picture needs to be rotated a bit. The top right indicator is for a parking brake light, not sure if I will use that one for anything or not.

And here is a sneak peak at the next progress update. Using masking tape to mock up the section of the exhaust from where I left off to the muffler. I need to adjust the length in a few places but this will get me to just in front of the rear axle. Also plan to just weld the pipes into the muffler on the front side as It is a fairly short section from the muffler forward.
Brian

[Belair-o]

Hi Brian,
Excellent work! The details matter!
I didn't know those generic indicator lights existed. Thanks for the progress update and pics.
Thanks, Doug

[Custer55]

Hi Brian,
Excellent work! The details matter!
I didn't know those generic indicator lights existed. Thanks for the progress update and pics.
Thanks, Doug

Thanks, I got the indicator lights from Amazon. They have a bunch of different options from complete sets to individual lights in a couple of different sizes.