I have a bad habbit of not leaving things be. in the efforts to have a lighter vehicle - and one with the weight more suitable for dragracing - i wanted to construct a custom gas tank. I live in FLorida and there are a few boat customization places that make aluminum gas tanks any shape size and can be set up with a stock 90 ohm chevy guage and be street leagal. I want one custom fitted to the area behind the rear deck; this entails removing the carpet and the plastic that covers the rear hatch motor - which is already gone, turn key only - and the side interior plastic molding thus giving a fifteen gallon tank. After installed and lines run, i am planning on cutting out the deck and shaped area for the rear buckets and welding in flat pannleing to give a more open rear. I realize that this will be dificult and i have figured out what i believe to be every bug minus one. Will i need to brace the rear struts to gether with a moly x-brace? They have the spohn coil overs on them so i'd rather not break them, or my car. Any criticism or questions welcome.

 

why not just use a forth gen gas tank, easier, cheaper, and I think they're plastic...someone correct me if I am mistaken.

 

If you wanna keep things a bit simpler and whole lot cheaper, just get a fuel cell. You might be thinking there is no place to put it, but if you don't mind doing some custom work, which from the sound of it, you don't...... just check out my site, here is an example of what I did.

 

Anything bad about a fuel cell in the stock location?

 

My car is't doen yet. But if you check out my site you can see more up to date pics of this set up.

I used to have it flat with the axle tunnel, but then noticed that I used up all the room for the rear to move. So I raised it up. It is easy, inexpensive, is foam filled, has a nice sump, dual feeds and has a return and vent.

So far I have got all the electrical stuff hooked up and running (fual pump and so on) and all seems well, also I have had the suspenion totally in and loaded and still got miles of room above the rear. Looks to bo a good idea so far.

by the way, I also am goingt to get my fuel door smoothed over to make it look better. I think filling up the trunk will make for some interesting looks at the gas stations too...

 

i think i would think again about having one made that sits in the well. If someone rear ends you it's not going to be pretty.

 

well yeah, My car is sorta not taking any of that kinda stuff into account. It is not a car that is gonna be driven all the time. The lambo door hinges also required a lot of fender horn area to be cut away. Not to mention taking out the airbag and so on. But anyways, that is just me. Do what you want... and good luck.

 

If that's what you want to do, then go for it. But be careful when you cut into a UNIBODY car.

And Alkalore is right, the 4th gen tanks swap right in and are plastic. So if you're just trying to save weight, consider that.

 

whats the weight difference in the tanks? is it light enough that its gonna effect traction in the rear? im guessing no, but if u dont have a stout suspension and ur pushing some power wouldnt some extra weight in the back be a good idea?

 

i wasn't referring to yours, yours is in a safe place. But he was talking about being behind the rear deck as he called it which is the rear storage well.

 

Hard to say. There's a very fine line between downforce, and dead weight.

 

yea i know, im refering to launch's, not so much high speed traction problems

 

IIRC only the 99-02's had plastic gas tanks.