Hi Everyone, New member of the form, but not a new user of this content... you all have saved me tons of time, effort, and money with your wealth of knowledge!

I have a '75 2wd f250 supercab and looks like the previous owner removed the midship tank. Thankfully this site has stopped me from ordering incorrect tanks that wont fit already, but I'm wondering if anyone has come up with any other solutions besides hoping to find one come up on ebay, craig's list, fb market place,...? I've seen the 38 gallon options for the rear and that solves the problem of capacity, but it hangs a bit lower and i'd still have the old pointless cap on my bedside and a switch on my dash.

I found this thread https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nt-issues.html and it got me thinking that it looks like it's maybe just that bracing from that cross member preventing the use of a regular or crewcab version from fitting. i'm sure that's giving the driverside necessary support to prevent it from twisting, but i'm considering ordering a reg or crewcab tank, removing that brace and trying to add back in that support before or after the tank.

I'm open to any ideas really, but if this is a horrible idea, i'd love someone to talk me out of it... i'm sure i'm not alone, but i just want my truck to have the functioning options it was designed with.

thanks!

 

I want to change over to plastic tanks in my project '79 Scab, so I tried mocking up an original plastic 79 f250 reg cab tank and it was close. I'm pretty sure it could be heated and reshaped to fit around that brace, but i think it'd lose some capacity, but with a 19gal rear tank you'd still be around 30-35 gallons total. The other option is having a new metal tank modified. It'd be easy enough for a competent welder to notch it for the brace.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be modifying a bunch of stuff on that side to fit a 35 gallon plastic tank out of a 90's Dodge. I have an 8"x8" x1/2" piece of angle I got at the scrapyard I'm gonna bolt in place of that brace to open that area up.

 

was it pretty much just that brace going from the top of the cross member to the bottom of the frame in the way? Hell, i don't even mind denting the top of the tank that no one will see rather than getting someone to weld it.

i'm single digit mpg with the 390 and the <20 in the back aint going to cut it lol

 

I tried to look at the tanks yesterday but all my parts are buried right now. I also have pictures, but I have way too many and they aren't organized so i can't find the tank pics i took. I'm alot of help, huh?

Yeah that angle bracket that supports the frame hits the tank. If I remember correctly, it's been over a year since i played with the tanks, the reg cab plastic tank looks like that new metal tank in that post. It has a similar relief for a crossmember, but it's about 6-8"(?) too far forward and at least a couple inched higher than a S-Cab tank, I don't think you could bash in a metal tank enough to clear without possibly splitting a seam. And if you could dent it enough, you'd deform the sides so much you'd have to modify the pickup because the pickup/sender mounting hole is gonna move. The plastic tank can be heated and shaped if you were careful, and even if you made a hole/thin spot, it's a plastic tank and can be repaired easily with the right epoxy and some fiberglass matting to reinforce it.

I'd find a radiator shop or a fabrication/hot rod shop and talk to them about modifying a new tank, ya never know, it might be worth to have a tank you can bolt in. If you can cut it, fit it and make a cardboard template to fill the hole, that's most of the labor, then you just need someone to bend up a patch and weld it in.

 

appreciate the thoughts... i think i have a guy who can help me weld in a relief. if it's not too much money, i'll do that and post here. if it is too much, i'll go the plastic route. thanks bud