I can have it done with a plasma cam at my school

 

I guess I can see your idea of fuel foaming but I don't think so. Besides I typically refill my tanks before they get much below 1/4 full anyway.
I showed my design to the guy I got my aluminum for the tank off of. He's a custom tank builder (buddy of my uncle) who has been doing it for 40 years or so. He builds tanks for boats, trailers, hot rods - you name it. He's the one that suggested the L shaped "shields" I have in front of the pick up & return. Aside from having me REMOVE some of the cuts in the baffles I had for fuel flow, as he said they weren't needed, he seemed to like my design. I'll trust that he knows enough that he would have commented on too many baffles.


My concern with selling the plans thing is they are then easy to copy & sell. Kinda crappy, but it's a reality. Same reason I didn't want to sell just plans for my motor mounts.

 

Sounds good to me! the foam was a long shot at best anyways.

As far as your plans you could do what Sully tools did for their lock out tools. The owner/designer trademarked the designs, in his words it was safer protection than patents for two reasons: patents expire and easier to win in court for trademark infringement. I'm no lawyer so I have no idea if that's true but it sounded good at the time, I met him at a AAA lock out seminar back in the 90's.

 

because that is what Steve wants to do with his time go around and find people who stole his plans and try to sue them for the money......

 

"My concern with selling the plans thing is they are then easy to copy & sell. Kinda crappy, but it's a reality. Same reason I didn't want to sell just plans for my motor mounts."

I see your point didnt quite think about it that way. <!-- / message -->
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I was back in the shop last night for another "add" night. I messed with a bunch of different little stuff.

1st - got the diff. cover back on the sterling after adding the drain bung & cleaning it up a bit.


Been thinking I need to get back to the t-case recently as I will need it in the truck to find the angle on the yoke for the rear yoke so I can figure out the pinion angle on the axle. So Next I messed with the t-case mounts I started a while ago that will "clock" the thing a bit. Hopefully they do what I want.


I also just saw a couple 1410 u-joint yokes for the t-case come up on eBay for a good price so I grabbed them. Been kinda watching for some for a while. Once they get here I need to machine them for a u-bolt vs. the factory, strap style retainment but hopefully that's easy & quick. Once that's done it's time to redo the seals & gaskets in the t-case & at that time I'll re-grind the shift rail so I can twin-stick the sucker.


ADD got the best of me though & I started messing with another "new" to me deal... I traded my 10" stroke Kings yesterday for some 8" stroke ones that'll work a bit better so I was excited to see how they fit. They still aren't "perfect", but they will fit much better. I started a bit on the upper shock mounts. I'm just making some brackets & figuring things out for now as I can't weld any of this completely til the axle is in. And that goes back to the t-case being back in the truck...



Oh and I've been welding on the tank a bit more as I have some short stints in the truck. Stuff like running up there at lunch break, etc.



It's getting a lot closer. I'm waiting to hear back from the people I'm ordering the sender from to finalize the fill plate on this. And on that note I think I figured out I'm going to put a fuel door in the thing. I'm going to run the 87-96 style since I have the parts & was able to test fit close enough. Problem is the filler tube I have for this is for a gasser and I need one for a diesel. So if anyone has the rear tank fill tube off an '87-'96/'97 F-series they'll sell - let me know how much you want for it.

Oh and since I'm begging for parts - I also need the e-brake cable off an 80 or newer (up to current trucks should work) F series. I need something off a supercab short bed, supercab long bed or crew cab, short bed - depending on the year of the truck. Anyone got anything?

 

Fuel tank is now welded aside from the top plate. I'm waiting on figuring out my fuel fill & sending unit before I finish that. I'm close on it, but sending unit is going on my Christmas list so may not be able to finish til mid January as if I don't get it I'll be ordering then.

I've also got a bunch of stuff I need for this thing on the Christmas list, so let's hope Santa is nice to me. I've been good I swear

Tonight I'm back in the shop for a long run & I've got a bunch on my list to do so we'll see if any of it actually gets done...

 

Did you ever finish the Alpha? I remember a push to get that done awhile back?

 

Wow, I was 14 when this thread was started, I'm 18 now. Back when I thought I liked chevy. Man am I glad that didn't continue.

Anyway this is a great thread and a great project. Keep up the good work.

 

I hear steve is pullin the cummins to swap in a 6.9 idi. Something about a massive powerhouse and him wanting to be different and on the cutting edge.

 

Nice signature Redneck.

 

Alfa is sitting here & currently not running due to sitting & letting the gas go bad.
I was waiting on a buddy for my seats so I could set up the roll bar in the right spot. Well... I'm still waiting. I NEED to take some time, throw some temporary seats in the thing & get it running. Problem is I'm not getting a ton of shop time right now & every minute I'm in there I'm more focused on getting the crew closer to done.



Thanks! Hard to believe it's already been that long but I seem to drag **** on my builds...
Oh an I don't mind Chevy's at all. Heck my next frankenstein of a project is another one of these 70's trucks but with a 6.0L LQ4 or LQ9 out of a chevy with a 4L80E behind it. Plenty of power & good mileage to boot. Beats a 460 or similar any day


Nice redneck. Who knows - maybe the troll is still watching this & will see it. He seems to want to make a big deal & post in every other thread that mentions a cummins swap. He certainly didn't seem to say much when I told him I'd pin my build against his any day. I wonder why


Ok, so enough stirring the pot and back to the topic at hand - my NEVER ENDING, 4 year + labor of "love". At this point I'm wondering if I'm a sadist for enduring this BS. Then again I just keep finding more and more I wouldn't be happy with if I left it, and it's "easier" to do it now then "finish" the truck and tear the thing back apart to fix it...

That being said - I made some progress last night. I forgot the camera though. I did run up there on lunch today to weld a bit more so I snapped a couple pics.

1st thing last night was making a couple little "skid plate" or guard type things for the fuel pickup & return fittings.




I then started to put the tank in the truck. Unfortunately I hit a slight snag... One I thought I might hit, but and will involve a tiny bit of cutting... I wanted to make sure I was going to cut before I did the cutting and now I'm regretting it... The top, flat of the frame flares out a bit where the factory cross member rivited in and the top of my tank is hitting that. Not a huge deal at all to cut off - it just means the bed needs to come off again - putting me back in the how to do that scenario, and that I'm cutting on my nicely painted frame. Oh well

I think I'm picking up one of the Harbor Freight 1 ton chain hoists this weekend for $35 so that should take care of the bed. If not I'll pull the alfa back & use the cherry picker. I just have to put the bed back on & pull the car back in before I can finish that day.

So enough with the annoyances - back to pics.

Next I messed with the t-case mounts. I test fit the thing, then tacked, then took apart & welded. The range rail on the t-case is CLOSE to hitting the x-member but it clears. I just have to pay attention to how I build the shifter connection when I get to that.

Ok - enough babble - here's a couple more pics.

 

Tank looks good.

I'm going to be real interested in how you tackle the T case shifter.

 

me too! as my trans shifter sits in the hole where the t-case shifters were before. I'm thinking I'm going to have to put the t-case shifters on the pass. side of the trans, but not sure yet. May have to go to a morse cable for linkage.

 

Chase, I am always impressed with your work, that tank is nice! I have respect for anyone who can weld aluminum and make it look that nice!

All your updates make me want to get to work on my truck!

Sam