Sherman gas tanks for a 69 Charger

[MaximRecoil]

They are only $90 from Rockauto.com. Are they any good in terms of fit and quality of materials/construction? How about Spectra and/or Goodmark sending units?

[FLG]

Most people ive seen go with sepctra tanks...they seem to be fine. Sending units on the other hand seem to be a complete crap shoot...you need to do a bunch of work usually to get them working correctly.

[MaximRecoil]

I'll be the guinea pig for the Sherman gas tank I guess, since I ordered one already. I figure that at half the price of the Spectra tank, it is worth a try.

What sort of work do people usually do to get the sending units to work correctly? The ones that don't work correctly, are they not allowing fuel delivery or is there a problem with the gas gauge; or both?

[elacruze]

The thing to do with the sending unit is to block the tank up on the floor at the same angle as your trunk floor, and use some jumper wires to connect the sender to the gauge wire and ground; Reach in through the filler hole with a coathanger or something and work the float through it's range while somebody watches the gauge. Remove/bend/reinstall until it makes you happy...I didn't do my own, but will as soon as I can. I'd like it to read correctly at empty, rather than at full-currently it reads 3/4 when full and shows empty when it's about 1/3-1/4 tank. You may not be able to get both ends right, but I wouldn't care if it still says full when it's 3/4 as long as I know when I'm running out.

[jsbrown]

FWIW, a friend recently got the sherman tank. Seems to work fine, but its the cheaper zinc plating that looks like its been painted. I have a slug of the tin plated tanks. If anyone is interested, drop me a PM. That's the same plating that's used on the spectra tanks.

Jeff

[maxwellwedge]

I'll be the guinea pig for the Sherman gas tank I guess, since I ordered one already. I figure that at half the price of the Spectra tank, it is worth a try.

What sort of work do people usually do to get the sending units to work correctly? The ones that don't work correctly, are they not allowing fuel delivery or is there a problem with the gas gauge; or both?

With the pain it is to change a tank I will always go for the Spectra. How much did you save?

[MaximRecoil]

With the pain it is to change a tank I will always go for the Spectra. How much did you save?

$90 vs. $180; i.e., half price. I don't think it is much of a pain to change the tank. I took the old tank out in a matter of a few minutes (disconnected the fuel line and filler neck, and loosened two nuts on the J-bolts). It would be a little more of a hassle putting it back in (because gravity is working against you instead of for you), but still not a big deal.

The tank arrived yesterday, but I'm still waiting for the sending unit. Here's a picture of it:

[tan top]

 that looks a nice tank !!  the new MP one i got 10 years back was crap  looking compared to that    even had to re bend the seam below the sender so the straps would fit  , were bent in wrong place on the MP one  

[MaximRecoil]

I got the Sherman gas tank installed today with no problems (good fit). I have no idea who it will hold up in the long term however.

[Richard Cranium]

Anyone heard of Quanta gas tanks?

http://www.gastanks.com/1968-70-Charger-w_o-EEC/productinfo/CR-9A/

Who's got a link to the best price for the Spectra tank?

[lexxman]

I got the Sherman gas tank installed today with no problems (good fit). I have no idea who it will hold up in the long term however.

what gauge meterial is it made out of?I need a tank for mine,I have had guys try to sell me used tanks for 100.00-150.00 and a new for 250.00.
So 90 bucks sounds great.

[MaximRecoil]

I got the Sherman gas tank installed today with no problems (good fit). I have no idea who it will hold up in the long term however.

what gauge meterial is it made out of?I need a tank for mine,I have had guys try to sell me used tanks for 100.00-150.00 and a new for 250.00.
So 90 bucks sounds great.

I don't know. The thickness of the lip is about 1/16". The lip is double layer because it is where the top and bottom sections of the tank are joined together at the factory, so the thickness of the sheet metal is about 1/32" (0.03125"). That would make it 21 or 22 gauge according to this chart. I can't get any more precise than that because I only measured it by holding a tape measure to it, rather than something more accurate like calipers or a micrometer.

[lexxman]

That sound good,as long as its not thin like paper.

[Mike DC]

The thickness of the sheetmetal is part of the story but the alloy of the steel is another one.   

Grab the repro tank and step onto a bathroom scale.  My original tank weighed about 17-18 pounds. 

[cavemanno1]

We got our tank and sending unit from here! http://www.521restorations.com/index.pl?page=bbody&sub1=Fuel
we had no problem with it at all!
he is a member here as well!nice guy to deal with!

Peter

[MaximRecoil]

The thickness of the sheetmetal is part of the story but the alloy of the steel is another one.   

Grab the repro tank and step onto a bathroom scale.  My original tank weighed about 17-18 pounds. 

Are you suggesting that with a given thickness of steel, tanks made of different steel alloys will weigh more or less? If so, that's not true; at least not to a significant degree. All steel (not counting stainless steel alloys) weighs about the same, whether it is mild steel or chromoly. With stonger steel alloys, parts/structures can be made from thinner material while retaining sufficient strength, resulting in a lighter product, but that doesn't apply to gas tanks; pretty much all of which are made from mild steel.

By the way, tin-plating steel doesn't offer it much rust protection. Throw a "tin can" (made from tin-plated steel) outside sometime and it will soon rust. The same goes for the old style "tin roofs" (also tin-plated steel), which had to be periodically painted to keep rust at bay.

[70sixpkrt]

Do they have the expansion tank inside the tank like the originals with ECS?

[Mike DC]

Are you suggesting that with a given thickness of steel, tanks made of different steel alloys will weigh more or less? If so, that's not true; at least not to a significant degree. All steel (not counting stainless steel alloys) weighs about the same, whether it is mild steel or chromoly. With stonger steel alloys, parts/structures can be made from thinner material while retaining sufficient strength, resulting in a lighter product, but that doesn't apply to gas tanks; pretty much all of which are made from mild steel.

By the way, tin-plating steel doesn't offer it much rust protection. Throw a "tin can" (made from tin-plated steel) outside sometime and it will soon rust. The same goes for the old style "tin roofs" (also tin-plated steel), which had to be periodically painted to keep rust at bay.

All steel grades might weigh virtually the same in theory, assuming they are all decent quality. 

But in real world practice the repro industry has a habit of delivering steel that is alarmingly bad quality.  Some of the stuff is much too lightweight in proportion to its thickness.  You don't need precise measuring methods to detect the difference; a lot of times we're talking about a difference that is obvious just by holding the old & new metal with your bare hands.  Your MIG welder will spark & spatter when it hits the impurities.  The cutoff wheels & drill bits go right through the stuff almost like it's aluminum. 

[MaximRecoil]

All steel grades might weigh virtually the same in theory, assuming they are all decent quality. 

But in real world practice the repro industry has a habit of delivering steel that is alarmingly bad quality.  Some of the stuff is much too lightweight in proportion to its thickness.  You don't need precise measuring methods to detect the difference; a lot of times we're talking about a difference that is obvious just by holding the old & new metal with your bare hands.  Your MIG welder will spark & spatter when it hits the impurities.  The cutoff wheels & drill bits go right through the stuff almost like it's aluminum.

I do have the tank sitting out on the porch (I took it out of the car because we've been working on the trunk floor and rear subframe rails), but I don't have a scale. I don't have the original tank anymore to compare it to either (it was rusted out and disposed of). However, here is a picture of the box it came in and the shipping label, which gives the actual weight as 25.7 pounds. Subtract the weight of the cardboard box, the lock ring, and the rubber gasket from that.