Gas tank question:

The stock location is under the drivers seat. The one that is in my jeep now looks like a custom job, about 5" tall and fits in the very back. It was covered with carpet and difficult to see even with the fill tube. Problem is, its rusted and leaks. Good thing that drivers window won't roll all the way up or this thing probably woulda went boom.

My question: How safe is the gas tank under your seat incase of a roll over? I'm currently looking at different options and figured I'd ask. I was thinking of one of the aftermarket poly tanks. Has anyone ever rolled and had problems with gas leaking when upside down?

Question in Bold since I'm longwinded today.

 

I just don't want a gas shower if I got up side down. It can run out on the ground all it wants.

 

Mine leaks from the fittings on top if I fill it all the way up. R) R) R) R)

Gasoline is a volatile flammable liquid/vapor.

Given the right conditions....

BOOM!

(several thousand times a minute!)

 

Thank you sir. I'll have the current one reconditioned.

 

Could always convert to LPG as well... it won't spill when inverted, and your engine will still run, too!

 

How do you covert it, how much will it cost and where do you fill up?

 

Conversion consists of a few basic parts...

1) DOT rated fuel tank
2) Vaporizer (uses water from the engine in a heat exchanger to convert liquid propane into a vapor)
3) Mixer (think carb)
4) throttle body from a carb that fits your intake
5) mixer-to-throttle-body adaptor
6) some hoses

The tank is usually the most expensive piece, unless you buy all brand-new parts.

It costs a few hundred dollars or more, depending on what equipment you go with and what size and shape tank you use.

You fill up anywhere that sells propane, and in a pinch you can use those little BBQ grill tanks to add some fuel to your main tank (can't operate the vehicle from it, it's not DOT approved) so you can get down the road a ways.

Propane is cheaper than gas, has a higher octane rating than gas, but less specific energy. your miles per gallon will be slightly less on propane, but your power will be about the same. propane is CLEAN BURNING and is NOT a solvent (like gas) so any that pushes past your rings doesn't mess up your engine oil. There are folks out there that have run 50,000 miles between oil changes with propane, and hte oil analysis still says the oil has life in it and it's still OIL colored (not black!)

You can run dual-fuel, gas/lpg, but if you have such a setup most states will make you pass emissions using both systems, but if you do that, you lose the advantages such as oil life and cleanliness.

The best thing for a trail rig with LPG is that there is no float to get stuck when you get off-camber, so you can still have a simple engine design w/o fuel injection, and still be able to run your engine at crazy inclines and angles.

 

i was considering propane at one point but, the only problem i found would be you would loose power, IF u didn't raise you compression ratio. because of the properties of propane it acts like a higher octane fuel and you would need up in to the 11:1 ratio to get optimal power out of it. and with the f or l heads u need all u can get. when i was looking in to it, i heard a lower compression engine would loose about 10%, but once you get into the higher compression engines the power loss becomes minimal. and with my v6, fresh rebuild and around 8:1 and not wanting to tear it apart. i decided against the conversion. sorry if i helped hijach the thread. when i was considering converting, i did tons of research. it is a very simple and straight forward conversion with tons of benefits. i plan on doing it on my next build vehicle.

 

Water injection for when you need the extra power?

It worked for the P51 Mustangs. atriot: