fuel tank 2.5TD 1997 LWB VAN

[billyboy]

Does anybody know if a bigger tank is available ( bigger than the standard 68 litres ) or maybe one off a lorry.

[MrMPuk]

What's that 3rd time lucky? How many more times you gonna ask?

[stevew]

What about fitting two tanks?
Does the left hand drive transit have the fuel filler and tank on the other side? If so get one of those and fit it. You'd have to come up with some cunning arrangement to switch between them without having to bleed the fuel system every time but it might be worth a go.
Steve

[billyboy]

What about fitting two tanks?
Does the left hand drive transit have the fuel filler and tank on the other side? If so get one of those and fit it. You'd have to come up with some cunning arrangement to switch between them without having to bleed the fuel system every time but it might be worth a go.
Steve

Yeh I think there might be enough room for another standard tank behind the normal one.

[100ps_drw_hicube]

What about fitting two tanks?
Does the left hand drive transit have the fuel filler and tank on the other side? If so get one of those and fit it. You'd have to come up with some cunning arrangement to switch between them without having to bleed the fuel system every time but it might be worth a go.
Steve

all sounds good but i can see one slight problem THE EXHAUST!!

[stevew]

Hmmm, yeah. Guess I should have gone and looked before I posted!
Steve

[100ps_drw_hicube]

Hmmm, yeah. Guess I should have gone and looked before I posted!
Steve

thinking about it you could mod the exhaust so it exits behind the drivers door and mount the tank a bit further back a bit like some ducato's i think

[stevew]

As Billyboy says, isn't there enough room on the LWB to just fit two on the same side one bihend the other? Again I think the tricky bit would be connecting to them. Would you have a switch to change tanks? I suppose if neither tank every ran dry it could work.
Steve

[100ps_drw_hicube]

i have looked at my hicube and i would say no because theres only 20" before the leaf spring mounts etc and the tank is bigger than 20"

[Gunslinger]

i too considered a number of options/ideas in relation to this, and have shelved the idea for the moment, here is a list of things/thoughts related to this, they are not really in any order, and some are possible ideas that need investigating further

my line of thought is based on my mk2 lwb, but the same sort of things should be able to converted/considered for your vehicle

1) mount custom tank in front of original behind door step ?
2) mount another tank opposite side of van, use lhd or modify rhd unit
3) exit exhaust really early (under d/s footstep) being carefull of ground clearance on coming off kerbs etc slowly (too slow = bashed exhaust) - this poss better idea for TD engine, as less mufflers needed)
4) run exhaust closer to prop for extra clearance
5) use spare wheel area to house second tank, mount spare wheel on rear door (inside or out) or find home on D/S of vehicle like LDV's do
6) link tanks for breathing purposes - use original breather points
7) 2 filling points or 1 ?
8 ) 2 filling points needs switchover capabilities or transfer pump
9) one filling point means tanks must be linked at lowest point .... bad idea, dependant on location ... propshaft issues, rear axle issues. exhaust issues ... big issue of large linking pipe lowdown being first to snag stuff ... only really an option if mounting custom tank infront of original
10) weight issues if all on one side of vehicle ?
11) fuel gauge for second tank ? - poss one from ebay saw mk2 gauge in tis own pod seperate to dashboard panel not long ago
12) need to use both tanks regularily to avoid fuel stagnating problems
13) becareful of rules governing fuel tanks being lower than side of bodywork - mainly a camper problem
14) poss airlocks in system ?

ok thats just some thoughts there are obviously other issues to consider, i shelved the idea for now becasue it is not vital for me and is only something i will play with when i am back on the road.

but here is what i would probably do (mk2 lwb remember)

1) reconfigure the exhaust to exit behind the front wheel (drivers side maybe) somewhere half way along the foot step or behind it if possible,
2) put heat protecting plate after it
3) mount a lhd tank (if the filler tube is on the otherside, if not mod a rhd one to suite or look to possibly using a mk3 one)
4) keep the breathers seperate
5) use a small electric diesel pump as a transfer pump, connect lift tube/output tube of second tank to "T" piece fitted very close to tank return pipe fitting on main tank (use this to fill 1st tank from 2nd using transfer pump)
6) if fuel warning light can be used to trigger a "delay off" type relay, then set the off delay at a suitable time so as not to over fill tank 1, use low fuel light wire on tank 2 to over-ride power to transfer pump (forcing you to do it manually, dont want pump running dry for too long) if cant be arranged automatically then put manual switch on transfer pump

biggest pain in the ass i see is actually filling the second tank, there is no perfect solution, as each have drawbacks relating to bodywork etc, i even thought about a mk3 tank type fitting which fills from behind the drivers side door, using a standard mk2 tank fitted backwards, but that gives me exhaust headaches unless i change the downpipe so it doesnt cross the van, and exit it on the n's of the van, but that means standing infront of it when using the side loading door, as you can see .... nothing is perfect

[100ps_drw_hicube]

some great points there g.s. i am trying to think of any other type of van that has a tank on the d/s ?? also does the later engines need all the silencer boxes ?? i know it will be a bit louder but will it affect power??

[Gunslinger]

as a general rule, diesel engines dont require the same sort of back pressure needed in petrol engines, however you do need some, i think, and i am not 100% sure but you can probably get away with just a down pipe and out/exit pipe on a TD engine, such as a side pipe, because the turbo creates back pressure, and gasses exiting it will be moving fast enough anyway, and also the turbo will work as a silencer of sorts.

as for fuel tank on the other side, it was a mk3 one that attracted my interest becasue as standard they are fitted to the nearside, but are filled from the leading edge, so for my mk2, if i fitted a mk3 tank on the drivers side, then it would be filling from the trailing edge, so ... flip the idea around, and fit a mk2 one to your later van on the drivers side and that will be filling from the leading edge, then all you have to do is fabricate a matching filling point as per your passengerside, chances are you can go cut a big section out of one from the breakers yard, and make it fit

it is not so easy for the mk2 as it needs another egg shaped hole cutting in the floor and then a section from the side of the van transplanting in so that you have thefilling point, not to mention the pain of a tube to fit and loss of space inside thats why i was contemplating a custon tank infront of the original, so no need for filling point )

[100ps_drw_hicube]

as a general rule, diesel engines dont require the same sort of back pressure needed in petrol engines, however you do need some, i think, and i am not 1100% sure but you can probably get away with just a down pipe and out pipe on a TD engine, because the turbo creates back pressure, and gasses exiting it will be moving fast enough anyway, and also the turbo will work as a silencer of sorts.

)

great cheers for that g.s i am more used to 2 strokes where it relies on all the back pressure possible so in theory if i were to keep the front flexi pipe and exit the exhaust straight out under the back of the d/s step it should all just fit all i need now is a mk2 tank and i can start has anyone got the dimensions of a mk2 tank

[Gunslinger]

see if you can get a little more info before doing anything permenant, and also possibly get it onto a rolling road before and after, i editted my post above a little bit too, just added "such as a side pipe" and corrected 1100% to %100

someone has got to have tried this before i am sure

as for fuel tank, mine is out of the vehicle, but it is stored in the van in the hanger its in at the moment so not so easy to get to to measure, but if you get stuck give me a shout

[billyboy]

My mk3 is a 190 LWB TD and the tank is about 38" long. It's also 4x4 county trac conversion and has a quirky exhaust finnishing in front of the offside rear wheel. So it has quite a few bends from the near side at the front and crosses where an extra tank would go on the offside.
I also have an older mk 3 with a pinto petrol engine and that tank is more like 28" long so I'm hoping to use that as a doner just to try it up behind on the same side. It looks touch and go in the dark so will look better in the daylight.
I think it would be good to keep things simple rather than try and feed one tank into the other. I'm thinking along the lines of a change over switch and 2 different fuel gauges and filler tubes.
I will be converting it to a camper so will be able to balance the weight a bit with a water tank and heavy leisure batteries on the off side.