Second tank in tailgate for WVO conversion

[1983 300TD]

I removed the third seat in the tailgate of my wagon today. I've been deliberating as to where I want to put my second tank for my wvo conversion. The biggest thing is that I don't want to lose any cargo room.

Question is: has anyone ever fabricated or actually bought a fuel tank that fits this small and unique space? I have to assume you'd have to make it. If so, what did you make it out of? Did you hire it out? If so, how much did it cost?
Thanks.
Damon Fite ---1983 300TD Wagon

[MTUpower]

Think marine (or in your case- great lakes) fuel tank fabricators.... many many shapes and sizes, and many places that will custom make to your specifications.

[Jimmy Joe]

Ta Da!
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=30050&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults
These are below deck....

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=30045&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults
These are above deck....

Advantages/disadvantages to both...

[miamimike]

Originally Posted by 1983 300TD

I removed the third seat in the tailgate of my wagon today. I've been deliberating as to where I want to put my second tank for my wvo conversion. The biggest thing is that I don't want to lose any cargo room.

Question is: has anyone ever fabricated or actually bought a fuel tank that fits this small and unique space? I have to assume you'd have to make it. If so, what did you make it out of? Did you hire it out? If so, how much did it cost?
Thanks.
Damon Fite ---1983 300TD Wagon

Hey-go to Http://www.greasecars.com as they make a lot of custom tanks for VW owners converting to WVO.

[sleeeper]

I am in the planning stage of converting my wagon to wvo.
I have decided to remove the vacuum resevoir behind the main fuel tank and relocate a smaller one and most likely add an auxilary vacuum pump from a newer model to run the door locks. I have measured and believe I can fit a 8.5 gallon custom tank in it's place. I considered the space your thinking of but I dedcided to keep the fuel out side of the passenger space. I will be running vo in the stock tank and putting diesel in the new one. My advice would be to make a cardboard and tape mockup of the tank you want and use it as a template to weld one up. If you need to have it welded for you, you could have the welder coppy the final mockup. I am slowly moving forward with the conversion but would love to keep up to date on yours. In the off chance I finish my tank soon I will let you know and post some pics. Right now I am torn between using steel or aluminum and trying to figure out fuel gauge sending units, fuel line fittings and baffles to keep the sloshing down. good luck and let us know.

[1983 300TD]

Cool.
Thanks for the great links and responses. Sleeper, I think making a cardboard mock-up is a great idea. I've been trying to figure with the dimensions that I have for the available space how much volume it will hold. Does anyone remember that formula from school or the 'real world'.
It's something like width x height x length divided by something....

Damon Fite

[odie]

I've been experimenting with blends in the stock fuel system of my TD wagon. I've gone as high as 50% unheated.

I'm thinking of maybe going to 80-90% blend in the main tank and using a small "pony" tank for diesel start up.

I would love to go straight WVO but I will not have a bulky second tank in the way.

My thoughts are to turn the windshield washer tank into a diesel tank. I figure it holds about a gallon, maybe a little more. It it right there in the engine bay so fuel line routing is way simple. Iwould just start up on diesel and switch to WVO after about 5 miles. I figure I would get 3 or 4 cold starts before needing to refill. Or I could just put a bigger tank in it's place as there is extra room.

I can live without the washer tank. I rarely use the washer on any of my cars. And I can always put a generic "bag" washer tank on the drivers fender and universal pump it I just HAVE to have a washer.

[WannaWagon]

Check out some of these tanks made for marine applications...

Portable tanks:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=79&langId=-1&subdeptNum=78&storeNum=6

Permanent tanks:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=257&langId=-1&subdeptNum=78&storeNum=6

They come in all different sizes and shapes, but are mostly on the large side. The portables include a couple of flexible bladder-type tanks that might work well in unusual locations.

[Jimmy Joe]

You will notice that the tanks from BassPro are about one-half the cost of the tanks from WestMarine=for the exact same tank.

[kip Foss]

If the area where you want the tank is an odd shape try making a fiberglass mold of it. Go to a boat repair shop. They can coat the inside of the area with release agent, lay in glass mat, coat it in resin, and now you have a form. Build up the inside of the form with with more glass, add a stiffner around the top edge, fab a top, with a filler spout, and as they say in the classics, "Bob's your uncle".

[MTUpower]

After all this talk, gotta consider that the third seat floor space is very shallow, but lots of length and width- the worst form for a fuel tank. I think you'll need more depth to pull fuel without consistantly sucking air. No real "low point" either. I'd put the WVO in the main cell and either replace the spare tire space or the jack/first aid kit/rear wiper fluid area with a fuel cell for diesel. You could then plumb it to the sealed third seat floor space tank.

[odie]

How big a tank can you get in that rear wiper tank area? Would you still retain the jack there? Remember, every good little space for a second tank is probably gonna displace something else.

[1983 300TD]

Originally Posted by MTUpower

After all this talk, gotta consider that the third seat floor space is very shallow, but lots of length and width- the worst form for a fuel tank. I think you'll need more depth to pull fuel without consistantly sucking air. No real "low point" either. I'd put the WVO in the main cell and either replace the spare tire space or the jack/first aid kit/rear wiper fluid area with a fuel cell for diesel. You could then plumb it to the sealed third seat floor space tank.

O.K. You make a very valid point. The third seat tank idea just won't work unless you are willing to have the tank rise above the plain of the tailgate. You have no more than 3 inches of depth, and that's being generous. So.... my new idea is to put the tank in the spare tire compartment. I made a cardboard mock-up and figure it will hold 8-10 gallons of WVO! Cool, huh? And you won't have to sacrifice any cargo room. Of course, I'll have to sacrifice my spare tire. But after thinking about this for a bit, I've only actually used my spare tire once in the past 7 years. The plumbing should be easy enough, just drill thru the bottom pan of the spare tire compartment. (Just a side point: I love saying stuff like "the plumbing should be easy..." , because even though I don't truly believe that, it seems like a nice positive thought to start out with )

Out of curiosity, has anyone with a wagon actually done this, that is, put a spare tank where the spare tire goes? If you have, or have any suggestions or ideas that would help, let me know. Thank you.
Damon Fite---1983 300TD Wagon---303,000+miles

[odie]

do not lose the spare tire...unless you mean to excersise

the day after you remove it you will have a flat. I had to use the spare twice in a month. You just never know. You will never stop kicking yourself ocne you are stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere on a sunday. you will know the true meaning of screwed.

Figure out something else.

[KansasDiesel]

300TD.


I have a Greasecar 15 gal tank in the back of my 87 300td. I didn't want to loose space either but for now I wanted the free WVO to drive on worse.
I have plans to build a tank that would fit between the back seat and the 3rd row seat. It appears that It would be a good sized triangle looking tank. My idea also was to make a pattern out of cardboard before cutting up some alum.

Odie: you don't want a small diesel tank if you could help it, I believe you would be filling it more then you think, moreso in a cold climate. I have to let mine warm up here in Kansas and I think I use more diesel then I think i should.