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Working on getting the tank mounted:  I started making a bunch of straps to suspend the tank in the frame:  ...and then:
So with 7 brackets all bent up, i grabbed a piece of scrap steel sheet, and made side shields, and a lower panel, to keep road debris from hitting the tank
...with that done, it was time to reinstall the tank and hangar!
This shows the feed line from the sump in the tank, to the failsafe solenoid:  Ultimately, i decided to mount the pump in the underside of this xmember:  ..and with the pump mounted and plumbed, its time to start on the wiring. This is the original harness i ran down the frame years ago, with a wedgelock connector on the end so i could plug in the extension harness:  ...and this is th eenxtension harness. Originally the harness ran up the bulkhead of the bed, but with the dump bed conversion done years later i had to make and extension harness to run down to the end of the frame rail and then double back along the underside of the bed. Well, with the new tank location we wont be needing this anymore:  ...and this is the wiring harness that was inside the toolbox under the water tank. With the new pump & tank locations, now is the perfect time to take this apart, clean it up, and lay it out a bit nicer  So now its time to dig into my 10-15 year old wiring diagrams, reverse engineer this system, and clean up the wiring!  Its time to reinstall the water/methanol injection in the F250!  Originally the system was installed in the tool box where it was safe and out of harms way:  But this time, with the aluminum dump bed i dont want the tank in the bed anymore, so i need to come up with a new place for it. So since we swapped the 38 gallon tank in place of the rear tank, that means that technically i dont need the front tank anymore. So, out it came!  This frees up a ton of space to install my 12 gallon tank:  I took the original fuel lines and made a stubby line to connect the two ports on the diverter valve, so i cant accidentally dump fuel under the truck. This will suffice for now, until i do the e-fuel conversion  Mocking things up, this is the plan for the water tank location:
It looks like its sticking way up but its not too bad. In its current temporary place its flush with the bottom of the frame rail and clears the bottom of the bed, so this will work, altho i think im going to lower it an inch or two, just for some extra clearance. Now to get a hangar designed and built.... Made a bit of a goofup, seems i designed my sending unit float arm to occupy the same space as the tank rollover vent, so the gauge would only read 3/4 full. So back out it came!  Pulled the rollover valve out, and you can see the problem:  this was a simple fix though, i just added a bend to the swing arm to move it over and away from the rollover valve:  ...and as a finishing touch for the bed, i removed the original 'unleaded fuel only' sticker, and replaced with a new one:  With the bed done id like to get the truck inspected (as i have work piling up that i need it for), but after 15 years, the Banks exhaust i had on here was falling apart and had been patched back together multiple times. Well finally the muffler rotted out and broke:  As a quick fix, i just eliminated it and threw an elbow on there so i could drive it to the exhaust shop
Its a total brodozer look and i hate it, but it was sufficient to drive to the exhaust shop to get a proper exhaust made anyway  So now ive got 4" stainless all the way from the downpipe to the tip, along with a new stainless muffler as well   Nice and quiet, for a 4" pipe anyways. So from there it was just a matter of stopping and filling up the rear tank, so next week i can finally drop the front tank out of the frame rails  I bet you didnt think this would fit, but it totally does, and with room to spare:  And the new rear tank holds an honest 38 gallons  Its way out of inspection (was due in august), and i still need to get my water/methanol injection reinstalled, but at least she's a driver once more!  The next part of the project is lighting. I need to wire up the bed, but i also need a place to put my license plate, trailer plug and reverse lights  I spent some time staring at that space, and started thinking about just building a panel to house my lights & plate, similar to what a traditional dump truck might have  Mocking up in steel:   Brand new Ford wedgelock pins.....  ...means i can rewire a new trailer 7-way, to plug directly into the truck's harness  ...and this gray 8-pin connector is the plug for the original bed's tailllights. The plan is to rewire the bed lights to plug directly into this using some more wedgelock pins and connectors  Running wires  ...and with all wires ran, the panel is now installed!  Why have an 18 gallon tank when you can have a 38 gallon one? Let's go! This is a Spectra F26E tank. Fits right into the frame rail, and comes with longer hardware to reuse the original gas tank straps  I modified the original sending unit to reach another 6" down to the bottom of the new tank, and then replaced the original float arm with a longer one from a bronco sending unit, altho i had to change the shape of it (bend) to get it to display accurately, while also being able to fit it thru the hole in the tank  Sorry i dont have better pics as this is when i broke the lens over my camera, so youll have to wait for the video if you want more info on the sending unit mods. That said, the tank is installed!
As you can see, it fits in there nicely and despite being bigger than the bronco tank, doesnt hang down as far:  This would be the end of the mods for the swap, except dump bed. Seems theres some aluminum in the way:  I had to notch the aluminum frame rail to make room for the filler neck. I also removed the coupling and extension hose to shorten up the filler neck a few inches, and then built a hangar to support the neck:  ...and the finished product!
Built some parts!
Then i broke the camera on my phone! Oh yeah, and it works now!   Found this bad boy and picked it up yesterday!   Looks like we're gonna be doing a 5spd swap in the 96 bronco this winter... |
