1973 IH Travelall - Family Cruiser, Big project....

Tank on the left looks like 77 f150. Tank on right looks like k5 blazer.

Its already heavily modified. Find tanks that fit. 

And shocks: lots of bagged trucks put them on a bracket that sticks out from the lca and frame behind the tire. Kinda like a factory  85 c10 setup.

java230 said:

java230 said:

In reply to ae86andkp61 :

..... . I have power brakes, factory disks too in the front! and power steering, but its still a lumbering beast. 

 

 

Popped the front end apart. No brake hard lines.... And fitting a shock is going to be interesting. Rotor on the drivers side is pretty grooved. Debating replacement.

You should contact the previous owner on the front spindle & brake set-up.  Those aren't factory front disk brakes, must be a conversion of some sort.  International Harvester was still using drums all the way around in 1973, ( '74 & '75 got disks up front, but your hood and grill definitely indicate you have a '73).

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Those are OE tanks. The long skinny is the passenger front, the other goes in the rear quarter...... I cant find one that fits the area I have. I can move a crossmemeber, but nothing is available for the stock area. If I dont hack out crossmemeber, I can either find a super shallow, like 4" deep tank, or build one....

In reply to Indy-Guy :

Its OE! Late 1972 and all of 1973 1010 FA9 front axles had disc brakes. Parts are hard to find..... Caliper rebuild kits exist, rotors dont. But 73-85 2wd F150 disks work if you use different bearings.

I figured the pictures wereof the stock tanks. I was trying to spitball some available reproduction tanks that should be close enough to modify slightly and work. Didnt really explain that well.....

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Ah! Clear as mud :D

Im still googling tanks.... Nothing fit well as of yet.

http://www.tanksinc.com builds aftermarket gas tanks for the hot rod crowd, they have them in steel, plastic and stainless steel.  Besides ones that are specifically designed for a particular make or model they also offer some universal sizes, there may be something close enough to work.  I see they also have a page on their website for 'scratch and dent' tanks, there may be something in that section as well.

In reply to stuart in mn :

I have been thru their catalog. Thye have a couple that might work, but the filler necks are a problem, I can fit a 2" filler above the frame. If I flip the tank upside down, with the filler on the bottom, none of the pick ups work..... Unless I cna find a bottom fill tank or one that uses a 1.5" filler.

A 57 chevy tank fits the hole, but the filler is too big. Any reason I couldn't just cut it off and weld a 1.5" one on? EFI ready version, 15.5 gallons.

http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=353/category_id=113/mode=prod/prd353.htm

Not a bit! Nohome has done it a few times in the molvo

I see no reason not to put a filler neck on a tank that's never had gas in it. I don't know where the filler goes in the truck but I'd consider making it removable for easier tank removal later. May not be an issue on this rig but my 3rd gen F-body problem has made me hate non removable solid filler necks.

In reply to Daylan C :

Filler I would have to build, It was old school built into the tank and just a gasket to the body. I would need to find a filler neck to wel do the body, and a flex line between the nipple on the tank and the filler neck on the body.

This gets $$ in a hurry! $465 for the tank, a sending unit and pump. Plus needing to mod the tank :(

Caprice gas tank?

Also, you can just run a short piece of steel with a bead on the end to fuel filler hose, to whatever fitting is at the filler nozzle.  Clamp hose in place.

Basically, steel pipe with bead.  Fuel filler hose to connect steel pipe with bead to fuel nozzle.  Works great!  Doesn't need to be all steel.  Beads are easy to make with a pair of vice grips with some rods welded to the jaws.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

No filler neck welded to the body is the issue.

I'm thinking I would look into like a GM b-body, s10 blazer tank. Something that had EFI with an in-tank pump and a tank that was hung between the frame rails at the back of the vehicle. Probably the biggest I could make fit (let's face it, this is a big wagon with a big and old v8, it will have an appetite). I think my Bravada had a separate filler on the driver side. That one was a TBI setup with a low pressure pump but you can get higher pressure pumps to fit in this style sending units. 

But basically if you can find a stock tank that will work from something that you can make work it will probably be way cheaper than the 57 Chevy efi conversion tank.

In reply to Daylan C :

Agreed, I just cant find anything that fits! The frame width is pretty skinny at 28"

And I lied, the 57 chev tank doesn't fit either.... I didnt read the diemsions correctly I guess.....Back to the drawing board.

In reply to java230 :

Re: brakes.

Perhaps I'm a bit confused, maybe it was the 4x4 that didn't get them until '74.

It's been close to 20 years since I was involved in the day to day IH business.

First generation Mustang reproduction gas tanks are often used in old cars, and new ones are cheap - I see them on eBay for under $100.  May be worth checking the dimensions on them.

In reply to stuart in mn :

Too big..... Ugh this size is impossible! 

Anyone seen anything that's like 4-6" deep and flat and wide? I could go under the frame rails. 4" would hang just lower than the spare and fuel wells, which are lower than the rockers. 

The rear of the 2 tanks in my 03 Suburban 2500 is like that, fits between the body and frame, has a filler port and fuel pump in it. Only 11 gallons though. 

Front end is down to inner fenders and rad support. 

Found a bit of rot at the battery tray. Cut and will patch it up.

A little more on the pass side of the windshiled frame also. 

Mocked up shocks, should be able to sneak one in here easily. Water bottle for scale :D A 10" eye to eye shock is just right. 

Front at full bump

The bad fender....

90-96 F250 tank used with the 7.3 and 7.5. It's what I'm using in my 65 IH Scout, 16 gallons and 7-3/4" deep, I also think it has all sorts of earlier applications in Broncos and other Ford trucks. If you need exact dimensions I can go out and measure, but my frame rails are also about 28" wide and it fits with about 1-1/2" to spare to either side. Granted that is with the tank rotated 90 degrees to the way Ford mounts it. Downside is it points the stock fill at either the rear bumper (put the filler behind the license plate maybe?) or straight ahead into the center of the vehicle.

I got a brand new tank, with everything in it, and an F250 filler neck for like $270 shipped on RockAuto. Just if you go that route know that there are two versions of the tank, one with the EMS hole, one without... I didn't pay attention that so the exact part number I gave is the one with an EMS hole. Which I suspect you also don't need... and now I need to cap it.

In reply to Medchin :

I haven't crawled under a scout, but did you have to move a crossmember? Its the 21" thats killing everything. That one fits width wise (and is cheap!) but is 36" long.

Yes I did neglect to mention that part, easy to overlook stuff after you've already done it. I cut out the stock rear crossmember and welded in a new one about 3-4" further forward.

I just ran out to measure the tank, it's 27" by 35" and 7-3/4" deep. That's also measuring the flange where the two halves were welded together, I suppose you could lose about an 1" or 1-1/2" in both directions if you were to hammer that flange towards the tank, but that's not gonna get it under 21". 

Have you checked Binder Planet? They're IH freaks, if anyone knows something that's a good fit off the shelf it would be those guys.

There are reproduction tanks out there for the Travelall, example: https://www.ihpartsamerica.com/store/FS-FUELTANK.html. Polyethene is probably less of a concern for you building a street car, but I imagine that price is literally just the tank, no sender, pump, etc, and with your setup... the stock tank dimensions may no longer work.

How big of a space do you have for a tank? Do you have room for two smaller tanks? Stock that's what the Scout 80 has is a (optional?) pair of saddle tanks mounted in the front of the rear arches, iirc 9-10 gallon a piece with either a transfer pump or a tank change switch, that could be an option.

Medchin said:

 Have you checked Binder Planet? They're IH freaks, if anyone knows something that's a good fit off the shelf it would be those guys

This 

In reply to Medchin :

Thanks! I think I'm going to have to move the crossmember, the one at the rear spring hangers. I can get more room then, nothing 21" existing unless it's really deep. 

I did check binder planet. Nothing I can find for drop in without moving crossmembers.