LS1 Gas Tank Conversion Question

[Craig76z]

Quick question. I have seen a few write ups on the Camaro tank conversion, question is do you have to remove the spare tire well?

[tim.d]

Absolutely

[Richard Oben]

Another member here gave me the idea, it was not cheap but I thought it was the right way to go.  

 

I bought a kit from Tanks Inc. with a weld in drop for the top of the tank.  The kit has its own pump, and sump etc.  The kit was about $230 plus the drop in $45 with shipping etc almost $300, plus having it welded in was another $200.  So I am in for $500 but I have the stock Z tank with an in tank pump, stock sending unit and I get to keep the spare tire well and will not likely burn up pumps.  AND I do not have to listen to the pump.

 

I could have cut the floor and just top mounted the pump insert onto the Z tank, but then I would have had a hole and a bump in the floor to box in.  It would have saved about $250.  

 

JMHO, your money, your decision, your car, your floor.  HTH, Richard. 

[hornedcow]

Another member here gave me the idea, it was not cheap but I thought it was the right way to go.  

 

I bought a kit from Tanks Inc. with a weld in drop for the top of the tank.  The kit has its own pump, and sump etc.  The kit was about $230 plus the drop in $45 with shipping etc almost $300, plus having it welded in was another $200.  So I am in for $500 but I have the stock Z tank with an in tank pump, stock sending unit and I get to keep the spare tire well and will not likely burn up pumps.  AND I do not have to listen to the pump.

 

I could have cut the floor and just top mounted the pump insert onto the Z tank, but then I would have had a hole and a bump in the floor to box in.  It would have saved about $250.  

 

JMHO, your money, your decision, your car, your floor.  HTH, Richard. 

 

This is what I did, but I got a pump bulkhead/lock ring for a late model GM in tank pump and welded it on top of the stock tank. Then cut a hole in the floor of the hatch for access, raised it an inch or so, then put on an access panel for future pump access.

[Ryan Merrill]

I removed my wheel well. I have a nice big 64L tank going in. My tank came complete with fuel pump regulator, line hooks up, pump, charcoal box, etc. Everything is there that I need. I am going to reuse the GM fuel pump connector to the fuel pump.Dead quiet, and OEM reliable.

[Zetsaz]

I got my F-body tank on ebay complete with charcoal canister, filler neck, and racetronix fuel pump. 

 

I will say that I spent a lot of time hoping I could find a stock tank and metal for the wheel well without spending all the money I had at the time as a college student.

 

I ended up going with the camaro tank because the previous owner had already cut the spare wheel well out, and I figured the tank and pump would future proof me for any swap I might go with down the road. There are definitely benefits to the tank, but unless you're prepared to modify your sending unit/buy a new programmable fuel gauge and deal with that, as well as fabricating custom mounts for the tank AND (this is the one most people don't think about) fabricating a filler neck, I'd say go with a stock tank repair and some kind of modern in tank sump like Richard suggested. 

 

Granted there are probably easier was to make a filler neck than what I did, I really wanted it going to the stock location and wanted it to look as original and subtle as possible. 

[auxilary]

Myself and JoeK have done the camaro tank swap (but not hooked up yet). Here's my thread on mount fabrication:

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/125865-borrowed-joeks-idea-and-fabbed-camaro-tank-mounts/

 

The camaro tank must be flipped 180 degrees to work with the Z filler neck. I am planning on keeping the canister but not hooking up the purge solenoid. The tank filler has a 1 way check valve, so that can serve as air inlet through a vented gas cap. I need to do a little bit of research on fuel venting to confirm, but it should be going to the charcoal canister.

 

The fuel feed/return will T and loop back into the tank, like this:

 

 

Brief explanation of LS1 fuel lines:

 

 

The fuel pump is internally regulated, so you only need to put a regular camaro or generic AN filter between the pump and fuel rails: no need for the C5 regulated filter swap.

 

As mentioned before, fuel sender must either be modified or be somewhat inaccurate. Typical GM sender is 0 ohm empty, 90 ohm full.  The LS1 tank sender reads something like 30 ohm empty 250 ohm full. Autometer (and similar) programmable gauges are 240 empty and 33 full. You can do the following:

 

Adapt an standard 0-90 sender to the fuel pump:

 

http://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-lsx/373779-how-modify-ls1-fuel.html

 

Swap out the gauge sweeper: Autometer will swap in a 240e-33f mechanism into a gauge for $25. They can also flip it so it'll be backwards like the LS1, but it won't be completely accurate: but close enough. 

 

Modify the gauge itself with resistors to match the readings. I'm going with the autometer swap since I have an all autometer array.

[JoeK]

Filler neck was easy. I just used the original filler neck from the Camaro. Hardest part was stripping the little flap out from the inside of the Camaro filler neck. Once that was done, the larger end fits snugly into the end of the original Z rubber filler neck where the stock Z tank plugged into. And of course the smaller end was made to fit into the Camaro rubber filler hose.

[Mike kZ]

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/fuel_pumps_regulators_and_filters/fuel_pumps/efi_fuel_pumps/efi_in-tank_pumps/parts/12-132

 

A little pricey, but you can use your stock tank

[Zetsaz]

Filler neck was easy. I just used the original filler neck from the Camaro. Hardest part was stripping the little flap out from the inside of the Camaro filler neck. Once that was done, the larger end fits snugly into the end of the original Z rubber filler neck where the stock Z tank plugged into. And of course the smaller end was made to fit into the Camaro rubber filler hose.

 

True if you happen to have the rubber piece. I chose to fab my own that fed straight into the camaro neck. 

[Craig76z]

Another member here gave me the idea, it was not cheap but I thought it was the right way to go.

 

I bought a kit from Tanks Inc. with a weld in drop for the top of the tank. The kit has its own pump, and sump etc. The kit was about $230 plus the drop in $45 with shipping etc almost $300, plus having it welded in was another $200. So I am in for $500 but I have the stock Z tank with an in tank pump, stock sending unit and I get to keep the spare tire well and will not likely burn up pumps. AND I do not have to listen to the pump.

 

I could have cut the floor and just top mounted the pump insert onto the Z tank, but then I would have had a hole and a bump in the floor to box in. It would have saved about $250.

 

JMHO, your money, your decision, your car, your floor. HTH, Richard.

[Craig76z]

Rich, do you have any part numbers for the kit you bought? I'd like to keep the spare tire well in my Z so I think yours is the option that would be best for me.

[LLave]

I met Rick from Rick's Tanks at SEMA last week, he has some really well built weld in tank conversions. Not to mention he is a cool dude. 

 

http://rickstanks.com/

[Richard Oben]

Craig, I just went to Tanks inc and order two part numbers PA4 and a PA REC and then had it welded in.  HTH, Richard. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2016 by Richard Oben

[RebekahsZ]

I so totally wish I had gone this route.

[heavy85]

I reused the entire Camaro fuel system except for a braided Teflon line to the front. Even reused the hard lines, tee's, connectors, wire harness, etc. You can even carefully peel off the hard plastic lines from the fittings and then use fuel injection hose and clamps to connect to the tank onto the factory plastic connectors. Camaro filler in stock location just have to section and reorient it. Camaro filter. I had donor car so just reused it all. I only have the fuel pump and level gauge wires hooked up to the tank with the complete Camaro factory tank is still in place. Also have vent line hooked up the throttle body using factory Datsun fuel tube so didn't have to run another line. Have no idea if the vent line does anything but the solenoid on the intake manifold is wired up. Nothing else is wired up on the tank and I never get gas smell or pressure/vacuum on tank. Not sure why but it works well for last 8+ years. Also the Datsun fuel gauge ... empty mean you have a good amount of fuel, as needle rises to the 'F' (first letter where it says FUEL not the Full mark) it'll start to starve on racetrack which I 'think' is somewhere about 6 or 7 gallons. I think it holds like 18 gallons or something. Only reason I would ever switch is because rules or to modify to allow run less fuel.

 

Cameron

[Mikey303LSZ]

Looks good Richard Oben!

[trackzpeed]

I wish I had Richards route as well..... but I was glad I had my cell, moved forward and with foam, when I got hit 5 months back. I think a stock tank location would have been pretty nasty in terms of leaking fuel next to hot exhaust.