Thread: '51 Studebaker Gas Tank Vent - Help, Please!

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I've built probably a dozen cars in my 50+ years, but never have I messed with the gas tank filler. 'Don't fool with mother nature' thing I guess. Well, in making my '51 Stude into a modified custom I decided that the barn door that was used on the side of the car to accomodate the gas filler had to go - and it has. When moving the filler to inside of the trunk and dropping the tank while doing so for clean-up and inspection, I was astonished to find the absence of a vent tube - anywhere. Well now that I have the filler inside of the trunk, I get a trunk-full of gas everytime I fuel up!

There has to be a remedy for this somewhere - I just haven't tripped over it yet. Anyone have any ideas? I'm not really keen welding on gas tanks. Seems like they'd be prone to blowing up...

Lots of old cars used a vented cap, but you'll have to run a vent from the filler neck down through the trunk floor. Does your neck clamp to the tank? If it's all one piece, you might have to do some imaginative engineering if you don't want to weld. Solder works, use an iron.

Thanks for your reply!

My head's been going in the same direction as well. I just came in from the shop where I've been going through my 'hang on to them - one day you'll need one' brass fittings. I came up with two elbows that I think will work.

I'm thinking that if I put one in the gas tank filler tube, on top, which will leave me plenty of room to get the hose on, plus the clamp, then put the other one in the filler neck (really cool polished s/s - but harder then heck to drill, which I've already done, but haven't a prayer of cutting threads in the stuff) that should give me enough vent to let the tank burp.

Filling may be slow but I rather doubt that I'll be standing in a blizzard trying to fuel this car.

Your opinion?

Dan

One trick that worked for us on a '48 Ford that had the filler in the trunk, was to put a 3/8 inch tube, open at both ends, in the filler tube. The bottom end was level with the top of the tank, and the top was just below the cap. This lets the air come up past the gas stream without blowing it all over everything.

Thanks once again. You confirm what I've been thinking. So, it's out to the shop, drain and drop the tank once more.


Have a great 4th weekend!

Dan

i use 1/8 brake line. drill a hole in the neck , run the brake line across the tank and down to bottom. jb weld will hold it in place. just put dobs of it every few inches. hope this helps.
just reread your post. it sounds like your filler neck design is the culprit. is it vertical ? you can use a piece of 3/16 brake line inside your filler tube . just braze it to the side of the neck. it will help with filling but not venting. the 1/8 will vent fumes to the outside. i also use a piece of vac tube with an old holley jet in it. helps to keep the fimes in the garage down.

geeze i'm blind this morning. r pope just said that.

Stude's used a vented cap without vent tubes (until some 1960's models).
If you move it into the trunk you will definitely need to add a vent tube and make sure you use a sealed cap.

A good radiator shop can add a vent tube to your tank.

Jeff

Thank you, gentlemen for being considerate enough to reply.

I drained and dropped the tank again this morning and seemed to spend most of the rest of the day chasing things down. Did you know that you can hardly find a good old fashioned soldering iron anymore? Most of them are tiny things for small electrical work (I already have three) and the others are propane/butane fired - not good around flammables. Third stop at Lowe's finally found one.

I found an assortment of 3/8 inch brass elbows in my cache. I soldered one of them into the top of the tank close to the sending unit. I found out why the sending unit wasn't working...the float was hitting the pickup tube and wouldn't go to the bottom of the tank. That accounted for me never having less than 1/4 tank of gas.

The other 90 degree fitting I've put into the fancy s/s fuel inlet. First attempt didn't work because the epoxy didn't hold. My second attempt added a small nut on the inside that holds it secure. This should leave me enough room for the gas pump nozzle.

So, I figure what I have now is when fuel enters the tank, displaced air exits the tank and comes out just above the end of the gas pump nozzle. The fuel inlet is sealed but I drilled a small hole in it to allow some venting.

Tommorow I get my report card. I'll let you know how I did. Actually, I got off fairly well today ... I didn't blow myself up!

Well, that's always a good sign! Tool-time Tim notwithstanding, there's nothing funny about blowing ones-self up. By the way, welding a gas tank is a piece of cake if you fill it with water first. I've run an exhaust pipe into them and filled 'em with (theoretically) burnt gasses, but not all engines are terribly efficient and you still get the odd pop. No real damage, but hard on the nerves.

Well, thanks to the advice and sharing of experiences, I can now fill my tank without creating an environmental hazard! I still need to iron out a kink in the vent hose but once that's done, I'll be in great shape.

Thanks, again, gentlemen, I appreciate your candidness!