about to have the back of the new van (sprinter) fibreglassd out next week (when i finish boarding it out)

Im converting it to run on veg oil, so need a nice spot for the veg oil tank.... under the passenger seat look perfect... its all boxed in anyway
(the seat sits on top of a big box)

Im thinking Ill get the fibreglass guys to make me up a tank to fit in there while theyre on doing the back.... Im thinking I should get a good price as its about £600 to do the back of the van to start with

but Im not sure if theyre used to doing fuel tanks etc...  itll be 2foot long by 1.5foot by 1.5foot (at a guess)

will baffles be enough to stop me sucking air ?

how do internal swirl pots work ?  Ive googled my ass off but can;t find anything for diesel tanks... its all external ones for petrol race cars etc...

I dont really want to have to add another pump.... already had to pay £350 for the gear pump to supply the injection pump
(its a common rail so needs the right flow/pressure feed of the ecu will throw it into limp mode)

Youre probably going to be better off with GRP rather then normal Glass Fibre.  Itll be stronger and more flexible.  It should also last a LOT longer because fairly obviously Fibreglass degrades a lot faster and goes brittle.

GRP is called fibreglass usually - so it prob is that.

The baffles at the bottom of a tank are too complicated for the likes of those fellas to do. Have a look inside a tank to you see what I mean.

The tank from something else is bound to fit.

well this is where I plan to put it - in the box under the seat - with the filler cap inside the van between the seat and door (hopefully)  theres not much room underneath except for right at the back, and I dont want the weight that far back if I can help it





(Ill cut the partition out of the middle here)





one of the problems is, I need decent capacity.... 10 gal is the minimum really.... Id have about 17gal if I used up all of the space under the sear


I guess the other option is to get a big square tank from an hgv and mod the seat to fit ontop of it....


p.s. it seams kind of dumb that the seat doesnt fold forward normally - its bolted in at the back but pivots at the front once you have the bolts out.... with catches on the back instead of bolts it would would be a really good place for storage...

Might be a silly question. Do you need the seats?

yes  (good question tho, I hadnt thought of that!)

could drop it down to 1 seat on the passenger side if I really had too....

p.s.



Ill email a couple of tank builder places and see what they say... if itll cost a fortune Ill have a fiberglass one made and stick a big hole through the floor for a sump on the bottom of the tank ?  (if thatll work?)

Can you weld?  You could always get a tank from something with similar dimensions and hack it to bits?

Quote from: soopahflyCan you weld?  You could always get a tank from something with similar dimensions and hack it to bits?

yeah...i can weld.... but not good enough for something like that :-(


think i might end up sticking a hole through the floor so the tank can have a sump on it.... looking around its £300+ for a square tank off the shelf etc... so Im guessing a custom one will be £500+

Quote from: BeakerYoure probably going to be better off with GRP rather then normal Glass Fibre.  Itll be stronger and more flexible.  It should also last a LOT longer because fairly obviously Fibreglass degrades a lot faster and goes brittle.

Glass fibre is fibres of glass. GRP is Glass Reinforced Plastic, fibres of glass in a polymer matrix.

The first wont hold anything liquid, you have to turn it into the second to do that. Glassfibre, as with almost all modern day glass does not degrade, the plastic its surrounded with does, but only when subjected to light and then very slowly. If likely to be in the sun a lot then some form of UV protective coating is usually applied.

Quote from: Serious

Quote from: BeakerYoure probably going to be better off with GRP rather then normal Glass Fibre.  Itll be stronger and more flexible.  It should also last a LOT longer because fairly obviously Fibreglass degrades a lot faster and goes brittle.

Glass fibre is fibres of glass. GRP is Glass Reinforced Plastic, fibres of glass in a polymer matrix.

The first wont hold anything liquid, you have to turn it into the second to do that. Glassfibre, as with almost all modern day glass does not degrade, the plastic its surrounded with does, but only when subjected to light and then very slowly. If likely to be in the sun a lot then some form of UV protective coating is usually applied.

I used to sell GRP and Fibreglass tanks for sewerage and chemical storage.  I do have a little knowledge of the difference, and given the mix of the compounds used, and if its got a UV fixing agent or similar in it I could probably still work out the working life of the materials used.  Fibreglass tanks _will_ hold liquid quite well, and in a dark environment its actually got a longer usable lifespan than GRP and GRP becomes porous eventually, while Fibreglass just becomes brittle.  GRP and Fibreglass are different things.

Honestly man, some of us have knowledge not gleaned from google and wikipedia.

Surely it doesnt really matter what this one is made of as long as its sturdy enough and non-porous? Its only holding vegetable oil after all? I bet you could get one plastic moulded way cheaper, or even make one yourself out of wood then line/coat the inside to proof it as a container. Its more bodge and not as neat, but its got to be better than spunking half a kilo of cash on an overkill fibreglass/metal solution?

thats the thing.... its hidden away so I don;t care what it looks like etc... and theres not much point converting it to run on veg oil if it costs me 2k to do it (already getting close to the 1k mark :S ) - theres a point where it would be cheaper just to run it on diesel !

Ill see what the fibreglass guys say next week...

have you considered converting a couple of plastic 10 gallon drums?  could get them heat welded together, or some baffles welded inside them?  Should be cheaper than a full custom tank.  Would just need some kind of pump to push the fluid through, but youll need that anyway.

had another look at it.... and if I cant get a decent tank made to go under the seat..... Ill either...

*buy a standerd boat tank and stick it ontop of one of the wheel arches in the back - not great itll be knocked and damaged too easily or....

*stick the spare wheel in the back on top of one of the wheel arches, and then have a square tank made to go where the spare wheel goes (which should be pretty quick and easy to do)

the more I think about it.... the less Im bothered by the cost... Id rather have it gone properly... one of the problems is, Im not the only one driving it and the guys at work can break pretty much anything

Quote from: Beaker

Quote from: Serious

Quote from: BeakerYoure probably going to be better off with GRP rather then normal Glass Fibre.  Itll be stronger and more flexible.  It should also last a LOT longer because fairly obviously Fibreglass degrades a lot faster and goes brittle.

Glass fibre is fibres of glass. GRP is Glass Reinforced Plastic, fibres of glass in a polymer matrix.

The first wont hold anything liquid, you have to turn it into the second to do that. Glassfibre, as with almost all modern day glass does not degrade, the plastic its surrounded with does, but only when subjected to light and then very slowly. If likely to be in the sun a lot then some form of UV protective coating is usually applied.

I used to sell GRP and Fibreglass tanks for sewerage and chemical storage.  I do have a little knowledge of the difference, and given the mix of the compounds used, and if its got a UV fixing agent or similar in it I could probably still work out the working life of the materials used.  Fibreglass tanks _will_ hold liquid quite well, and in a dark environment its actually got a longer usable lifespan than GRP and GRP becomes porous eventually, while Fibreglass just becomes brittle.  GRP and Fibreglass are different things.

Honestly man, some of us have knowledge not gleaned from google and wikipedia.

Trouble is Ive used this stuff too, and you arent being very clear on what you mean, base fibre glass wont hold anything unless you put it in something, its just a mat of glass fibres.