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My last outing with the pig I was having fuel pickup issues on steep hills, the issue was with the large tank I still had 10 to 15 gallons of fuel but with such a large floor it would all run away from the pickup tube in the front so I decided to make a new top and install a couple of Walbro pickups. I’m hoping these will solve the issue and if not I’m looking at the new Holly Hydromat.

Was half way through you statement thinking "I should tell him about the hydromat". You know all about all the cool things! I think that's the route I'm going to go with my LR tank. Glad they came up with a product that solves the angle/g force issue.

For those of you who haven't heard of the product take a look, it's pretty sweet.
 
Man, that would be a neat thing to have in any tank. I need to find out if they work with an " in tank " pump. Good stuff!
 
Just reading some more on this and found out it won't work with diesel or any oil. Anybody know something different.

Edit...http://documents.holley.com/199r10782rev7.pdf


Ron,



I called and talked to one of the techs and Holly doesn’t recommend it for diesel because of gelling in the extreme cold, basically it will work with any fuel and it’s easier for them to add the disclaimer than deal with the bad press when someone can’t start their diesel on a -20 day.


Do those pickups shutdown if one sucks air?

Yes
 
Yeah, I was thinking about that, had to do with just the viscosity of the fuel. Some neat stuff out there. Your wagon has a great way of blending old school looks to cutting edge technology.
 
Was half way through you statement thinking "I should tell him about the hydromat". You know all about all the cool things! I think that's the route I'm going to go with my LR tank. Glad they came up with a product that solves the angle/g force issue.

For those of you who haven't heard of the product take a look, it's pretty sweet.



A couple reasons I’m going with the Walbro pickups for now, first I had them and before Holley announced the Hydromat they were considered the best pickup for what I plan to do with my rig, the Hydromat for my tank is $600.00 more than the Walbro pickups but only has a 5-10 year life expectancy and if I need to change a $700.00 pickup every five years it needs to have some clear advantage to justify. The biggest drawback for the Walbro’s with their 5/16” outlets and fine mesh screens is flow rate when you start closing one or more off in your system and the high horsepower guys with multiple high volume pumps are sucking them shut.

I don’t have a 800+ HP engine nor do I plan on buzzing my little Cummins at 7000 RPM bouncing up hills so as much as I tried to justify spending the money for the new Hydromat it just seem to make more sense to run Walbro’s and change them out later if they're problematic.
 
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Discovered something recently and thought I would pass it along.

I friend and I were talking about how my old sending unit always leaked and I needed to find something better for sealing up my new tank top and he was telling me that he used some type of brown greasy substance to seal his airplane tanks and he would get me the name of the stuff next time he went out to his hanger. This got me looking at aviation fuel tank sealers and I discovered that Permatex #2 and Permatex #3 were the aviation sealers he was talking about and they are indeed fuel resistant. Same stuff they sell in all the auto parts stores and if you have a leaky sending unit gasket it might be worth a try.

Also Permatex blue thread locker can be used as thread sealant and or secure fitting in fuel tanks.
 
Now you're really going old school. My Uncle ( old mechanic ) used that for years. I always have a bottle in the shop. Good stuff.

Always good to past along a good product.
 
J Mack,

You said, you needed the big Holley mat, is that because of the surface area of the tank or because of the needed volume. Just seems like a great thing to have. I'm thinking I'd only need to buy two mats, sometimes it pays to be an old guy! :)
 
Now you're really going old school. My Uncle ( old mechanic ) used that for years. I always have a bottle in the shop. Good stuff.

Always good to past along a good product.


Ha, yes I think my bottle is 30 years old and I never noticed it said aviation on the side.


J Mack,

You said, you needed the big Holley mat, is that because of the surface area of the tank or because of the needed volume. Just seems like a great thing to have. I'm thinking I'd only need to buy two mats, sometimes it pays to be an old guy! :)



Yes for the long range tanks the large mat would work best, my tank has a 30” X 32” floor and the largest Hydromat is only 30” X 14” and still would be a compromise getting fuel from the corners, I think in a perfect world you would want the mat just about the same size as the floor of your tank.
 
After looking at Lil’john’s traction bar and reading all the comments from and about Georg and Don at Valley Hybrids I decided they have about the best system out there for the antiwrap/traction bar.

I’m no Don but I tried to mimic his mount the best I could from pictures and material I had laying around the shop, time will tell if it works but it’s still stuck to the housing for now and I can start working on the guts to assemble and get my axle measurements.

IMG_20150712_083832215.jpg


Welded the full floater ends to the housing to make it about 1” wider, I was having some slight rubbing with the 12.5” tires on the inner fenders and this should minimize it and still not push the tires out too far out, after welding the antiwrap/traction bar mount the housing only warped ¼” on the long side that was very easy to straighten with the axle jig, I-beam and portapower.
IMG_20150712_111103091.jpg
 
Ok, let's recap for my benefit. That's a 55 housing with full floater/disc brake flange welded on, right. Didn't have to trim housing down, but will you need to have special size axles made?

Looks very heavy duty, liken it!
 
Ok, let's recap for my benefit. That's a 55 housing with full floater/disc brake flange welded on, right. Didn't have to trim housing down, but will you need to have special size axles made?

Looks very heavy duty, liken it!


Yes stock 55 housing. The flanges were purchased from Ruff Stuff but because of a mix-up they are not the Ruff Stuff flanges I believe they are from Front Range Off-Road Fabrication, I needed to machine the bores to fit were I needed them to go. The chromoly spindles are Trail-Gear. I’m trying to order RCV axles now but may need to settle for Nitro cut to length depending on lead times.

From hub flange to hub flange is 56.250” now or about one inch wider than the total width of the stock 55 rear end , let me know if you need a better description or measurements and I’ll get them for you.



I tried to order a Ruff Stuff housing but they never got back to me with a delivery date so I just cobbled this together and I’ll upgrade later if I need to.
 
Thanks, but I've got 60 housings, but want to go that route next year. By the way, you can cobble on my wagon all you want. :) Great work!
 
J MACK, can I hang out in your shop?
Thanks Bob.

Thanks Bob, yes you can come hang out anytime if you don’t mind coping ¼” wall 2” tubing with a hole saw, I’ll even supply all the Bud you can drink!

IMG_20150716_201055743.jpg




Anti-wrap bar cross member and mounts are tacked together and clamped in about their final location, I still need to make some cross bars to tie the two cross members together and smear some weld on everything in the next couple days.


IMG_20150716_205501788.jpg
 
Any desire to take up linked suspension fab as another revenue stream?


Ha, at my current rate of daydreaming/drinking beer to actual work performed I do believe we would both go broke long before I completed any type of linked suspension fab even if I discounted the drinking beer time. :beer:
 
I go through phases where I feel confident I can tackle the design and fabrication, to awakening to reality that I lack the skills, more importantly lack the TIME to gain.

Problem is, even if one wants to through handfuls of money at a qualified fabricator, hard to find a good one that isn't two years out.

Nice work on the belly!!
 

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