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Gas Tank Question

Rugby_7

Rugby_7

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I have a 75 blazer project that I am piecing together. Right now it has the stock carb 350 and it needs a gas tank. In the future after I have all the parts gathered I would like to swap in a 5.3 ls motor. My question is can i put in a tank from the 88-91 fuel injected blazers and put on a carb sending unit until I am ready for the ls swap? Will I run into any problems with fuel supply running the fuel injected tank with a carb setup?

Thank you
 
You can run the carbed sender in the FI tank. No issues with what you want to do.
 
Only caveat is the 25 vs 31 gallon setups, obviously need to stick with the same tank capacity, senders are different for that.
 
Unless mine is different I went to do the same thing as I have a TBI setup that is not yet on. I had to pull the tank to do the shackle flip and thought I would put in the FI tank with the carb pickup it would not fit. Both tanks are 31 gallon but the FI tank has a raised indent directly under the pickup which did not allow my carb pickup to set down into the tank. I had to put my original carb tank back in.
 
Is that an aftermarket tank or new tank.

That is a good observation I had not considered...the stock TBI tanks may not fit the carb sender. The aftermarket TBI tanks I've seen thus far don't add anything meaningful to the floor of the tank which should not interfere.
 
The tank external dimnesions are the same. (Uses same mounting straps)

The only aftermarket tanks I've seen thus far have a different baffle design than factory. It's a thin piece of steel that adds almost nothing to the depth of the tank.

The *factory* baffle was plastic, and does raise up off the bottom of the tank a bit due to how thick it is, and how it is mounted. I can see that being a potential for interference. And I suppose if there are now aftermarket tanks that have a different baffle, that could be an issue too...but so far I'm only aware of one aftermarket baffle design.
 
I wonder if I should find a used carb tank for now and buy a new tbi one later. Hate to buy basically the same part twice though
 
Carbed tank should be dirt cheap honestly, I'd pay less than $20 for one.

Might be worth it just in case you get the wrong one, then again if you don't mind having it around, you could buy the TBI tank now, if the sender fits, great, if not, keep it until you do the swap. Either way going to have to spend the money on a TBI tank.

As an aside, I *hope* they've fixed the aftermarket TBI tank baffles/sump, all I've seen thus far are pretty pathetic compared to the factory ones in terms of how well they keep fuel in them, but the factory ones were plastic and tend to break.
 
Could a TBI sending unit work with a carb by removing the pump and adding a straight section of line?
 
Seems like a good solution in my mind...rubber hose, maybe something to make it a bit more rigid, but no reason it can't.
 
Ill keep my eyes open for either style tank on craigslist. Putting a splice where the pump would be on the TBI sending unit sounds like a good idea. Would also save the money of purchasing a carb and a tbi unit.
 
Used TBI tanks are iffy. The plastic sump tends to break free of the tank (it's just studs through plastic) and bounce off the sender. Unfortunate, since they are better than what the aftermarket came up with, albeit plastic vs. steel. Only way to tell is to pull the sender and look closely.

I've heard they can even fail from hard braking, but my suspicion is they normally break from an accident where the vehicle stops immediately.
 
I have an aftermarket tank and it just has a little steel pan in the bottom for a sump. When I get down to like 1/8 tank it will starve the engine under acceleration or cornering (not sure why I never notice it during braking, other than lower fuel demand). Easy driving on the level I can still use the whole capacity, but I suppose there are some scenarios that it could be a problem. At least I know it won't break and I've never had any problems off road.
 
Blue85 said:
Could a TBI sending unit work with a carb by removing the pump and adding a straight section of line?
Click to expand...


Sending unit do not come pump equipped. You buy the pump separately. Just use a hose to get to the bottom of unit. New tank and sending unit can be used now and for use later when you convert.
 
I think that's what I'm going to do. Seems to be the most economical way. Thanks for the help everyone!
 
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