Steel v/s Plastic fuel tanks

[77blazin]

What is the pros & cons of using a plastic fuel tank compared to a regular steel tank, I'm restoring a '78 K/5, the stock sprung a leak and need to be replaced, someone mentioned plastic, but is that safe or do I need to get a skidplate.
What about the fuel sender, will it work with the plastic tank or do I need to replace that too?
Good answers from the Rocket science boys and girls out there in the states, first time hearing about plastic fuel tanks, what next?, plastic oilpans?
Mike

 

[496truck]

Alot of vehicles come with those polyethelene gas tanks from the factory. I like them. Some may argue the plastic tank will crack instead of bending like a steel tank would if bounced off a rock. During my time at a collision shop, I've seen those tanks dented but not punctured. Except one where the person hit something on the road at speed and it came up and impaled the tank, which would have punctured a steel tank just the same. When my tank needs to be replaced, I'm gonna look for one of those poly tanks. My truck is equipped with the factory skid plate though.

If your tank is rusted/leaking, good chance the sender needs to be replaced too for the same reason.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I asked about it here around a year ago for Big Ugly, the M1008 K30 I used to own. The poly tanks available for it, including the brand that JCWhitney has which seems to be the major brand available in not-steel-gas-tanks for our trucks, got "meh" reviews. A few people on here had installed them but no one seemed terribly impressed.

Someone put me onto GasTankRenu and I had them recondition my tank. Gets repaired and then a porcelein coating inside and out and turned out great. Price for that was similar to what an all new poly tank would have been and no more worrying about rusting either. Might look into if anyone on your Islands there does a similar thing. You'd think someone would with the ocean air.

 

[wazzabie]

i got a spectra premium metal tank. it is made in canada and is well made. got it cheap at rock auto. my original tank had rust on the inside