1980 Gas Tank --- where???

[Bill S.]

Had a person ask me to as to where to go for a gas tank. I thought, any of the Corvette suppliers wiil have it. Looked in all my catalogs and "Googled" it and still could not find a 1980 gas tank for sale --- Why ???
Where can this guy get a tank?
Thanks
Bill




Gathering of Old Corvettes

[Joe L.]

Re: 1980 Gas Tank --- where???

Bill-----

As far as I know, the 78-82 gas tank is not available. It was discontinued quite some time ago by GM and it is not reproduced. Currently, the only source is good used. The problem is, many used tanks at this point may not be a lot better than the one being replaced. It's going to be a VERY difficult situation unless someone "steps up to the plate" with a reproduction. I, personally, believe that product liability issues have presented the major obstacle to this happening.

The usual problem with these tanks is seperation of the integral bladder and collapse of same within the tank. This is caused by the long-term degradation of the bladder material by the gasoline. It's inevitable.

[Gary Schisler]

Re: 1980 Gas Tank --- where???

IIRC, there is a good article on bladder separation internally in an old Restorer. Paul Borrowski (sp?) wrote about his tank during a road trip and its effects on usable gas storage. As I remember, he pulled the bladder out and reassembled the tank without it.

I wonder if an earlier tank from Quanta might be functionally equivalent?

Gary

[Craig D.]

Bladder in an '80 ??

I was always under the impression that the bladder tanks were used from 1975-1977 on C3s. I dont remember my 81 having a removeable top panel for a bladder. Anyone with more info?

[Joe L.]

Re: Bladder in an '80 ??

Craig and Gary-----

The 78-82 Corvette fuel tanks were designed with an INTEGRAL bladder. In other words, the tank and the bladder were manufactured as a complete unit, used in PRODUCTION as a complete unit and once sold in SERVICE by GM as a complete unit. Consequently, there is no practical way to replace the bladder on a 1978-82 Corvette fuel tank. The 78-82 Corvette fuel tank did use a tank fuel gauge/fuel pick-up unit that was top-mounted. However, this was NOT the same unit as used for 1975-77, which was also top-mounted. The 78-82 fuel tank had a capacity of 25 gallons and was the largest STANDARD fuel tank ever installed in a Corvette, before or since.

The 1975-77 Corvette fuel tank uses an outer steel shell in conjunction with a removable/installable plastic bladder. These tanks were not manufactured with the bladder installed and were never sold by GM with the bladder installed. For a complete unit, one needed to purchase both the bladder and tank. Neither of these is available anymore from GM, although the steel tank is available in reproduction. The bladder arrangement for 75-77 Corvettes is actually quite similar to that used for many light aircraft in which a plastic bladder is used within the wing structures to form the fuel tanks. These need to be replaced from time-to-time. So, how is this done? With GREAT difficulty.

[mike cobine]

Try a fuel cell manufacturer

ATL and Fuel Safe make custom fuel cells for racers. I've never checked, you may be able to get a custom bladder for your old shell, especially if you have the old one to send them to use as a model.