bkazmer wrote:
Quote:
gas tanks have been made of blow molded plastic (I think sulfonated PE)for a long time. It doesn't corrode and can readily be made in odd shapes to fit around the rear suspension. Remember that the placement hanging under the trunk just ahead of the bumper is no longer acceptable for crash safety (Pinto). Also, the fuel pump and sender is sealed in for emission control.
When I worked at the Avanti plant in Yo. Ohio, back in the late 1980s, I found notes that they had been looking at cross-linked polyethylene tanks for the new, but stillborn, 85 convertible. When Avanti production rose from the ashes of bankruptcy, they sort of picked up where previous owner/management left off, but hacked up the original Studebaker-designed steel tank to fit the new convertible.
However, I seem to recall a big class action suit in recent years against the supplier of cross-linked polyethylene tubing for plumbing due to product failures. Also, I've heard that the stuff quicky degrades with exposure to UV (less than 30 days). Hope the modern plastic fuel tanks are made of better stuff.
Yet, I once met a fella who told me that he pulled up to a gas station to fill up his mid-80s Dodge pick-up, only to find gas pouring out on the ground. Seems the exhaust pipe had developed a hole and had blown enough hot gas against the plastic tank to melt a hole in it. Turns out there was no shield between the tank and the exhaust pipe.
Tank placement ahead of the rear bumper wasn't the problem with the Pinto. The fault lies in the fact that the top of the gas tank served as part of the trunk floor. The drop-in tank was screwed to the floor, with the tank seam serving as a mounting flange. This arrangement had been in use for years with other Ford product for years; you could smell the gas fumes in the passenger compartment of a high school friend's old 68 Fairlane fastback when the tank got rusty around the seams (from the inside) and started leaking. Yet, when a Pinto was hit from the rear with sufficient force, the Pinto's tank buckled, along with the trunk floor, which could rupture the tank seam and spill fuel.
Many other cars of the period with similar fuel tank location exhibited no such problem, but their tanks were sufficiently shielded.
I've seen Packards of the 50s in bone yards that had been hit hard enough from the rear to kink the frame and rear fenders, but with no evidence of fuel leakage - let alone, fire. I think we're reasonably safe with this arrangement in these cars.
Meanwhile, in-tank fuel pumps and senders have been sealed to metal tanks for decades.
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