Air Tanks

I'm currently doing a firewall back frame for a 68 c10 out of 2x3x1/4 and im using the frame as the tank. Calculated it, and its on 5 gallons. I thought is was alot more but it's not.....

I just did a back half on an S-10 and it alone was 5 gallons. I used 2x3x.1875" which gives me more internal volume than .250" wall so i'm not sure how you got less volume with more frame area on a full size than I got on a back halved mini?

dragginoval- A firewall back frame tank will be too big. Too much more tank than 6 gallons (in my oppinion) is too much for electric compressors and a firewall back tank could easily be double that.

Max,
Im prob. going to do an engine driven on my old school 302. plus Im prob. going to redo the rails with mandrel bent pieces and keep the air out of some of the crossmembers, probably just in the 2 crossmembers in the rear area.

My question to that is thickness of 2x3 and what other hang-ups or things should be known when building a frame to hold air.

Edited: 6/28/2008 4:39:07 PM by NtotheIZZATEDOG

Originally posted by laync10



Im building my tanks out of 8" 1/4" wall 6061-T6 alunminium tubing with CNC billet ends that match my spun aluminium gas tank.

Tony, your material choice is as about as good as you can choose with aluminum and for strength and weldability. May I suggest beveling the weld joint and backpurging considering the application.

But you may be threading the pipe ends and caps, in that case you've got it covered.

The frame has 26 feet of rail. The internal deminsions of the tubing is 1.5in x 2.5in x 312in. I put that into an aquarium calculating table and came up with 5.06 gallons. I used this site......

http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/areajava.html

Did I calculate it wrong?

I getting that a 24' stick of 2x3x.250" will hold 4.68 gallons and a 24' stick of 2x3x.1875" will hold 5.32 gallons.

I used almost all of the 24' that I bought for the truck on the backhalf which includes notches and cross members to hold the air. More than likely just design differences, thats all.

Originally posted by dragginoval



dragginoval- A firewall back frame tank will be too big. Too much more tank than 6 gallons (in my oppinion) is too much for electric compressors and a firewall back tank could easily be double that.

Max, Im prob. going to do an engine driven on my old school 302. plus Im prob. going to redo the rails with mandrel bent pieces and keep the air out of some of the crossmembers, probably just in the 2 crossmembers in the rear area.

My question to that is thickness of 2x3 and what other hang-ups or things should be known when building a frame to hold air.

Hang ups, no screwing anything into the frame such as clips to hold wiring, brake lines, fuel lines, etc. and leak testing on a large frame takes a ton of time and patience. Those were my biggest hurdles.

The frames underslung also so there's no alot of tubing, and just a couple crossmembers. I'm making some tanks to mount under the cab, alongside the frame to make it 10 gallons. He's running dual 480's so it should be plenty of air for him.

ah, just get some clear plastic tanks like in the new minitruckin mag!