Tank armor question

[suki243]

Hey there, this is for all those who have installed tank armor on their vehicles, I was getting ready to order it because online it says that the plate is under 150 including shipping at mustangmonthly.com However, when I called them up they told me it will be 220 with shipping.
My question is, is better to get tankarmor or would I get the same protection with a steel gas tank from mustangplus.com or soemthing. I'm not sure what the older gastanks are made of.

I live in So Cal so i am quite scared of a rear end collision occuring.

Also a side note, I just ordered a spare tire mounting kit, but it came with no pictures or instructions, any suggestions on how to mount it?

 

[rbohm]

get the tank armor. remember that the truck floor is the top of the tank, and all you need to have happen is that a screwdriver punctures the tank. add the steel plate behind the rear seat as well to layer your defenses if you like.

 

[66HertzClone]

I've toyed with purchasing one of these as well. However, when you stand there with the trunk open and look at all that would be required, it seems pretty expensive.

I may take the car to a welder and talk with him about making one for me. A flat reasonably sturdy piece of steel cut to size. A few feet of 1" or slightly larger square section steel welded together and some holes drilled for mounting. I think it would be a good idea to add a similar sized frame around the perimeter of the tank from the bottom. This one would have nuts the correspond to the mounting welded n place.

 

[bnickel]

I've toyed with purchasing one of these as well. However, when you stand there with the trunk open and look at all that would be required, it seems pretty expensive.

I may take the car to a welder and talk with him about making one for me. A flat reasonably sturdy piece of steel cut to size. A few feet of 1" or slightly larger square section steel welded together and some holes drilled for mounting. I think it would be a good idea to add a similar sized frame around the perimeter of the tank from the bottom. This one would have nuts the correspond to the mounting welded n place.

i was planning a similar approach using angle iron to form an outer perimiter top and bottom and set the tank armor down into that, this way there would be even more protection and the perimiter frame around the tank armor would take a lot of the impact should one ever occur. i would also add the trunk and package tray dividers and seal the 1/4 panel pass throughs as well.

 

[suki243]

hmm, ok thanks for the input guys.

 

[70vert]

Thinking of one of these as well, w/battery relocation

I'm thinking of doing this as well, when I move my battery to the trunk for a little extra separation and protection between the two, in case of sparks and in case of a passenger-side rear collision.

I'd use bolts and not sheet metal screws, and I might add a steel plate underneath, where the nut would go, to create a "sandwich" around the thin original sheet metal mounting surface, but that might just be redundant. Basically just a long, narrow, flat piece of steel with holes drilled in to reinforce the other side. This would be just to make sure I got the effect of the claimed increase in the strength of the floor structure.

I might end up doing the bulkhead behind the rear seats as well, since mine is a convertible and that would add some strength there too - basically weld a plate to the existing structure there and extend it to the top of the frame rails.

 

[xoxbxfx]

Didnt even realize that company was still around... Kinda expensive if you ask me. Steel prices are through the roof but if you have welder, this is something anyone can do. Hell, you dont even need a welder, you can probably pop rivet all of it together.

 

[bnickel]

Didnt even realize that company was still around... Kinda expensive if you ask me. Steel prices are through the roof but if you have welder, this is something anyone can do. Hell, you dont even need a welder, you can probably pop rivet all of it together.

pop rivets wouldn't provide much strengthening of the trunk floor. i'm going to mine with a perimeter frame around the tank and tank armor made of welded angle iron at least in the trunk and maybe underneath as well, as well as probably doing an angle iron stiffener across the entire back of the trunk floor at the taillight panel. my old 70 cougar had one of these that mainly served to strengthen the floor pan for the trailer hitch, which my "new" 69 cougar will also have a hitch to pull my wife's paddle boat her dad made her when she was a kid

 

[xoxbxfx]

pop rivets wouldn't provide much strengthening of the trunk floor. i'm going to mine with a perimeter frame around the tank and tank armor made of welded angle iron at least in the trunk and maybe underneath as well, as well as probably doing an angle iron stiffener across the entire back of the trunk floor at the taillight panel. my old 70 cougar had one of these that mainly served to strengthen the floor pan for the trailer hitch, which my "new" 69 cougar will also have a hitch to pull my wife's paddle boat her dad made her when she was a kid

pop rivets are much stronger than people give them credit for. Airplanes are put together with them and lots of other things are as well. My buddy builds race cars and the whole interior is put together with pop rivets.

I think tank armor is more to protect the gas tank than structure for the trunk. The trunk is plenty strong without. I have cut of a lot of my trunk adding all my airbag stuff and it still holds the weight of the car, no problems.

 

[70vert]

I'll get a quote from a local welder

Didnt even realize that company was still around... Kinda expensive if you ask me. Steel prices are through the roof but if you have welder, this is something anyone can do. Hell, you dont even need a welder, you can probably pop rivet all of it together.

yeah, I was planning on getting a quote from a local welder/fabricator as well, there are a lot of guys with this skill, equipment, and material in Oakland. I'm going to need a convertible floor bolt-in plate made (the one that goes in the trans tunnel) that drops down a little bit anyway to make room for exhaust, and it'll be good to set up the relationship now . . .

this piece from Tank Armor used to be in the $150-160 range. I doubt that the increase in steel price would drive it up to $250, though. I would buy it at $150.

 

[bnickel]

pop rivets are much stronger than people give them credit for. Airplanes are put together with them and lots of other things are as well. My buddy builds race cars and the whole interior is put together with pop rivets.

I think tank armor is more to protect the gas tank than structure for the trunk. The trunk is plenty strong without. I have cut of a lot of my trunk adding all my airbag stuff and it still holds the weight of the car, no problems.

actually airplanes don't use pop rivets. they use a special rivet aircraft rivet that is solid and gets squeezed together from both sides to hold the plane together. they use them because they are stronger than bolts, nuts and screws and also because they will not vibrate loose like a bolt or screw.

Solid Aluminum Rivets from Aircraft Spruce

AN426AD-2-3 ALUMINUM RIVETS from Aircraft Spruce

AN470AD-4-21 RIVET from Aircraft Spruce

Rivets, Solid

 

[Rusty67]

I think the money would be better spend on a fuel cell...

 

[bnickel]

I think the money would be better spend on a fuel cell...

that'd be great except fuel cells for our cars are over $1000......i can't afford that, personally.

you could use a universal fuel cell but i don't want to have to open the trunk every time i need to put gas in the car, plus if if i took the car on a trip and had luggage in the trunk then all our clothes would smell like gas and the wife would NOT go for that.

so unless someone comes out with an affordable fuel cell for our cars i won't be using one in mine.

 

[Rusty67]

You could get a universal fuel cell and modify it to fill from the stock filler neck, thats what I'm thinking of doing.

Whats with the gas smell in the trunk ? Is it the way a fuel cell vents ?

Universal fuel cells are like 200 bux at summit.

 

[bnickel]

You could get a universal fuel cell and modify it to fill from the stock filler neck, thats what I'm thinking of doing.

Whats with the gas smell in the trunk ? Is it the way a fuel cell vents ?

Universal fuel cells are like 200 bux at summit.

i haven't seen a very good way to modify a standard cell to fill using the stock fuel filler yet, so most cells would require opening the trunk to fill them and that's where the gas smell would come from

 

[Rusty67]

I see.

Nothing a plasma cuter and welder can't fix ;-)

 

[xoxbxfx]

Depending on how big of a fuel cell you want, you can have one made at your local boat shop. They make custom aluminum fuel cells all the time. Last I knew, you could get one for $14/gal. So, a custom aluminum fuel cell for $300-400.

Fuel Safe is just outrageous

 

[ron67fb]

There are filler necks and extensions that can connect a fuel cell to the standard fill tube. I have the kit but never bothered installing it because I lived at an apartment at the time and didn't want my gas easily siphoned. My vent hose goes through the floor and vents outside the car. The gas smell I get is when I drip it on the cell while fueling up. I'd rather fill through the trunk anyway; the stock way of filling up through the back panel as we all know is very awkward and inefficient.

Since the hole in most cells are in the center that means you'll have a tube going across half your trunk if you buy a standard cell with a 45-degree fill neck. There are cells without an opening and you could cut a hole at the edge and use a straight vertical fill neck to go under the stock fill tube.

 

[bnickel]

Depending on how big of a fuel cell you want, you can have one made at your local boat shop. They make custom aluminum fuel cells all the time. Last I knew, you could get one for $14/gal. So, a custom aluminum fuel cell for $300-400.

Fuel Safe is just outrageous

are they true fuel cells with a bladder or just an aluminum tank? my guess is they are just an aluminum tank.

 

[70vert]

Big Steel Box vs. Fuel Cell

that'd be great except fuel cells for our cars are over $1000......i can't afford that, personally.

you could use a universal fuel cell but i don't want to have to open the trunk every time i need to put gas in the car, plus if if i took the car on a trip and had luggage in the trunk then all our clothes would smell like gas and the wife would NOT go for that.

so unless someone comes out with an affordable fuel cell for our cars i won't be using one in mine.

+1. And I for one don't mind having more weight in the rear, especially that far back. There have been some tests with road racing mustangs (newer ones, from a corner-carvers.com thread) where adding weight at the rear bumper actually decreased lap times. (did search for thread, can't find it)

Basically, I'd rather spend half the price and have a steel lid on the top and bottom of the tank (and better weight distribution and traction) than a $1k fuel cell. I won't do the bottom yet, but I wouldn't rule it out.