Reservations About Reserve Fuel Tank

[Griff-SKO]

Does any one know if there are any particular regulations on adding a fuel tank to your bus? Here's the skivvy: I still have my mini-motor home (not running) that has a perfectly good gas tank that I would like to mount on my bus as a bus reserve tank / generator fuel supply.

I'm confident that I can mount it securely using the original tank straps, but my bus's original tank has a "roll cage" kinda thing beside & bneath it, & I wonder if I've gotta do that with my potential reserve tank.

Any info or advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Demonknight]

judgeing by the things I see around here I would say go for it..I think most buses come out built like a tank due to the kid factor, not any state or fed rules. I persoanly wouldn't think twice about it IF I felt it was going to be safe from some dork hitting me on the side.

 

[stego]

I'm confident that I can mount it securely using the original tank straps, but my bus's original tank has a "roll cage" kinda thing beside & bneath it, & I wonder if I've gotta do that with my potential reserve tank.

Any info or advice is greatly appreciated!

I really doubt you would have to build the cage. It's a fed req. for buses built and used in school service. (due to some dork running into a bus and setting it on fire yaers ago....). Since yours is private - you can mount more tanks. I would suggest in between the frame rails in the back if possible for good dork protection. Of course if it's to be a diesel tank you're even safer!

Good luck

Stego

 

[Steve-SKO]

My bus is old enough it never had the cage for the fuel tank, but if you wish to add one to your new tank you can cheaply and easily pull one off an old bus. I was going to change from a 30 to 60 gallon tank and I saw lots of buses in the yard with those cages on them.

 

[Griff-SKO]

Thanks for the feedback! I was planning on mounting it just behind my bus gas tank. As far as "dork-proofing", I've found that every time something has been "dork-proofed", the world comes out with a better dork! Around here, the only 1/2 way safe place to mount it is on the roof & then I'd have someone drive off an overpass!

Anyway, I can't really afford even a used cage for it, (I also haven't been able to find a bus boneyard near my area) that's kinda why I was wondering if I could do it w/out breaking any regs, or failing a vehicle inspection. I guess all I can do is mount it, the worst that can happen is to have to take it back off. Thanks again for the input!

 

[Steve-SKO]

Then the answer is yes you can do without it and not break any regulations.

 

[Skoolie BOBB]

Reserve Fuel Tank

I've been working on this problem for a few months. It isn't that it takes that long to put a reserve tank in--I have spent the time getting the parts and so on. Here is my experience:

I got a semi saddle tank at our state surplus outlet. This thing is heavy and big. I wanted a fuel tank like this because I didn't want to run a filler tube from the outside of the bus to the middle. I bought a fuel pump, sender and guage off of ebay. I'm going to tranfer the fuel from the auxiliary to the main tank. Then I don't have to worry about two different fuel levels. I'll just pump to the main tank every so often and keep going. But . . . what if I forget to turn the transfer pump off? Will I have fuel pouring out of the tank on to the road? Won't happen. I've got a little mechanical timer that is used for timing house lights. I'll just give it a twist ever so often to top the main tank off. The two tanks will give me a capacity of 120 gallons of diesel. I'm getting about 7.9 mpg right now so that will be over 900 miles of driving.

Here is one thing about the semi tank. No one in the Salt Lake area carries anything related to fuel tanks. I'd go to one truck dealer and get referred to another. In the end I visited five different semi dealers and came away empty. So it was off to ebay.

Herb in Utah
'90 Flat-nose Blue Bird

 

[Griff-SKO]

That's a pretty good idea!

My reserve tank will mount toward the side, with the filler nozzle behind a door that I am going to cut out, and will be similar to the main tank filler door.

The tanks will not be directly connected. The fuel lines will be solenoid-switched and tied into a low-level sensor system similar to the ones on the jets I used to work on.

Each tank will have a light that will come on steady at approximately 1/4 tank, then start flashing at approximately 1/8 tank to let me know it's time to get to a station or switch tanks.

These lights can be overridden to prevent an annoying constant flasher, i.e. when the main tank light is flashing, I can press it & it will return to steady and switch to the reserve tank and vice versa.

 

[TravelingMan-SKO]

You might try this sorce. http://www.trucks.com\parts_salmage youl want the used part sectiom
The sell used tanks to they may have hangers you can use. Make sure you put some good ruber between the thank and the straps.

 

[Griff-SKO]

Thanx for the link! I added it to my ever-growing list of sources. I've already got all the parts, what I lack is the cut-out for the filler neck and the time to make it all happen. Fortunately, there is no immediate rush. My highest priority is finishing the interior conversion, as living in 1/2 the bus is not as nice as living in the whole bus!