4x4Review Off Road Magazine
This unadorned, yet effective fuel cell sports a large, D-Ring filler head making it easy to add gasoline from the pump, or from a jerrycan, and its large enough to get plenty of large fuel-cell safety foam blocks inside too. You’ll also find that this fuel cell offers the standard fuel feed line, return line and a vent line, replete with anti-inversion check valve, just in case you put your rig on its lid.
The VerdictThe custom fuel cell made by Blue Torch Fabworks is the perfect adornment for our All-Pro Flat-Bed Conversion Project. It provides us with the safety we need, the functionality we wanted and head-turning good looks that we’ve always come to expect from Blue Torch.
Since the skid plate and the tank are made of thick aluminum and steel, it was a bit tougher to install than the flimsy, factory unit, but it did go into place within 20 minutes or less. We did make the mistake of moving the rear axle too far back, and we had to modify the skid plate and tank a bit to clear the rear axle under full compression. Because the tank and skid plates are made of solid metal construction, some annealing and a 10-pound dead-blow hammer fixed our issue in short order.
The VerdictThe super heavy duty BTF replacement gas tank for our project YJ was just what the doctor orderd. The fitment wasn’t perfect, but it was very good and certainly overshadowed the flimsy OE gas tank in comparison. The finish and quality of the BTF gas tank is second- to-none. It provides excellent ground clearance, works with all of our OE filler necks / fuel hoses and will shield our precious petrol from the nastiest of boulders.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blue Torch Fabworks is on our short list. A secret little list we keep close to the vest – a list of companies that we can count on 100% of the time, and we know they always create high-quality, custom products that are durable, fit perfectly every time and look incredible.
We were recently finishing up two projects – the All-Pro flat bed conversion project, and a complete frame-up build of a buddy’s Jeep – and we were in need of custom fuel cells for both of them. While we typically pre-plan as much of every build as possible, the fuel tanks would be towards the tail end of each of these projects and we knew both of them would require something relatively custom to fit both applications. What we didn’t know was that one of our projects – the frame-up Jeep build project – could accept one of Blue Torch’s off-the-shelf gas tanks built specifically for Jeep YJ’s that have relocated the rear axle using a 4-link setup, but more on that later. Needless to say, when we got to the point in both of these builds where we needed to order fuel tanks, we knew we could count on Blue Torch to deliver in a big way.
Installation really couldn’t have been more simple, especially considering we were replacing the stock fuel tank. 
Next, we set the new Blue Torch FabWorks fuel cell into the bed, marked the holes, drilled them, then bolted the fuel cell into place. We then installed a set of -8 AN fittings on the fuel lines and attached them to the tank. We then filled it up with gas, primed the fuel system and checked for leaks (of course there weren’t any).
Blue Torch built an all aluminum cell using state-of-the-art technologies, perfectly sealed (and pressure tested) TIG welds, and a really bitchin’ “Blue Torch” logo facing rearwards, letting everyone behind us see the custom work they’ capable of.
His plans included a V8 conversion, Dana 60 rear axle located with a Stage West 4-Link kit, ¾ ton Dana 44 front axle, 700R4 slush box, Atlas 2 transfer case and much, much more. He had already stripped the innards, removed the body and painted the frame when we first walked into his shop – a clean rig to work on, cool!
The first thing we did was prep the new BTF gas tank for installation by attaching our OE sending unit cap to the new tank. This is a pretty straight-forward process as it’s just a handful of bolts to screw in. We recommend getting a new gasket, or making one with RTV. If you don’t have a sending unit cap, you can pick one up at an auto-recycling yard or at the dealership.
With the tank prepped, it’s simply a matter of putting it into place and bolting it in. The new, super-heavy duty BTF gas tank is made from very stout steel and aluminum, so it make take some persuasion to get it into place and lined up. Once in place however, it’s simply a matter of bolting in the retaining straps and hooking up the fuel lines.
When the replacement Blue Torch fuel tank showed up, we were pleasantly surprised to find a bunch more benefits to this tank, such as:
About Rick Webster
