War Plane Fuel Tanks

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32' Lover

32' Lover

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OK..well i know this seems a little odd but, i wanna try to find a P-38 lightning or a P-51 mustang external fuel tank...i have a great project in mind...and basically what i want to build is a "belly tank racer" which is a salt falts car that has a large teardrop shaped body mounted on a frame..which it saves time and money if you could jus buy an old fuel tank from a war aircraft..if youd go to so-cal speed shop's web site you could see what im talking about, there were never many of these customs made and i wouldnt mind re-making one and make it street legal to take to car shows..as you all know the fuel tanks are all ready engineered to be stream line and thats why they used them. if any of you guys have any information on where i could find a salvage yard or find one laying around please tell, or if youd have any advice about what to maybe try to look up. Ive tried and had no luck at all finding old tanks..:)👍
 

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You best bet would probably be an old airplane junk yard. Some of those thing are a little hard to come by now.

All I can think of right now, but good idea, ive always wanted to do something like that
 
yeah lol, ive figured that one out..i dont know where you could find one..i tried looking it up, but i got no good results...i bet theres one in Arizona..
 
I'm afraid you won't find one. At least a cheap one and you probably won't pay thousands of dollars for it even if someone would sell you one. The drop tanks are just as valuable as the planes carrying them back then nowadays so if someone knew about one, it would be salvaged to a restoration project pretty swiftly. It's crazy how things that were built to be dumped away are worth gold today.

- R -
 
yeah..after reading about the prices the old vets used to pick one up for, deppends how bad the salvage one is..i would still take one if it was rotted out in the bottom and as long as the top wasnt bad i wouldnt care, it might cost a lot..but to build one out of fiber glass would be a pain because of the fact you have to mold them and what not...but the supplies might cost a little money too..my uncle builds hotrods so i have the whole other end covered, i just need a body..
 
This might be going out on a limb, but here goes. Try going to like an air museum and ask someone where they get their old WWII planes. If your lucky they might point you in the right direction! :sly:
 
AT this point in time.
It would likely be easier to get the measurements of a Belly Tank, and fabricate it yourself.

AS has been said, with the restoration craze for all things WWII the planes and drop tanks are being resto'd.

With fabricating it yourself, you can expand the size of the tank while keeping to the basic shape to ease egress and ingress for the sake of safety.
 
safety??? who needs that...

well yeah it would be ok to build the body from scratch and to be able to have it to the exact measurements i want...but i also wanna do it for being authentic...they didnt make giant mold and form theres...but price wise it would be cheaper, steel would be the best but i dont have the tools to make compound curves...
 
Even so, you are talking about an inordinated amount of fabrication to build the thing "authentically".
You'd have to make EVERYTHING but the tank itself.
Plus the fabrication of the cockpit.
You're talking about custom suspension, mounting points for the suspension, mounting points for the engine, fuel cell, internal strengthening of the tank shell so it won't crumple when you add all that extra weight....etc.
And that's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head.
 
yeah..i know theres a load of work to be done...but if anything i want the outside to look as close as possible..the inside im thinking of putting a summit racing cell, i wanna see how much a total cost involved reproduction 32 ford front axle assembly is and the frame isnt a big deal to me i can do that. well this thing isnt going to be built to go as fast as the old one...but i think ill find and old flat head ford V8 and put in it...which they used a mercury engine...which would make sense becuase it has a little more power than a FOrd engine does..and i can find a Ford 9inch rear end too..probably for free..so i have this planned out...after all my uncle has built two drag cars and has jus got done building a prostreet Anglia, now hes working on his gasser Willies panle truck, and after that im helping him with his 56 chevy gasser..so yeah ive got a place to go to if i need advice or help on fabrication..no prob bob:tup:
 
This is an incredibly long shot, but there is/was a person living near Mt Holly, NJ who had some drop tanks. Google for John Mahalchik.

I say "long shot" because my info is over 30 years old, but you might get lucky.
 
32' Lover
yeah..i know theres a load of work to be done...but if anything i want the outside to look as close as possible..the inside im thinking of putting a summit racing cell, i wanna see how much a total cost involved reproduction 32 ford front axle assembly is and the frame isnt a big deal to me i can do that. well this thing isnt going to be built to go as fast as the old one...but i think ill find and old flat head ford V8 and put in it...which they used a mercury engine...which would make sense becuase it has a little more power than a FOrd engine does..and i can find a Ford 9inch rear end too..probably for free..so i have this planned out...after all my uncle has built two drag cars and has jus got done building a prostreet Anglia, now hes working on his gasser Willies panle truck, and after that im helping him with his 56 chevy gasser..so yeah ive got a place to go to if i need advice or help on fabrication..no prob bob:tup:
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As an old Ford guy I have to state that there isn't much difference in the Ford and Mercury flat-heads.
All a Mercury is, and has ever been is a Ford in it's "Sunday Clothes".
 
my pop always told me that mercury had a bigger bore or something like that. so that what ive been told. plus isnt that the same way with Lincoln too??
 
My dad handed me a "Chilton's" repair manual, many years ago. I used to look all that stuff up.
The motors have been "corporate" for many many years.
Flat-heads are much the same.
Look at a 50 Merc and a 50 Ford that have been de-chromed.
Most people can't tell them apart.
I'm one of them, and I'm a "Ford Guy"
 

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