Steel gas tank vs. 97+ plastic tank

I have my totalled '92 XJ trail rig in the garage and am in the process of pulling the drivetrain to swap into my 2000. I hear that the older steel gas tanks (pre 97) sit a little higher than the newer plastic ones. Is it worth the swap? Anything that would make it tricky? I also would like to have the fuel filter outside the tank like the old design.

The 92 has a small dent in it, reducing my capacity to ~19.5 gallons. I have never been able to squeeze more than 18.5 in the 2000 tank, so I'd be adding capacity as well. I am of course getting a skid plate on the 2000 once I figure out what the plan is. Any recommedations on the best skid?

Thanks

jack

A guy in the local 4WD club had a problem with the tailpipe on his TJ and it melted a hole in the plastic tank.

jackdes said:

... Anything that would make it tricky? ......

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Getting the 97+ internal fuel pump mounted in a steel gas tank with no provisions for an internal pump.

Keep the 97+ tank, get a skid, problem solved.

Well, as for problems:

1. How do you make the 00 fuel pump assembly work in the metal tank?

2. If you choose to use the 92 fuel pump assembly in the metal tank, how will you make the fuel gauge read correctly--the resistance values are opposite of each other? And how will you compensate for the different systems fuel pressures?

3. Adding an external fuel filter should be the easiest part of this.

Interesting, so if you go ahead with this let us know how it works out.

EDIT: Tim_Mn beat me again!

I've replaced way too many steel gas tanks that rusted out. Stick with the plastic.

Stick with the plastic. Heck, I switched from metal to plastic myself (had to add a heat shield obviously), still working on the fuel gauge though.

kastein said:

Stick with the plastic. Heck, I switched from metal to plastic myself (had to add a heat shield obviously), still working on the fuel gauge though.

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Have you considered the AutoMeter gauges that work with the inverted resistance values? They have a number of them that are 73 ohm empty and 8-12 ohms full. Autometer also has the more expensive, $110+, with programmable ohms.

Nahh, I'm still working on getting the data I need to build something that'll let me set that up myself. I've gotten halfway, the gauge reads about half a tank less than I really have now instead of always reading empty (had one wire misplaced in my adapter harness.) So I just fill up when it reads empty knowing that I actually have a half tank left.