Hey all,

We were a little bored here this afternoon so we decided to do a little
checking on the idea of "filling in" the valley in the 2WD Vanagon fuel
tank.  We had an old tank out back and an '85 Westy on the lift.  Using
those as samples, here's what we came up with:

Due to the clearances necessary for the shifter and the water hoses, you can
only fill in about half the valley.  The resulting change would net a
capacity gain of about 2.25 gallons.  For those of you who would like to
check my math, the resulting half-cylinder (only half due to the valley) had
a radius of ~3.5" and a length of ~27".  Taking some liberties in rounding
off, I came up with ~520 cubic inches of volume.  Since one cubic foot (1728
cubic inches) has a capacity of 7.48 gallons, 520 ci would equal ~2.25
gallons.

It may also be possible to "bulge" the top of the tank to add capacity, but
I'm not sure what, if any, would be the consequences on the rubber grommets,
especially around the filler neck.

Have fun.

Jeff
www.vanagonparts.com
www.autostadtwest.com