I find it strange that the aftermarket providers who continue to manufacture fuel tanks for these vehicles continued to keep the "saddle" in their construction.   A few quick measurements of the tank dropped from the '88 indicates one could expect 14-18 additional litres of fuel if they were not there and the tank would be simpler to manufacture.

On 20-Jul-2014, at 20:50, Stuart MacMillan wrote:

> No, and blame Volkswagen for introducing the vanagon with the obsolete air
> cooled engine.  Was not worth it for them to re-tool for a couple more
> gallons of gas.
> 
> Stuart
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Roy Nicholl
> Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 12:28 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Replacement fuel tank question
> 
> All,
> 
> Does anyone make a replacement fuel tank for the water-cooled Vanagon w/o
> the cavities/moulded passages for the air-cooled heater pipes.  While I
> appreciate the needs of the air-heads, I would prefer the extra range this
> capacity could provide if that volume was on the inside of the tank.
>