Wide tires, mini-tubs, exhaust routing and gas tanks

[Joe_Rocket]

I had no wheels on my 69 Camaro, so I got a wide set with 275's in back to drive on until I do the mini-tub in a few months. The inside corner edge of the tires is only 1/4 inch from the exhaust. Since I am planing on doing the mini-tub and going wider in the near future, I had some questions:

1) Would a Flowmaster Exhaust Kit (or any others) work with the mini-tubs, or do I need custom exhaust in this case?


2) Is there an economical alternative for a gas tank, rather than buying the DSE tanks which are around $600?

[Joe_Rocket]

What? Doesn't anyone here have both mini-tubs and an exhaust?

OK, I'll give it some more time.

Oh yeah, while we're at it, if I'm gonna do the mini-tubs, since the leaf springs move inward a bit at the back, do I need to cut the leaf spring pads and reweld them inward as well?

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Joe,

The only economical idea I can think of for the gas tank would be to run a fuel cell in the trunk. You can get plastic ones pretty cheap through Summit and Jegs. I've never ran one myself, so I'm not sure if there are any major reasons not to run one. Are the DSE tanks $600? I thought they were around $900? RFR Custom Fab may be able to build you a custom tank out of aluminum. www.rfrcustomfab.com

I'm not sure on the exhaust kits.

[Joe_Rocket]

I guess the tank prices went up since I last checked. It would be $680 for what I need. The tanks for fuel injected applications can run you over $1000. Yikes!

[rockdogz]

Yep, pretty expensive I thought too, but the Rock Valley tanks are nice - that's what I ended up going with when I used the DSE minitub kit on my '68. Definitely check with Matt at RFR though... I'm sure he could build an awesome tank. Cutting-costs wise, a fuel cell probably is cheapest, but I don't have experience with them to tell you why you should/should not run one.
You don't have to change the leaf spring pads - the kit comes with offset shackles to move the spring inward. I got an exhaust kit from Pypes Exhaust. Looks ok - haven't installed yet. It's going to be tight - I'm trying to get the 3" kit over the axle and out to the tailpipe. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think the minitub operation itself will make the fitting of a stock exhaust kit impossible, especially with 2.5" pipes, although it will probably need to be re-fitted after the operation. Seems like a lot of people use turndowns before the axle or side exits before the rear wheels though to avoid this.

[ProdigyCustoms]

It would be pretty easy to buy a new repro original tank, have it split, narrowed and welded. No boom issue with a new tank.

[Joe_Rocket]

Thanks for those options.

I like the narrowed stock tank idea. Sounds like it might be the most cost effective out of the bunch. I priced the tanks at Rick's First Gen and came up with $275 for GM and $199 for a Reproduction.

The Pypes Exhaust Kits look really interesting. I think the 2.5 inch is probably all I'll need for my engine.