Inner body tub sheetmetal, front aux fuel tank fill

[mattt]

My 69 never had a drivers side aux/front fuel tank. Used to have a passenger side aux tank that I never used and removed because I went to a BC tank. My question is regarding what I believe is the aux fuel tank filler cavity. In front of the drivers side rear wheel well is a piece of factory sheet metal that most likely created the void outside the passenger compartment for the fill tube to reach the tank. If I were to remove that sheet metal piece, would I then have a hole in the floor of the tub? I suspect the answer is yes.

The reason I'm considering removing it is because I wanted to use that spot for future speaker placement. The passenger side is wide open, un-used space there, but the drivers side has the protrusion there. Anyone in the past removed that sheet metal and have any pointers on doing it cleanly?

 

[71broncman]

That piece of sheet metal is a block off plate for the vapor recovery bottle. It may still be behind the plate. There are some small holes through an extension piece welded to the front of the fender well for 3/16 or 1/4" tubing. Yours may be disconnected, as are many others. Just take the plate off and take a look.
Mark.

 

[mattt]

The 69 didn't have the recovery bottle as far as I know. There has never been anything mounted there and there are no holes anywhere on it. If it was an easy removal, I'd do the exploratory surgery, but it's spot welded all over where it attaches to the fender well, the floor and the outside body. Feeling around from underneath, it would appear there is no floor there, but I was hoping someone who's been there, done that might ring in. Thanks!

 

[Bferrari]

Here is a picture of mine with the plate removed for the vapor recovery bottle. If you are talking about the plate (which is not installed in my pic) then this is what you would see. If you are talking about the sheet metal that is welded directly in front of the wheel well, yes, it would be a big gaping hole if removed. Hope that helps!

 

[mattt]

Yes, that is different from my 69. Maybe a later year thing when the vapor bottle was added. Thank you for the pic Bferrari.

I've attached two pics showing what my 69 looks like. I'd like both sides to be the same(like pass. side) if possible. I think there would only be a hole in the floor to patch, but nothing to patch on outer body shell or wheel well. Anyone done this before...removing that part and neatly patching the tub floor?

 

[Viperwolf1]

The vapor recovery system was added in 1970.

 

[Beer and Fish]

That looks like a plate someone made to cover where a roll bar once lived. I'm pretty certain that's what it is.

 

[Beer and Fish]

Oh, now I see. Yes, that's for the filler neck. I would "build it out and put a JL Audio 8.8" on each side. Build it out with wood so both sides match. You could even have the roll bar go into the top of the speaker box if needed. Build it like a clamshell around the roll bar and clamp and glue. Are you putting the roll cage back in?

 

[old 71]

Mattt,

Yes that front filler gap can be removed , you would have to extend the upper quarter panel back to the wheel house and put a patch in the floor to fill the void that is left behind. Pretty simple mod , I considered doing the same mod to my 75 to gain the space but decided to put the filler neck in for future use if I ever sold my bronco. Easy to delete harder to restore .

Hope that helped

Dale

 

[mattt]

That looks like a plate someone made to cover where a roll bar once lived. I'm pretty certain that's what it is.

Oh, now I see. Yes, that's for the filler neck. I would "build it out and put a JL Audio 8.8" on each side. Build it out with wood so both sides match. You could even have the roll bar go into the top of the speaker box if needed. Build it like a clamshell around the roll bar and clamp and glue. Are you putting the roll cage back in?

That base plate you first noticed is the start of a new cage for my Bronco.

Mattt,

Yes that front filler gap can be removed , you would have to extend the upper quarter panel back to the wheel house and put a patch in the floor to fill the void that is left behind. Pretty simple mod , I considered doing the same mod to my 75 to gain the space but decided to put the filler neck in for future use if I ever sold my bronco. Easy to delete harder to restore .

Hope that helped

Dale

Dale, thanks for the info...that helps. So it is more than just patching the floor in that case. I hadn't thought about the wheel well to upper quarter panel area needing a patch also. Hmmm, I might have to think about this further. It sounds like a good amount of work for limited return.