Filler Necks Relocation - 1973 Chevy C10

Filler Neck Relocation Pumping Gas Before

The Problem

BEFORE Trying to pump gas into a filler neck that runs uphill to the fuel tank usually results in wet shoes and a few gallons of expensive gas on the ground. Tree Huggers are going to freak when they see this.

Smooth sheetmetal looks great and every truck could use a good shave job. One of the most often deleted items from a custom truck is the factory fuel filler location. It's common to shave the hole shut and then simply stuff the stock fuel filler neck into the inner fenderwell because it's a convenient spot. The problem with doing so, is that the odd angle of the filler neck usually ends up making it hard to actually fill up the gas tank. Our '73 Chevy C10 is a good example of this. Since losing both gas doors in the bedsides, we now pour more fuel onto the ground than we get into the tank during trips to the gas station.

Filler Neck Relocation Pumping Gas After

The Cure

AFTER Relocating the filler neck to a higher location, in this case it's the wheel tub inside of the bed, gives us a downhill facing neck to pour the fuel into. Gravity is now our friend when at the gas pump.

The solution is a pretty logical one, but it's not always easy to execute. We decided to move our filler necks so that they are positioned inside the bed, with an opening at the front of each wheel well. This required a small amount of re-plumbing and modification of each filler neck, as well as putting holes inside of the bed. Lucas Fab in Huntington Beach, California, made the swap happen with ease and showed us a few cool tricks to making the job look professional and functional.

Our C10's factory passenger-side gas door has been shaved already. The driver side already has an aftermarket saddle tank installed. Both filler necks have been relocated to the inside of the wheel wells, which meant that the filler necks were placed lower than the top of the fuel tanks. Needless to say, pumping gas uphill doesn't work so well.
Our C10's factory passenger-side gas door has been shaved already. The driver side already
First off, we picked a good spot inside of the bed to move the fillers to. We chose the front side of each wheel tub because it's usually not in the way of cargo and it's out of sight.
First off, we picked a good spot inside of the bed to move the fillers to. We chose the fr
A 2 1/8-inch hole saw and cordless drill took care of making a nearly perfect circle in the factory sheetmetal. Then, a die grinder removed all of the burrs leftover from the hole saw.
A 2 1/8-inch hole saw and cordless drill took care of making a nearly perfect circle in th

The stock fuel fills have a triangular bolt pattern already drilled into the face. We transferred the pattern to the wheel tub and then drilled 1/8-inch holes for mounting screws to feed through. A countersink drill bit then cleaned up the holes we just drilled so that the screws are easy to install into the filler necks.
The stock fuel fills have a triangular bolt pattern already drilled into the face. We tran
Now that the filler necks have found a new home, we've got to figure out how to reattach the hoses to them.
Now that the filler necks have found a new home, we've got to figure out how to reattach t
After some careful eyeballing on the part of Josh Lucas, he removed the filler necks and then cut off the lower portion using a trick vertical bandsaw.
After some careful eyeballing on the part of Josh Lucas, he removed the filler necks and t

The filler necks cut off lower portion.
What's left of the filler necks was then reinstalled into the wheeltubs. A length of 2-inch o.d. steel tubing with a 180-degree bend in it and a compound angle finder were then employed to figure out what kind of bend would need to be made to reach the fuel tank hoses.
What's left of the filler necks was then reinstalled into the wheeltubs. A length of 2-inc
This is what separates good work from great work: Josh used a hydraulic swedging tool (in a pinch you can use an exhaust tubing expander tool) to expand the end of the 2-inch tubing so that it mated perfectly with the wider opening of the filler neck.
This is what separates good work from great work: Josh used a hydraulic swedging tool (in

Since we already established the angle that the filler neck needed to be, the tubing was cut and test fitted one last time. After deciding the angles were perfect, Josh expertly TIG welded the tubing and filler necks together.
Since we already established the angle that the filler neck needed to be, the tubing was c
The results were good. One last bend to make and we'll have the lower portion of the filler necks that we previously cut off reattached to the tubing.
The results were good. One last bend to make and we'll have the lower portion of the fille
Once again the compound angle finder was employed to decipher the correct angle to cut another piece of 180-degree bent tubing for the bottom section of tubing.
Once again the compound angle finder was employed to decipher the correct angle to cut ano

With the angles correct, Josh TIG welded the tubing together to create one longer piece.
We still have to relocate the factory vent tube of each filler neck higher up onto the tubing and to accomplish this, we cut 1 1/2 inches from the factory fill and vent hoses and reinstalled the filler necks.
We still have to relocate the factory vent tube of each filler neck higher up onto the tub
In little over an hour, our C10 had a much more convenient gas filler and we only spent a couple bucks on extra tubing. If you can weld, or if you have a buddy you can pay with a six-pack, this is a great way to make your shaved truck easier to drive and keep money in your pocket.
In little over an hour, our C10 had a much more convenient gas filler and we only spent a