Thread: Shingleback Sill Tank Install Q’s

Firstly... what model/year Defender are u installing the Sill Tank on?


I've done 2 now... First one was on my old '95 Defender 110 Wgn and the second one on my '09 Defender Puma 110.


My 1st attempt on my old Defender:


# It came with the Sender Hole already cut in - I made up a Ally plate to block this off and just used Self Drilling screws and Silicon - all good with no leaks


# The 2 larger holes on the top (1 at rear and 1 at the front) - I've used these as breathers with separate hoses that I've taken up into the engine bay up behind the brake booster. I've installed a Filter on the end of the hose. The other 2 holes on top at the rear of tank are already blanked off.


# Fuel Pickup - This is where I made my 1st mistake... I originally had the fuel pickup coming from the brass bung at the bottom of tank at the rear. This all worked fine for the past 2years until recently when I was driving some forestry tracks and had a branch/stick come up and hit the fuel pickup brass fitting, cracking the tank around where the female brass insert is molded into the tank & I lost all my fuel. I'm yet to fix it but have changed my fuel pickup from the bottom to use one of the blanked off holes at the top & rear of the tank. I've drilled out the blank section and inserted a brass fitting with a metal tube inserted (soldered) into the brass fitting as my fuel pick up. Once tank is repaired, I'll just use the bung at the bottom of the tank as a drain plug but this will depend on how the repair is done...


# Fuel is transferred into the Main tank via a good quality Facet Pump and this is tee'd into the Main Tank breather hose down near the main tank. I have another equalizing hose tee'd into the breather hose as well but at the top near the main filler. This equalizer hose then tapped into one of the breather hoses on the sill Tank. This prevents any issues if u happen to forget that your facet pump is on and just puts the overflow back into the Sill tank. This also helps out with equalizing pressure between the 2 tanks.


# In regards to filling the Sill Tank, the easiest option was a separate Filler installed into the triangle panel just in front of the rear Wheel. I didn't believe the fall from the Main tank Filler to the Sill Tank would be great enough and thus cause issues when filling up the Sill tank.


My 2nd attempt on my Puma Defender (note: my Puma came with a inner Guard 40ltr Aux Fuel Tank):


# When I ordered this Tank, I made sure that there was no hole for the Sender..

# I pretty much did the the same as my first install with the exception of Fuel pickup. I did the fuel pickup from the top to prevent what happened to me previously...


# Fuel Transfer is tapped into the hose between the Main and inner guard tanks. There is no breather/equalizing hose between the main and sill tanks. Providing I only transfer fuel across when my main tank is nearing empty a equalizing hose is not necessary providing the main tank small breather is clear(not blocked)... This may change as time goes on if I start having issues with pressure build up when pumping fuel across.


# Again, a separate filler was the only way to go for this setup, even though the inner guard tank has provision for a hose tee off but is next to impossible to make work due to position and lack of fall....




Hope this helps u in some way....


rob

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I like your tip on the fuel pick up.

TD5 110HT....I have storage bins just in-front of the rear wheels.

I've attached a couple of pics from my Puma install...

We have had ours in our Puma for a while now and it’s doubled our range. Here’s what i did if it helps.

Breathers, I haven’t got one on the sill tank due to my set up.
I fitted 2 elbow fittings, 1 each end with a hose running to the filler point from each.

Fuel gauge, I have fitted a VDO sender as they are predrilled to this size.
We run a duel VDO gauge fitted in the dash, the second side will be for the LH tank once they are released.
The military set up swaps the sender unit wireing at the manual fuel tap when swapping from left to right tank.

Filler, I had a series filler neck customised so only 1 fill point for both tanks, it incorporates the sill tank fill point into the main tank and can overflow into the sill tank if the main tank is full.

Transfer pump is a Facet with a steel RRC pre-filter operated by a Mulgo dash switch.
I blanked the drain on the sill tank and had a tube bronzed into an elbow so it’s a vertical pickup(rear section after drilling out at a thread fitting) to a lose the previous mentioned issue.
The transfer rate is slightly quicker than fuel used so once I get the main to 1/4 I start filling while on the move.

Any other tips or tricks???
Use the corect Loctite thread sealer, not tape.
Fitt and refit to check before drilling holes.
Think about the fall for fuel hoses, particularly main filler hose.
Double clamp the main fill hose at the tank end.
I used 5 core trailer wire for this job from dash to tanks, 2 to each sender and 1 for the pump.

KB

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I never installed mine it came with it already done but it has started to leak when full so will need to pull them down and repair at some point.

Anyway if I could give a tip it would be to not be stingy on the breathers. Mine is an absolute bi!$h to fill up and is very easy to make spew. I think it has to do with the breathers as they are all the same size hose to the end, each two on each side is plumbed to one and then both sides are also plumbed into one all the same diameter hose.

What I will do when I get them back down is plumb the two breathers from front to back into the next hose size up and then again when they meet from each side.

Originally Posted by alien

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Hey Kyle.... Looks good, but I'm curious as to how u go accessing/replacing your OEM Fuel Filter? Can u still remove the metal protective cover easily?

Originally Posted by Robmacca

Hey Kyle.... Looks good, but I'm curious as to how u go accessing/replacing your OEM Fuel Filter? Can u still remove the metal protective cover easily?

G’day Rob,
It is only a 10mm bolt through the P clamp with a nut on the rear, this way the bolt stays in the P clamp when it’s undone. The cover then can be removed from behind the hoses.