Tanked Up | Build Your Own Tank Shells and Parts

7. Once the tank was properly aligned, we tacked the two halves together.

8. To keep the tank from warping from excessive heat, one-inch sections of the seam were TIG welded in an alternating fashion from top to bottom. This can also be done with a wire-feed welder.

10. The tank was too tall, so we cut two fingers width out of the bottom.

11. Without a doubt we took some major metal out of the King Sporty shell.

12. With our die-grinder we cut a piece of 1 1/2-inch DOM tubing in half length wise to use as the tank's tunnel. We used this over the Paughco tunnel due to it's shallow size.

13. Once the tubing was cut and de-burred, we measured the amount we needed to take out of the tank shell to make it fit.

15. Using the die-grinder and sander we made a place in the shell for the tunnel to fit.

16. Using a worn-out sanding disc as a template, we sculpted the ends of the tunnel to also act as tank mounts.

17. Once the tunnel/tank mount was to our liking, we drilled the mounting holes in it.

18. Some 16-gauge cold-rolled steel ($12.99) from Schorr Metals was employed to fabricate the bottom of the tank.