Got lucky with my gas tank...

[xgecko]

Just got back from my radiator guy after having him take a look at my gas tank. I was planning on having him clean it and recondition it but he took one look at it and flatly refused to take my money. It was sparkly clean on the inside and has no leaks in the tank itself; we determined that the vent hoses had decomposed and split which is certain to be the source of the gas odors.

It is always nice to find service folk that are honest. I make a point of remembering people like Aaron at Performance Radiator in Tacoma; he recored my '69 radiator and did an clean/inspect on the one that came in my '68 parts car. A true car guy himself, he has been a pleasure to do business with. When you find guys like this that deal with the parts you do not want to deal with or do not have the equipment to take on, they become very valuable indeed!

Now I have to mount the fuel pump on the spare tire well and replace the vent hoses so I can put the tank back in. Hopefully some of this will get done tomorrow...

[damalden]

we have to remove the tank on lukes new ride too. can i manage this with jackstands okay?

any tips are welcome.

Darren

[Twilight Fenrir]

we have to remove the tank on lukes new ride too. can i manage this with jackstands okay?

any tips are welcome.

Darren

If it's empty... it's really not that hard to do... My biggest problem was my bolts in the front were rusted solid... Cutting wheel made quick work of that though.

I pulled it down really carefully... stuck a wide board on a floor jack and tried to lower it down carefully... By the time I went to put it back in though, I just slid under the car and pushed it up with my arms. It's not /that/ heavy, just a little unwieldy... Maybe 30lbs?

[xgecko]

Yes, I have my car up on stands under the rear axle. The muffler is somewhat in the way so you probably will need to drop it a bit to get to the bolts. Be careful with the bolts as they are captured Carriage bolts that need to be slid off to the side if you cannot remove the nut. My bolts were coated with undercoating so I had to slide them out and replace them with new bolts.

Once you get the bolts loose it is easy to drop the tank. Be careful with the two electrical connections, and be sure to cut or remove the fuel lines.

It turned out that the gas odor I would get while driving came from split vent hoses so I will be replacing them before I re-install the tank. I also wire-brushed as much of the little rust I saw and then used rust killer on it prior to priming and painting. I painted it last night and it looks fantastic now; I just need to finish up the hose replacements and check under the trunk for rust while it is out and if need be deal with any I find. Then it should be pretty easy to put it back.

I also removed the rug from the trunk and found some rust in there that I will be treating prior to putting the rug back in place. This is a good thing to do if you have not already.

Good luck, and feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

[xgecko]

I agree fully with Twilight. It is pretty easy other than the bolts themselves. I was very lucky, they were not rusty as they were coated with rubber or something. Luckily I did not have to drop the exhaust, but if you need to grind the bolts off then you probably will need to remove the muffler.

And as he suggested make sure the tank is empty...

[Twilight Fenrir]

I agree fully with Twilight. It is pretty easy other than the bolts themselves. I was very lucky, they were not rusty as they were coated with rubber or something. Luckily I did not have to drop the exhaust, but if you need to grind the bolts off then you probably will need to remove the muffler.

And as he suggested make sure the tank is empty...

Also... Careful if you start grinding... make sure the all the holes int he tank are plugged before you do so... there's an aweful lot of sparks from grinding/cutting, definitely do not want to mix with fuel vapor.

[xgecko]

To reinforce his comment an empty tank is far more dangerous than a full tank so definitely make sure no sparks can ignite the fuel-air mixture (bomb) inside the tank...