Recently i bought an 86 camaro SC and the fuel pump had died so the guy dropped the tank but never changed the pump and stuffed the tank inside the car when i bought the car, well i replaced the pump and the lines but i cant seem to get the tank IN., i cant break the bolts lose on the arms? above the rear end, i can get the tank past the rear end but i cant get the neck of the tank up past all this to squeeze the tank up past those arms. any advice here?

 

If you are referring to the panhard bar and the other bar above it, those have to come out.

 

see those are the bolts i cant get to pop lose, im using wd-40 and PB blaster and im using an 18 mm rachet along with a 21 mm wrench but they just wont budge!

 

If you have some way to get access to pneumatic tools, those make removing those bolts much easier (600 lb-ft of torque FTW )

If you don't have any buddies with those, then it's time to get out the breaker bar, or slip a decent length of pipe (2' or so) over the handle of your ratchet, to make a "cheater bar"

 

ok, ill try the cheater bar later, its easier to use than the breaker bar... any other help or tips?

 

Just put all your strength into it, sometime even your body-weight, lol. Many of the under-body bolts are TOUGH to take out.

 

yeah, alot of them are rusted pretty good, im happy to say mine are not, my car was garage kept most its life besides 2 years where it sat not moving so its clean.

 

Just make sure it is well supported on jackstands...

Like we said, you're gonna be putting all your weight into this, and trying to "break" it loose. You really, really don't want the car shifting around at all while you're doing that. I've had the car start to shift on the jackstands while I was trying to get the lower control arm bolts out before (had to use a breaker bar because I couldn't fit an impact gun on it), and that's just plain scary.

Also, a longer cheater bar will let you put more torque on the bolt, don't limit yourself to just a 2' one necessarily.

 

I did a few coats of WD-40 and 2 came out with alot of hammering. The Brace bar had to be heated and then beaten out. Once they are off, a simple L or using your weight they will pop out.

 

if you can get your hands on an electric impact rachet, that is the best way to go. i couldnt get mine out either and it was garage kept. if you can , go to the local hardware store and rent one. its only like 6 bucks for half a day. really cheap to rent good tools like that. i went and bought one for like a hundred bucks, i tell you now , it was one of the best investments ive made, when you cant get a bolt loose, the impact will

 

How did the other guy get the tank out without removing those parts?

 

he probebly put them back on, and it most likely sat that way for a while. when i put parts back together that have rubber bushings, ill put anti seize or some kind of lubrication in there so it doesnt rot inside the bushing. most likely they where pretty rusty inside , and it was put back together that way

 

The last Bird I put a pump on all I had to do was take the bottom bolt out of both shocks to drop the rear end lower (being carefull not to stretch and break the flexible brake hose....................

 

Well i called a shop about it today and he didnt sound like he wanted to do it but they said they will do it for about $150

 

$150 to do what exactly.

 

install the tank

 

So just to install it? Meaning the tank is already outside and its just a matter of reinstalling it? if so.

The hard part is getting it out, getting it in is simple and all that it requires is to move it back and forth until its in and if its like mine, rebend the filler neck back into position, It took me with an extra pair of hands around 20 mins.

Why won't you do it yourself? All I did to remove/install mine was remove the panhard bar and brace then jack the car from where the lower control arms bolt up and the whole rear end just drops and gives you so much space to work with.

Still $150 for something that is gonna be done in about 20-30 mins is kinda eh

 

yeah the tanks out all i have to do is install it, i jsut dont want to mess anything up thats so importaint to the car running!, i might just be paranoid but still i might just drop that panhard bar tomorrow and see if i cant get it installed....

 

You wont, Just make sure the lines are secured back and off you go, theres not really anything that you can mess up. Drop the panhard bar and brace and raise the car from the LCA bolt locations and the rear should drop enough down to give you space.

One thing I am wondering, how is the tank out and panhard bar installed?

 

well like you said you had to bend your filler neck back and i dont wanna do that!!!, and yeah im wondering that too because i cant see where they took it out

 

All it took was a big crowbar and holding it for about 30 secs and it was back into shape. I am sure they did remove them, which would make them easier to remove for you now. Mine were rusted and had to be either hammered or torched out.

 

my cars rust free besides some rust on the passenger quarter panel near the hatch area

 

I had to bend the filler neck on mine as well... not much, just enough. It'll bend back with no worries.

 

arent you guys afraid of the neck leaking?

 

From what? Bending it back? I bent mine slowly and it had moved quite a bit. To me it would only crack or bend if it was really rusted or if it was bent too much but even then removing/installing the tank should not bend it that much at all to cause it to leak.

Just give it a try. Getting it is easy, the 2nd part is moving/wrestling with it to get it back into the area it needs to be at. I had to have my father help me due to having it with half a tank of gas. Empty I would imagine It could be done alone with the help of a jack and some 2x4's. Trust me the hardest part of installing/removing a tank is getting enough clearance to get it out/in.

If you lived closer, I would go help you out, hell I even have a high rise spoiler that might be usable.

 

Not worried one bit. Still bone dry and there's not enough movement at the tank and filler neck to do anything unless the tank was crap to begin with.