NO! Vapors are more flamable than liquid, did you read the whole thread before posting?
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BTW I'm neutral on the controversy. I'ts your car, do what you want - I'm just not going to do it on my car for many reasons.

 

do it.. its your car, and i would hate to cut up an exhaust for a single thing.. if you have the access panel, then you can access the tank numerous times and you dont have to remove the tank to do work..

 

I just pulled a gas tank out of an 88 RS at "Pick Your Part" and I don't see how you could pull the Fuel level sending unit / pump assembly out of the tank through a hole in the body floor. The assembly is long and it took me a while to turn and manipulate the assembly to clear the tank with it sitting on the ground. I don't see how that would be possible with the tank in the car.

 

that's the problem, the sender lines get cut too. the "right" way to do it would be making a saginaw sp? flares just 4 inches or so from the top of the sender and either making or buying the hoses that are longer to make up the differance for the removed pipe.

a hole should have a stamped lip (90 deg. drop at the edge of the hole) this is what I would think gm would have done and that lip belive it or not makes the hole much stronger than I think most would even belive. then the cover could be aluminum or steel plate with very thin sealing foam stuck to it trimmed to fit it's shape (just like the foam backed cover on some of the PCMs)


now I have to know this question.... now knowing you have no problem cutting the car why would anyone who has a car setup to race inmind (roll bar suspention mods and so on.....) even concider a stock tank and sender when a fuel cell and lines could and sould be used?

 

Gas doesn’t burn… gas vapor does.

You can fill the tank with CO2 if you’re really that worried… or exhaust from the car…

I really wouldn’t think 2x about it either way unless I was actually modifying the tank.

There’s a number of ways of running the bead, probably the easiest to use in that space would be some bead forming pliers (bodyshop supply) or a portable/hand bead roller.… like I said, if it was me I’d probably just make a 10 or 12ga doubler that got permanently attached to he sides of the hole for the same effect…

Not legal for the class you want to run
Don’t want to deal with the rules limitations for modified tanks/incar firewalls
Cost
Hassle
Not room to do it the way you’d want to do it
Won’t pass a street “safety inspection” (can’t register the car)

I could probably come up with a dozen more if I really thought about it.

 

no unless you have a press that shape or really know your way around sheet metal and bending the lip around the corners ..no way.
you would need to weld in a 1/4 plate (I would guess) to give the same effect


then don't let them know you made that hole too. belive it or not that is still in the same boat for most of that list^.

anyway I'm not saying don't do it just for the back of your mind remember if you ever got into a crash or had a fire and in some odd unlikely case the car was inspected in that area you might find the hard way insurance company's and lawyers will use that moddification in there favor anyway they can. so my advice is to do the cleanest most factory looking job on it if that is what you are going to do. any idiot can tell a rough cut hole with hose clamped fuel lines is not from the factory but a nice smooth cut with a perfect fitting plate and flared lines looks like it was there from day 1 and in the rare case your lawyer could back it up as a safe and thought out idea.

 

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Isn't that what I said?

Hey 83crossfire, what kind of places can you get the hand roller? I've been looking and can't seem to find them as I want to roll the tubing for my turbo to eliminate the silicone connectors from sliding off...




If you read the entire thread before you posted, you would have realized that nelapse did this write-up to show you how...seems like a lot of people in here just read the last few posts and reply, then complain when the search function is so difficult to use because of all the redundancy?!

 

i love my fuel pump acess panel. gm is know for having fuel pump go bad. its easy and you could even change your fuel pump out, on the side of the road if needed.

 

Eastwood and a few of the metal working catalogs out there used to have them, I haven’t looked recently. If you’re just looking for a bead to keep the hoses on, harbor freight actually has a fairly cheap bench/vice mount metal forming tool which is like a tipping roller that will do the job fine…. Honestly, for most applications that I expect to be a PITA I take and cut a couple of groves around the outside of the neck that you’re clamping over with an abrasive wheel, when you clamp down on the rubber/silicon it squeezes in to the groove and will never move, it’s much more effective and doesn’t require any special tools like a bead. In a pinch, you can usually just wipe both down with some laquer thinner or acetone and it will leave them clean an sticky, and a little hair spray on the joint before you assemble it will “glue” them together. If none of these work you’re usually doing something wrong, but weld tabs or clevises are absolute fail safe “there’s no freaking way this thing is going to blow off” devices…

WRT to the can’t get there from here type comments… there’s a bunch of flanging tools out there that would work fine, ranging from assorted hand operated/cam action deals (slow but will work) to hand held pneumatic and hydraulic hand flangers designed specifically for putting flanged panels in body work (check out the autobody store and similar forums/sites, some of them even sell them fairly cheaply

 

Thanx, I shop at Harbor Freight when I only need the tool a few times. Although anyone else who goes there knows they aren't always that good about keeping items stocked. Got my wire feed welder there for $130!
WRT?
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Didn't mean to pirate thread....

 

Nibbler is ideal tool for this, but most of us dont have one. A careful hand with a cut-off wheel is okay. Sawzall no way for this one.

Argon or CO2 would be ideal to fill the tank as an extra safety measure, but exhaust gas from a hose on a tail pipe works okay too. I've mig welded, gas welded and soldered MANY gas tanks using that method with various amounts of fuel (more is safer than less) never had any sort of ignition.
As a side note I know somebody who used to repair truck fuel tanks in Alaska. He used to fill the tank full of deisel (different situation than gasoline) and then start welding.

You can drop red hot mig splatter into gasoline, and if there is no oxygen it wont ignite.

These cars should have had fuel pump access doors!! Dang, even a ford escort has one, and it only takes a couple of minutes to get the pump out of one! The engineers that decided it wasnt nessesary should each get a swift kick to the nuts!

 

that's it? wow your nice! I would rather make them sit stranded on the side of the road in a thirdgen (fuel pump shot) about 20 deg F outside no one for miles , a box of craftsman sockets and screwdrivers and a new pump