Hey guys...so I personally from reading older post on here believe I know the answer to this question...but a friend of mine who use to own a 1LE says that his had an 18 gallon gas tank...he said that he even filled it up once and the the gas pump said 17.5 gallons and has a receipt to prove it...if u notice the pic it says specific fuel tank with high wall reseior??? Which he claims is the meaning of a larger fuel tank...his car was a 89 I believe GTA...have to double check on that one

 

It's a 91 btw...sorry

 

Hawg wash. It never existed. The high wall reservoir is just the plastic tub the fuel pump sits in. Below 1/4 tank of fuel in a thirdgen without the "1LE tank" the pump will starve for fuel as it sloshes around the tank. So they added the larger tub and baffling, the "dual" pickup (actually just a longer filter sock), so that the fuel stays around the pump near the end of the tank.

What happens is you get an excited nitwit writing an article for a magazine, and an excited GM engineer raving about the special project they worked on, and a comment about a "reservoir" designed to suck every drop of full out of the tank under cornering, gets understood as a 2 gallon "reserve" and some ***-clown adds 2 gallons onto the 16 gallon tank.

You can seriously trace myths like the 18 gallon 1LE tank back to the magazines and how the articles are worded. It basically comes down to miscommunication, misinterpretation.

FWIW EVERY MPFI thirdgen in 1991-1992 got the baffled tank and 1LE spec internals, even the 3.1L Firebird I'm rebuilding.

 

Lots of pics here of the pump and pickup.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...nk-1989-a.html

If you search, you can find pics on the different baffles over the years. Early TPI cars had a low multi-wall one. Later had the high wall one. (some seemed to have none).

But no real 18 gallon tank ... just access to more fuel in the existing tank.

Now add the Imperial to US Gallon conversion and you get another source of the 18 gallon tank!

Mark.

 

It's already a tight fit back there I don't even know where a larger tank would fit in our cars.

 

Yeah...I think thats the best explanation I have heard really as of yet...I read what you said somewhere else...well I think its best I let my friend believes what he wants to believe ...I wont tell him...but I believe what you just said ha. Also the other guy made sense with the 18 gallon tank not fitting in our cars...or at least it seems...I also find it interesting that if this was the case....such a different option there is no RPO code for this...I mean surely you would think that would have crossed GMs mind...? No..

 

No 1LE's were ever produced as GTA's.

My 91 Formula sticker reads the same way but the gas tank isn't specific to 1LE's in 1991.

 

Wait a minute...help me out...ur saying that a GTA could not have a 1LE package huh??? Can u elebrote more...so his was what other than a GTA....what did they call them in the players series...just trans ams...

 

Info Sharing ... Take note of fuel tank part numbers and capacity over the years, and then the standard number from 89-on.

 

And more ...

 

And for pump. (My pump from a genuine 1LE appears to be no different than other pumps. Part number does not show any unique parts thus far)

 

Fuel tank capacity seems to be a strange one. The 4th gens came with the same 15.5 gallon capacity that our cars came with. But most 4th gen people have no problem getting 13-14 gallons in every time.

My 89 GTA seems to be 12 gallons to fill from empty to full. I'm talking fuel pump humming, gas gauge on E all the way to full. The most I've gotten in was 13.2 gallons. And that was dire low fuel. I recall somebody on TGO running out of gas and only getting 13.x gallons in the tank after.

Yet I've seen another 89 GTA show me a receipt for 16.1 gallons on the way to the car show. And he mentioned he never has any problem getting 14 gallons in.

Officially both cars are 15.5 gallons. When I got a new fuel pump, I put the 1LE fuel sock in there. (Just a double wide sock, costs about $3 more than the standard sock). Capacity still is the same at the gas pump.

Despite this, I have no basis to believe that 1LE came with any larger size tanks than stock. They just had the walls to keep the fuel from flopping around in there. As for 1991-92 cars all being 1LE tanks with walls. Some are, some aren't. There is no rhyme or reason for it.

 

I would believe there was .5 left in the tank. This was filling up my 91 T/A L98 one night. BTW sorry about the pics, not sure why the forum post them at a 90 degree angle.

 

2.8 MPFI engine Camaro (1985 I believe). same reservoir as my 1988 A4U car.





1LE High wall reservoir. From my 1989 1LE car.

 

No GTA's only TA & Formula for 1LE - same for R7U.