Has anyone dropped their gas tank recently? How involved is it? I have manuals and they say undo this and undo that and the tank just comes down but I know this has to be a load of hockey. I want to change my fuel pump with one out of a tuned port car for the higher pressure.

 

I did mine 3 weeks ago. These are the basic steps. I may have missed a few....

Exhaust off from behind the cat. Taking the muffler off sucks.

upper and lower panhard bars off.

remove lower shock mount bolts.

heat sheilding off

sway bar endlinks off.

Filler cap and insert removed.

Lower axle as low as you can. (watch brake lines/parking brake cable)

undo the fuel lines and electrical connection.

remove the straps.

take tank out. (Mine was VERY empty before I started)

Took me about 6 hours (in and out) without any help.

Chris

 

oh damn.... that sounds like it's going to be a nightmare on Helena Drive. Is there anything that might need to be replaced?

 

Well, if your muffler is old and rusted, it may be wiser to cut it and replace it. I didn't break anything, but look at having some fuel line on hand (rubber). If the stuff on the car is questionable, replace it.

I bought a fuel pump and screen as well as a filter. I let it run for a couple days before I changed out the filter as to not clog the new one.

It wasn't all that hard, but then my car has never left Arizona...

 

I don't think that mine has ever left Arizona either. It's not nasty underneath like my 85 I had when I lived in Louisiana. I always wondered how I didn't have grass growing on the bottom of it.

 

If you get a piano hinge, some sheet metal screws, and some rubber weatherstrip you can make a sweet access door for it instead.

 

You know, i thjought about doing that, but when I was trying to ake the pump housing out I had to finagle it quite a bit. I wasn't sur a hole would have been enough.

My $.02

 

I replaced my pump a few weeks ago. Just make sure to get the rear as high as can before you start. Lower you can get the rear axle the easier it will be. I also ended up cutting my exhaust off to get it out of the way. Make sure the tank is empty, I tried to siphon mine but stopped way too early( had more gas than I thought). I ended up fighting to get the tank out with just over 6 gallons in it. Total the job took me around 7-8 hours to finish.

 

EricFormula350 is a good resource when it comes to having a hole for access to his fuel pump. Maybe not for cutting the actual hole....

mrt89rs also cut a hole for his if I remember correctly.

Neither used the hinge/door method, though. At the fab shop I work at we made something like that for access to a fuel cell in a Monza race car.

 

how would one go about cutting the hole?

 

Not with a pair of tin snips.

If you're worried about sparks (i.e., you didn't drain the tank first) I'd drill a series of holes, and use a jig saw.

If you drained the tank, a cutting wheel on a dremel or die grinder.

Watch how deep you go with either, if I remember right there's only about .75 to 1.25 inches of clearance between the body and the top of the tank.

 

if you are putting the pump in an 82z there is a pretty good chance that car came with a mechanical fuel pump there for you will only have one pickup line going into your tank and also it will only be one piece. in my 89 rs with factory lo3 motor it has two lines one for the return line and one for the pump, and both srew together some where in the midle of the tank so by cutting a hole you can access you pump but you will not be able to pull the hole thing out.

any way i would not recomend cutting a hole in your car

 

dude.... my car's fuel injected