I posted a seperate post about this today, (didnt find this one right away) and like someone else had expirienced above, I wanted to do it the right way, come to find when the tank was out, there already was a sad attempt at a access panel. So I was forced to do what I didnt want to do, but I did it the right way, left the tank out, taped off where I wanted to cut, then cut out around the crappy ripped metal that was left, and now I have a clean hole in the floor. I am now thinking of a way to seal it off nice so it can be used again in the future. I drilled a hole in the floor on all 4 corners from where i taped off, and then used a jigsaw with a metal blade and cut it out. Worked awesome, very clean cut. Can I get ideas or pics from someone that has done this in a professional manner? I really am not happy i had to go this router, but its better now than it was.

Thanks

 

Back from the dead huh?

Anyways, i am getting paid on 25th so expect me to post pics up by 30th.
I plan on making it pretty cool by adding a lock to it and making it like a panel. Just wait for a week and I'll have it done!

I will HACK this to a MOD.
Laters.

 

Thats what I was thinking too... since whats done is done, might as well make the best of it... Keep me posted...Thanks

 

I was thinking about this and it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea if done right... the problem is I cant figer out how to do it right. First of I don’t plan on doing it because I don’t need to, but it has been nagging at me. First it will be about a two day job. here’s what I was thinking.

drop the tank a little maybe 6 inches.
mark the outline of the access hole drill the corners
cut the shape with cutoff wheel, snips, whatever.
smooth all edges with a metal file. so nice and clean,
paint all metal edges so it wont rust (enough of out cars are rust buckets.)
now go to a junk yard and get a panel out of a another 3'rd gen bout 2 inches bigger on all sides.
use a mini pipe cutter to cut the tubes, tank drops so it should be easy, then flair all of the lines. use good fittings or earls fittings if needed.
Run a thick bead of silicone all the way around the outside of the hole and let dry to act as a gasket.

Now what I cant figer out is how attach the plate. It is the exact same shape so it should fit great, and the silicone will act like a rubber gasket, but how can it be attached? Screws will rupture the tank in a accident, same with bolts, if put in upside down they will create a lump in the carpet. Rivets would work well but they must be drilled out every time the plate would be removed. Anyway I was just curious any ideas? also anything I forgot. Might as well figer out how to do it right because so many ppl seem to want to do it.

 

I don't recommend this project. Trunks are meant to be sealed to keep out possible fuel fumes and exhaust leaks, but that's my opinion and you can do as you wish. That aside, if you are going to use an over sized plate and silicon as you stated and you want a way to mount the plate that can be undone quickly, you can use steel screw rivets. Drill a small hole for the rivet base to be pushed up through and tack weld it. Then the top part of the rivet is a small screw that screws in.

Here is a picture of screw rivets.

Rick

 

Now, if you are worried about the exhaust coming in than you should check your spare tire well. There are at least few holes in there as well as on the other side. Thats enough to get the gases in without the access door built.
On the other hand I think a bit of silicone as a gasket actually sounds great. You can weld the door on there, and just build a smaller door that can be locked and stuff. Just like all the cars that do have access holes.

I am sorry, I have not done mine yet. Its cold here in CO, and my buddy is not free to help me out.
I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

I put an access door in mine. Used a regular fine tooth hacksaw blade with duct tape on half of it so I wouldn't scratch my guitar playing fingers when I cut the fuel lines. I also double clamped the fuel hoses to be sure the 13 lbs of pressure wouldn't cause a leak. I used titainium to seal the hole so my beer cooler wouldn't fall through the hump when I hit a bump!

 

when you convert to carb you can use same pump just add a regulater.

 

wouldnt putting in a inline pump get rid of the need to install a fuel door after the old pump has been removed?

 

The whole point of putting an access door in is to avoid droping the fuel tank. Besides, the proper location for an in-line pump is as close as you can get to the tank in order to push fuel to the engine. I really couldn't see much of a mounting location for an in-line pump under my car, and I sure don't want it inside with me!
Every car I've put one in I've found a good mount location in the trunk. Not many of those in third gen's.

 

Fuel Pump Access

 

Hi, Sorry I haven't been updating on the progress here. I had a friend promise me to help, and we just could not find a time to do it. Stupid hollidays! Anyway, I am hoping we change it soon. The weather here is getting much better so if he does not help me within few days I am going to do it myself. (He has all the tools and I have to buy them).
Anyways, 91GTAbird, I saw your post, and I have few questions
1. Did you empty your tank or not???
2. Do you still have the hoses on your lines???
3. How hard was to put in the new pump???

 

This Sat. it will be done! I'll get some pics up!

 

1) No. But i recommend it.
2) Still on there and no leaks, buldges, or bubbles.
3) Childsplay. It looks alot harder than it really is(and it doesnt look that hard). Just get the feel for it when removing the old pump.

 

Thanks.

This sat. its getting done, and do check out the link 91GTA posted. It shows you exactly how to do the change from start to finish!!!

As for me, I will get some pics, but I am not sure how far we will get on sat. So I'll post what I got and I'll show you what tool I used to cut the lines!!!

Laters.

 

WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DROPPING THE REAR END and taking a chance of busting those old *** bolts. CUT THAT ONE LITTLE EXHAUSE PIPE ON THE PASS SIDE RIGHT AFTER THE REAR AXLE and undo your hangers wallla remove heat shields and viola clear access to your fuel tank. I changed mine on trailer never removed her stuck a jack under the pumpkin and shoved 2 jack stands under the rear of the frame. She was good to go in an hour and a half later still haven't made it to the exhaust shop to reweld the exhaust haha although the marrow is sitting parted 4 4 months now at my apt complex with the oil pump going out guess that 570k is setting in on the original motor that never leaked or burned oil :-(

 

honestly people, why would any of you hack up your car to make doing a bit of labour a bit easier.

might as well cut some holes in the hood next time you need to change your plugs or add some oil.

i'd be more worried about gas fume build up, or exaust leaking into the interior then then anything else.

just do the job the way it was meant ot be done

 

Tommorow, lads!

 

Exactly, I think i'll cut a hole in the fender and wheel well so I can reach my oil filter easier It takes me at least two full minutes to crawl under there. That top part of the dash that makes the heater core difficult to get to could be cut out as well and put a zipper on it to reattach it. Then remove the doors so I can just walk into my car without having to actually open the door(summer mode only of course)
just kidding of course, The part I don't like is the door being open. Covering it properly could be done but its going to take too much work and theres alway possible problems in that area. When one of the rubber fuel lines leak (which they have been know to do) they could begin filling the back or even just misting vapors.
I hope you're not a smoker like me, you may not even hear the boom!
I've done allot of hack jobs but this one just is not even an option for me. Theres a floor pan over the tank for a reason.
I'm off the box now

 

Good ideas, would shave a couple of seconds off your ETs.

 

hahaha thats some funny sh*t guys.....anyway i just spent about an hour reading this whole post looking for a step by step to dropping the tank and changing the pump....does anyone know where i can find one? Chiltons gives you like 3 steps lol.....thanks guys


BTW there is no exhaust on the car right now.....also i dont want to do any access hole BS
Thanks,
Steve

 

ok nevermind i just went for it without instructions lol....honestly i thought it would be an extremely difficult job even tho my car has no exhaust to get in the way....it only took me about an hour and a half.....all you have to do disconect your exhaust, put the back of the car on jackstands, disconnect the trac bar and trac bar brace and unbolt the 2 straps holding your tanks on.... make sure you disconnect the lines first tho....if i wasnt a complete moron and didnt waste time trying to break free a rusty bolt that turned out to be threaded in place the whole time, then i would say wrestling the gas tank out is the hardest part once its disconnected.....just do it the safe way guys....if you have put so much time into your cars already dont risk blowing them up to save yourself an hour of work

 

sorry I havent posted at all. I had an accident... NO I DID NOT BLOW MYSELF UP! However on sat. on my way to the bank I caught my index finger in my doorjam and I lost the nail, destroyed the finger and fractured it as well. I was in the emergency and could not do the pump. So I called a friend of mine and he's gonna do the whole job on sunday. And YES, we are dropping the tank. No tools or hands available right now, so I'll just have him do it and see how it goes.

 

Some of you are still not getting the damn point. When you live in apartment and arent able or allowed to work on your car in the parking lot and dont have a jack, jaskstands, exhaust cutter, and etc., you only option is this. This was my predicament.

Changing plugs and filter Thats pretty stupid of you to even say that. We can start some analogys if you want.

 

Well I finished my access door and fuel pump install a month or so ago now, and I will post some pics here or the end results. Went well, I still havent finished the door itself, and sealing it but I hope to have that done soon. When I do I will post pics of everything I did, so you can see.

 

I have a friend who volunteered to do it the right way since i Hurt my finger. So, tommorow it will be done!
I am still planing to do the access door since the pump I got is the TBI one, and I'll have to get the tpi one in. Since I got my brand new pump for 50 bucks I aint worried, and I get my friend to do it for me.
Its great to have good friends like that. (I helped him put in few motors too! Never done it to my car)...

Hey post some pics up whoever did this, and please if you don't like what people are doing, just stay away from this thread.

 

I used wire cutters to cut the lines when I made my panel. After they are cut you can take the lines out and clean the gas out of them. After they are clean you can cut off the chewed up ends for rubber hose to slip on or flare them for unions. My panel will not leak exhaust into the interior and I like the way it looks. If you think that a access door is a hack job I hope you never look at the wing of an airplane. They are full of pannels. When I was woking on my tank I filled the tank before I started to prevent an explosion or jetblast from the tank.

I did cut a hole in my dash to help with the heater core removal. I only wish that I had made it larger because I like the way that it looks too.

 

I'm all for the Fuel Pump Access Door idea as long as it is fabricated propely...problem is most people who go this route do so to avoid extra work. The amount of effort required to do the door properly is so much more then simply dropping the tank. I've seen a preliminary pic on here that was a great start, but I have yet to see any access doors completed properly.

Im my opinion, the best way would be to cut a square hole above the pump, cut little slits in each corner of the hole which would allow one to bend little mounting tabs into the body, weld in bolts to act as studs to hole on the access door cover and weld the seams which were created when the four diagonal slits were cut. This would counter-sink the securing bolts and if you make a nice cover (maybe solid aluminum 1/4" thick) and use a rubber gasket, it could come out very well. For the aluminum cover, just drill one hole in each corner about 1/2" wide and 1/8" deep. This will allow small nuts to be sunk inside the cover. If you were really **** about it, you'd find some plastic or rubber plugs to fit above the nuts, but I think this is overkill.

Just a thought...One way of doing it...

 

From someone that has done the access cover b/c or not havin a place or tool to do it with...

I you have a welder or have access to welder then im pretty sure you have a jack or access to jack and you could do it the proper way. This is mainly done like this b/c the car is somwhere when it cant properly be worked on or someone does not have the proper tools.

 

Alright. I changed the pump and it was a royal pain in the ***. I had my friend help me and we had quite a partty ahead of us. First of all we droped the exhaust than we went for the tank. I noticed that the fuel lines were connected with rubber hoses . Thats where we disconnected them. Than due to my custom exhaust (pro/am) we could not get it out of the way even after we cut the muffler off. We had to take the pump out with the tank all lobsided.
To all of those who call cutting the floor a hackjob... you are ... well... Lets not insult anyone.
First of all the lines were already connected with rubber hoses. So for all of those who used the rubber hoses as a reason for argument, screw you.
Second of all, the droping the tank aint fun and I can see how easy it could be in those certain, "perfect" situations. If you have any work done to ur ehxaust than be prepared to have a headache.
This is the first and the last time this job is done on my car. ****, I will cut the hole and be done with it. And yes its about a 3-4 hr. job.

 

Yep, I changed it out in my driveway by myself on jackstands for the first time and it was right around 4 hours, IIRC. My exhaust was welded all the way up to the converter, so I just unbolted the converter from the Y-pipe and removed the entire exhaust assembly. The only really tricky part is that you CANNOT get that tank back up unless you hit the perfect angle due to the filler neck.

 

That filler neck is a PITA!

 

I did it, be careful of fires when cutting the lines. I also used compression fittings. Offset the cuts so the fittings will fit together on the adjacent line.

 

if you want to do a nice job on the door find some 1/2" square aluminum stock and use it to thread flat head allen screws into. it clamps the cars sheet metal between the door/plate and the square stock. It takes alot of drilling, tapping and fitting but It will be strong. The carpet will compress and form a nice seal.

 

after doing a pump in my 92 the hard way(even with me working for a chevy dealer) on a rack, when my pump failed again I decided to take a different approach by not cutting a hole in my car but cutting the fuel filler neck about three inches from the tank and using fuel filler hose(I think it was 2 inch) to reinstall it once I was done. The problem dropping the tank isn't so much moving stuff out of the way but for me it was bending the crap out of my filler neck to get the tank out. By removing the neck, it allowed me to drop the tank straight down instead of having to move, twist, bend, twist some more, etc, etc. After I did this the tank removal becomes a 1/2 deal and another 1/2 to reinstall it all(on my garage floor too). I double clamped the hose at the tank and when I take it out, the hose stays on the tank, not the neck. That way it stays in place while you tighten the clamps when you put everything back in. This works great and was alot better to me than cutting up my car and carpet. Just another idea.......

 

I'll prob do that cuz my neck is not positioned right, the guy who took it out of his car messed it up to begin with and bending it to get it in my car was so hard. That is why I hate doing tank drops. What kind of hose, was it huge to match the diameter of the neck or what? What did you do for the other end where u put the gas in, did you keep part of the neck there for the little access door?

 

it's been a few years since I had to do mine(the 3rd one lasted longer) but I "think" the hose was around a 2" inside diameter. I used a chain-type muffler pipe cutter to cut the pipe with while it was still hanging in the car. The rest of the neck unbolts from up in the wheelwell so when you put it back together it has support to stay in place as well. Once the neck is off the tank will drop straight down with a jack.... or if it's empty like I was fortunate enough to have, you just bench-press it out with your amrs. It weighs nothing. I went to an industrail rubber supplier for the hose. Make sure it's fuel hose or a fuel tolerant type hose so it won't get eaten up by the gas. I wish I had a picture of it to show you because it really was an easy thing to do. I'll have mine out again soon I hope to upgrade to an LS1 pump for my conversion. Found a complete LS1 with a trans and 8,000 miles for $2500. Looks like the LS1 and a procharger are coming soon......

 

you only need a compression fitting on the fuel feed line. if you do the job properly ( i am not bashing the cutout) you will notice that three of the four lines are connected with standard hose clamps. the fuel feed line is connected with a press fit rubber hose. that is the only one that needs a pressure fitting.

 

Dawng I just read this whole flippin thing and some of you are pretty messed up with some of the crap you said....If the man wants an access panel help him out.... If you think its a bad Idea then voice it but seriously some of you were just down right nasty....

I have 5 3rd gens and my newist addition i found had an access panel already cut out....And you know what I also just found out the fuel pump in this thing is crap so I ordered a new Walbro 255 and I will not be dropping the tank.....Yes I have dropped the tank before on my 91 Vert and my 92....regardless of how you say it. It is a pain in the A#@.....So I will be using the acces panel....Because even new things break or go bad hence the reason they come with a warranty because manufacturers know S#%$ happens.....


But the holes in the hood or fenders for spark plugs or oil filters would be like saying my convertible came with a manuel top so why would i want to have a power top installed.....HELLO its called convince, Customization, or whatever you want to call it......

And it is no more dangerous than anything else unless you follow the advice of using a grinding wheel to cut off the fuel lines.

By the way dude most hardware or autoparts stores carry what called a mini hack saw that would probably work pretty good..

 

I think that dropping the tank for the fuel pump is a pain in the ***. I had to do it with almost cut off finger and on pain killers. Thank *** someone was there to help me out.

Next time a new pump is going in, it will be going through an access panel.

Trust me!

 

You have just put into words of how i have felt about these peoples response. I quit replying to it to just keep from feeding the flame or might i say flamers.

And yes thats some of the most immature responses i have ever heard on TGO. Even on other disscusion forum.

Instead of instantly starting in someone maybe people need read my post alittle better. Located in this linkFuel Pump Acces 13th post down.


3GTAs1TA1Z28: Thanks for the verbal help. Its a help forum and not a bashing forum. If i seaid something dumb like "What do you think about me using a leafblower as a supercharger", then yes start bashing. But come on, this something that has talked about for years.

Leafblower = Forced Induction

There wasnt nothing remotley as harsh said as some of you hypos have said. I mean a friggin' leafblower.

 

Jeez, at least read the whole post and don't take it out of context.
I was not meaning to bash the guy, just the idea. Was just bringing up the point that there is a safety issue here with leaving it uncovered.
Do you know what will happen if you get rear ended ? I don't, maybe nothing, maybe something bad. I'll never worry about it.
Many people are just aginst the idea, some are for it.
Its a free country, go for it.
Jp

 

Im just gonna try and keep the post open for discussion.


I would not recoment it but use it as a last resort. No one wants to buy a car that has been hacked on. If you feel that the car is never gonna be sold or never become something to be center of attention i feel that its fine. I feel that the peice of metal that i put back is just as safe as never cutting it out. The material that i cut out was just as thin as the material that i replaced it with.

 

I disagree with that statement....If you take the time to do a good job it can help the value I think.....

That you be like saying that pulling the ground effects and putting on a body kit is hacking up what was originally there.....

You want to talk dangerous....Look at the geniouses that are creating Targa tops without strenghtening......talk about creating a taco.......

Either way someone comes in for advice and everyone jumps in their flame suits cuz they don't like the idea......There are lots of ideas that i believe to be bad.....I will offer my advice but also will recommend the safest possible way to get the job done......

Oh and FYI Code (housing) requires an access panel when remodeling plumbing...(like for showers and tubs) So check out your local Home Depot, Lowes, or Ace for a cool access panel....

 

Just installed my new Walbro 255 today thru the access panel someone else have cut.....I had to cut the lines myself though....Used some high pressure fuel injection line to reconnect them.... Also installed my New delivered today Holley Adjustable fuel pressure regulator....Checked everything with a fuel pressure tester purchased yesterday....set the PSI at 60 without vacuum 55 at idle with vacuum... No leaks lines holding up great....And I do not have to re-install exhaust or rearend........I wish I had done this sooner when I did the fuel pump on my 92.....


And since I was putting a new fuel pump with sock in I wasn't worried about shavings....when I pulled of the old pump I blew out the lines pored some gas thru them and blew them out again....Then pulled the fuel filter and did the same to that side.....

I used just a hacksaw blade by itself in my hand and cut one line at a time...A little slow but was safe....pulled the pump installed the new one it was completely done start to finish in less than 1 hour....And that includes pulling up the carpet then tucking it back under the plastics.

This is probably the best mod I have ever done to my car....

 

is that an emt connector

 

I have finnaly finished this project, and I have to say I did a darn good job. I am posing this document for anyone that would like to take a look at it. I have also provided my email contact info on there in case more pics or info are needed.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions or comments. I hope this helps!!

http://webpages.charter.net/streetconcepts/1.doc

 

There are multiple pics on this document. If you cant see them right away, hover the mouse over where the pic should be, or click and it appears... wierd, but I thought I would mention it...

 

My fuel pump quit again! (No problem, I have an access door)
In the process I blew myself up! I'm changing my pump thinking,
"how cool," I've got an access door" and when I was half way through the job, I lit a smoke. BOOM!
I'm dead now, but that's OK! I'm in heven now with 72 virgin's!
Sqzbox!

 

Dude regardless of access door or pulling the tank the right way....YOU probably don't want to be lighting up any smokes