fuel tank and sender fun time!

[andyfanshawe]

So, its fuel tank play time! Not just to investigate why the fuel level reading on the dash is all over the place, but because its about time it was cleaned up and the underbody checked out above the fuel tank and in places where the exhaust was (back corners).
Call it having fun!

car up in the air first on railway sleepers (my country squire project is in my garage, so its working outside time!

Here's the exhaust on the back garden...

And the first views of the underbody where the back boxes were.

All in really good condition. Not bad for a car in the UK!

And out with the fuel tank after a struggle for an hour with one fuel vapour line connector! For anyone that knows it, its the one by the frame rail that goes to the evap tray! It wouldn't come off at all. I pulled, pushed, twisted, swore and eventually it came loose. Stupid blue plastic fastener thing!

All pipes from the tank sealed up and attacked it with an air grinder and black nylon wheel on an electric drill! My Wife went out because she said "I don't want to get blown up!"

Here it is during and after 3 hours prep to get rid of the rust that has formed where the tank is welded. Nothing major but needs stopping now.

And its out with the fuel pump/sender assembly

I've seen many photos of fuel pumps on the forums, but haven't seen any good ones of where the sender is located. So thats put that right!

Time to change the sender with one from a focus. But first lets check the resistance of the old one empty and full.

Empty

Full

New one installed and further readings taken

Empty

full

Almost identical, which is good, but why the fluctuating reading at the dash? I have checked the gauge with NGS star tester and all is good.
When I split the multi plug just in front of the tank under the car, it was tough to pull apart. When it did split there was slight corossion on 4 of the pins. So that could be it. Anyway, they have been cleaned up and the sender changed, so there's a good chance it may now work!

Back to the car..... Has anyone ever taken a photo from inside the tank? Risky? Doubt it! Lets have a go!

Here's a view towards the fuel filler neck

And one sideways

Slight corossion in 2 places, but none at the seams. Looking good there as well!

The tank will now be painted in 2 pack epoxy paint one half at a time.

The fuel filler pipes don't look fantastic, so out they come as well!

To be continued.....................

 

[Pieces of 8]

thanks for the write up and sharing this with us, now i know what to expect when i dig in on a fuel pump job. and im shure i will use this for refrence. cheers from texas.

 

[danny_holtermann]

wow you are very courageous doing this knowing you can't just go to a junkyard to get a part if you were to break it

 

[andyfanshawe]

wow you are very courageous doing this knowing you can't just go to a junkyard to get a part if you were to break it

Yeah! Got to take some risks sometimes though. I need a working fuel gauge!!

fuel tank continued.............

Into the shed for the top half to be painted with silver epoxy 2 pack paint

Here's the rusty fuel filler pipe undergoing clean up

and here they are again after 3 hours of scraping, grinding, filing....

Heres the etch primer on

and the silver paint

This plate on the tank is galvanised but is starting to rust

here it is ready to be bolted back in but covered in rustproofer first

and bolted back

These are the metal clips that hold the nylon vapour lines to the side of the tank. The trouble is they bite into the steel and produce a rust starting point.

And here's their replacement adhesive taped down while it sets

The whole top of the tank will be covered in rust proofer so none of my good work will be visible anyway!!

 

[GMAN]

You're just a genuine "Edd China" She's going to be in good nick in now time.

 

[JAX.TRUX]

Nice man - thanks for the write up!

 

[slowmkviii]

Always nice to see your work.
Is the camaro being stuck outside?

 

[andyfanshawe]

Always nice to see your work.
Is the camaro being stuck outside?

Hi slowmkviii
The camaro is gone Sold, and in a museum in our deep south! Well, near the south coast anyway. 15 years to build, one of the top show cars in the UK and what do I do? Sell it I love the build-after that its downhill!! So here we are now, a garage full of a BIG 1990 cv country squire and a project mark 8 outside being lovingly restored bit by bit!

Andy.

 

[danny_holtermann]

i would have used a sandblaster to clean that filler tube, coulda been clean in ten minutes uinstead of 3 hours

 

[andyfanshawe]

Fuel tank back in today, but not before I rustproofed inside the frame rails and then heated all the steel up with a hot air gun to make it flow through all the seams.

These 2 floorpan seams are very rust prone so they got covered!

On the left hand inner rocker lip is a spot welded bracket that holds the parking brake cable. That had rust starting, so it got media blasted and covered with dinitrol 3125 rust proofer. You can just see it in the LHS of the left hand photo above! That's rusting no more

A before and after photo!

Pity the pipes won't look like this for long

I even used red rubber grease under the hoses so they will come off easier next time!!

And a v.iew of my epoxy painted tank!

Andy

 

[andyfanshawe]

Hi all.
Almost embarassing this, but I've bust a fuel line clip and can't find a replacement!
Here it is!

Yes I could fab a new one but would rather use the proper one!

Its from here....

In the meantime I'm going to put the old one back and heat shrink sleeve around it!

In fact here it is heat shrunk and looks damn sexy!

Andy.

 

[chris2523]

Hi all.
Almost embarassing this, but I've bust a fuel line clip and can't find a replacement!

that's unfortunate. the auto stores around here stock all kinds of them in little boxes. super cheap. being in the UK with an american car doesn't look like fun.

~ chris

 

[andyfanshawe]

Car successfully fired up today and the fuel gauge looks like its working okay! Time will tell though.

Here's 3 photos of the inner workings of the sender unit showing the wiper on the track. Both look well worn.

Andy.

 

[slowmkviii]

Keep the progress coming I love all the pictures you take

Luke

 

[marked8]

This is worthy of a Laser post. Great stuff.