FINISHED!! Replacing Gastank in 89 GP SE

[Addicted To Boost]

I need to replace the gastank in my SE- any helpful tips or suggestions for doing this?

Thanks

[White93z34]

make sure you run the car down to fumes before doing this!

[z34duck]

depending on how much salt the car has ben exposed to in its life will tell how easy a job its going to be

make sure to soak the strap bolts with some good penatrating oil . ive had them come out real easy

and ive had to cut the straps on a couple

[Addicted To Boost]

The tank on the car right now has a gallon or less in it right now, so thats not a problem. The only thing I can see running into is this car is a Minnesota car- the bolts holding the straps are gonna suck ass. I'll have to soak the bolts in some oil before I try to pull them.

 

[jeremy]

here is a nice easy write up that goes over dropping the tank....like it says, removing the rear bolts isn't necessary

 

http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php/topic,31611.0.html

[Addicted To Boost]

Thanks for the tips! That is REALLY helpful that you don't need to pull the rear strap bolts- they look damn near impossible to get to under the suspension....

Thanks again

[Andrew]

what they said, plus, its nice to have a friend help hold the tank up on re-install. you can do it yourself, its just awkward. make sure you line up the rubber pads on re-install too.

[Robby1870]

Yeah, a second person is a HUGE help in this project. Also, use anti-seize when you re-install the strap bolts. It's a good time to do the fuel filter if you haven't done it in a while.

 

You're replacing just the tank?

[Dark Ride]

when I did my tank on the TGP I had to use a breaker bar and a very large chunk of pipe to get them off.

[Crazy K]

when I did my tank on the TGP I had to use a breaker bar and a very large chunk of pipe to get them off.

same here.

 

tips:

raise the rear of the car and use jackstands, chocking the front wheels.

 

a hydraulic jack with a 2x4 on it works great to lower, support, and raise the tank.

 

Use plenty of PB blaster before removal. I think grease works best on the bolts.

 

I like to coat the top of the tank with oil at the seal, and grease up bad spots.

 

 

[Addicted To Boost]

You're replacing just the tank?

Yes, I am only replacing the tank- it has a couple small holes in the rear part of the tank and its losing a LOT of fuel- when I bought the car last Saturday, I filled it full and drove it home, then drove it daily this week- I only got 105 miles outta that whole tank So that is why I am replacing it NOW. I am also replacing the fuel filter, because the filter is leaking as bad as the gastank is.

 

I will be replacing the tank tomorrow when my neighbor is home so I have a second person to help out.

[mfewtrail]

Since your tank is nearly empty, you won't have a problem doing it yourself. The hardest part for me was removing the filler neck from the tank. It was really tight on there after being on my car for 245,000 miles. I finally managed to twist it a bit and break it free. The only reason it's hard to remove is due to the limited space in that area. Don't forget to wear some safety glasses to keep dirt and RUST out of your eyes.

 

 

[Addicted To Boost]

This car has 218,8xx miles on it.. so I'd imagine everything is pretty well settled in lol.

[Stevo]

Sometimes you can get away with keeping the existing straps as long as they are in reasonably good shape. The tank usually goes before the straps I have experienced and in our province cars take the worst pounding from the climate/proximity to salt water/massive amount of salt used on the roads.

[Robby1870]

Yeah, good call on the filler neck. Plus some of the lines that run from the pump assembly are a pain in the ass to reattach. Also a good call on safety glasses.

[Psych0matt]

Also a good call on safety glasses.

 

definitely. I dont know why I don't have a pair, it never fails that I get a huge chunk of dirt or rust in my eye, even when doing simple things!

[Addicted To Boost]

Well, I took the tank out this afternoon- only took me a little over an hour to get out (mostly due to fighting with the fuel filter and lines that had rusted themselves together... after about 15 mins, I got it all apart; then the only hard part after that was separating the main rubber in-line and rubber return line from the tank- I fought with them for about 10 mins before they finally slid off.)

Once I had the tank out, I looked everything over and the tank and lines coming from the tank looked terrible- were really rusty, and the stock tank felt almost spongy I started to remove the old fuel pump from the old tank and the fuel lines coming out of the pump started cracking badly... so now the project is on hold until tomorrow. I need a new fuel pump now..

What do you guys think- should I just get the whole pump from the JY or a new one from Oreillys in town?

[Bake82]

In my opinion, get a new one...it's not worth risking the JY one to be bad, and have to do this in the middle of January/February again!

 

Get the new one, I think you'll thank yourself later

[Addicted To Boost]

Do you think a new one would have everything, be complete with all parts needed and the fuel lines that come out the top of the pump? Those are the lines that are bad on my current one- the ones coming directly out of the top of the pump. Or would the pump just be the little black pump that sits at the bottom of the tank? I looked up the price for a new OEM one from O'Reillys and it is $76 for a new pump... I need the whole assembly with the lines.

[Dark Ride]

I don't think it will come with the assembly.

 

IMHO I would get a full unit from a JY and just re-use your pump.

[Addicted To Boost]

I don't think it will come with the assembly.

 

IMHO I would get a full unit from a JY and just re-use your pump.

Thats what I'm thinking.. I'll grab the whole pump and hanger assembly tomorrow at the JY and throw this back together!

[Addicted To Boost]

UPDATE

 

Yesterday I got the fuel pump and hanger from the JY. I swapped in my original 89 pump into the JY hanger and put the assembly in the new tank. I finally got the tank into the car after a bit of wrestling with it and had it in by 7 last night. I went and started the car, looked under it and there was fuel spraying everywhere. Oh I was mad.

Today I came back to it. I undid the tank straps and lowered the tank about 2 inches and found where on the JY hanger and fuel lines, one of the lines had been cut and someone had spliced in a rubber fuel line from the end of the gastank, running to the fuel filter. I found that the rubber line had a puncture hole in it and replaced it with some new fuel line, clamped it down tight, tightened up the tank straps, and started her up...

drumroll....

No leaks! Awesome! I'm pretty happy that it all works well and there are no leaks, because that was quite a bit of work. I have a new appreciation for cars not driven in the winter now lol

YAY!

 

[gpchris]

Did you have to jack it this high??

 

 

[BXX]

^^^ HOLY SHIT :smilielol:

[Chancho]

a little higher and take 2 of the stands out from under neath and you have a circus act