Aluminum Gas Tank ~ 15 gallons

 

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Aluminum Tank

Tank Installation

Aluminum Tank Installation

Installing the tank wasn't a big deal but seeing as you have to drill all the mounting holes, you need to take your time to ensure it all lines up. So here's how I went about my installation.......

  1. Disconnect the battery! That should be the first thing you do for most any job on your car.

  2. Drain the old tank and wish you had installed a shut off valve like I have!

  3. Remove both the trunk panel and the interior trunk panel. It's also much easier if you remove the passenger seat.

  4. Remove any hoses connected to the tank top and the filler hose & cap.

  5. The old tank is held in with 6 bolts: two on the top, sides and bottom. You need to stand on your head to see the bottom ones so you'll work by feel.

Now that the old tank is out, I'll walk you through the new installation.

For all you smart guys who bought one of my fender blankets, you can reverse them to protect the rear of the car. You'll be installing and pulling the new tank quite a few times to drill all the mounting holes.
With the old tank out, you'll see the following holes:  1 - tank outlet hole, 2 - evaporative canister return line and 4 will be a plugged hole. Hole #3 is one I put in for my TBI fuel return line. Hole #1 is repeated in the right side of the car and will have to have the plug removed as the aluminum tank has two outlets. Take the rubber plug from hole #4 and use it in hole #2.
When the tank is installed, all you can see is hole #4 which will be used for the Evaporative canister return line and the fuel return line for my TBI powered car.
This isn't pretty and I plan on covering it with another piece of foam but this is where the return line and evaporative canister line be routed to the top of the tank. It's the same foam I used on the bottom of the tank.

One hole for the evaporative canister line and one for the fuel return line. Only TBI/FI cars will have the return line and the evap line was only on certain later cars.

I used another piece on top of the small square one and punched matching holes in to it before using Ultra Black to glue them together.
All glued together and glued to the car with Ultra Black Sealer. The two bolts were used to make sure the holes stayed lined up.

This side view shows how the two layers fill in the floor gaps.

I added another hole with an awl for the power feed (#1) to my fuel pump. I'll also squeeze the ground wire in the same hole. #2 is the line from the Charcoal Canister and #3 is my fuel return line.

And the tank snug's right up against the foam.

Here's an overall view.............Holes #1 are unplugged and the outlet bungs will rest in them. Holes #2 are plugged and Hole #3 has the foam piece for the return lines to pass through.

I put the fuel sender temporarily in place to see how it fit in the tank and in the car. The sender goes in on the angle of the arrow and when I turned the tank upside down I heard it hit the top of the tank so it should register Full. However Dave Boyd had to shorten the arm of the sender by bending it so it wouldn't hit the baffle (solid line). All final production tanks will have the baffles moved in (dotted line) and the sender moved as far to the back & right as possible. That will eliminate the need to bend the sender arm.

Here you can see how the arm was bent. Because Dave is replacing this tank with the production version, I didn't permanently install the sender. If I had I would have used Hylomar as the gasket sealer.

Remove the two white plugs in the outlet holes.

The tank has two outlet bungs because some of the more "spirited" drivers have experienced fuel starvation with a low tank and aggressive cornering......especially the guys with Fuel Injection ot TBI. I've got TBI but drive like an old lady so I plugged the hole with a set screw compatible with a 1/4" NPT fitting. You don't want anything sticking up more that 1/4" or you may have trouble getting the tank in as it's a tight fit. Also...MAKE SURE you use the yellow Teflon tape rated for gasoline environment.
The stock tank sat on felt which absorbed both gas and the smell of gas but I wanted something more modern. First was double sided tape...........
I used an oil resistant foam from McMaster ( Part#85175K53 )  that's 3/16" thick. It also comes in 1/8" and 1/4" but the 1/4" is too thick so stick with the thinner product. If I were ordering again I'd go with the 1/8" thick foam.
Every car will be a little different but here's how it went with my car........position the tank in the trunk and tilt it so the return line fitting clears the top trunk lip. Slide it under, level and lift the outlet bungs over the floor. Push the tank back until the bungs drop in place and the tank side mounts hit the trunk side mounts. I had a slight interference with the right side top mount and had to push the tank down into the foam to get it to clear the top trunk mount. The left side mount had no problems. Seeing as the tank measures the same at both mounts, the issue was with my car. I did some measuring and found that the right side car mount was 1/16" lower than the right side.... just enough to cause some interference as seen below.
Before making this cut, check and see if you can maneuver the tank into position. If not, or if you want to make the job easier, it's a simple cut with a hacksaw that will never be seen once the trunk panel is in place.
This is the most important tip........everything revolves around the filler neck so once the tank is in place, temporarily install the filler hose and filler cap. That will ensure all the mounting points line up. I even used a little Vaseline on the inside of the filler hose to let the pieces slide on and off much easier. Before drilling any mounting hole I first installed the filler hose and cap to make sure it was aligned.

With the tank in place and wedged up against the side mounts I took a Sharpie and pushed it through the nut to mark the side bracket.

Make sure you support all the mounting points before whacking them with a set punch and drilling the hole.
When using a hand drill, I'm a fan of "step drilling", starting with a 1/4" bit then a 3/8" and finally the 1/2"........ OR.............

If you have one of these, do the 1/4" and 3/8" holes and then step it down to 1/2"

And don't forget the Tap Magic....

Drilling a 1/2" hole gives just that little extra "slop" to ensure loosely attaching the tank and moving it for alignment at all 6 mounting points.
These rubber washers aren't absolutely necessary but they sure won't hurt.
Just slide them in and tighten.
I did the right side mount, installed the tank and neck filler and located the left side mounting hole. Once I had both of those sides done, I left them finger tight and moved to the top mounts.

The top mounts require the use of two small blank plates that are included with the tank. I had given Dave a measurement of 2" x 2" but future ones will be 2" x 1-7/8" as I had to trim mine to get them to properly fit.

It was a bit of a pain but I always worked with the filler cap and hose in place. The bottom two holes were marked with a Sharpie and drilled to 5/16". The bolts are 1/4" X 1" with Nyloc nuts. Once these were in place I reached around with my trusty Sharpie and marked the top hole location. NOTE that the filler neck is in place before drilling..... the side mounts are also loosely bolted in place.
As luck would have it, this mounting nut was stripped.......to the point where a 1/4" bolt will slide right through to get secured with a nut.
For the top tabs I used some of the foam that I put on the bottom of the tank.
All loosely installed and time to move to the bottom mounts.

Top and Side mounts are done..........now the more difficult bottom mounting holes. Time to visualize as I forgot to take a picture! Install the two bottom bolts and leave them about 1/2" shy of being screwed all the way in. Now slop a glob of Vaseline on the head of the bolt....... you could also use some lipstick to transfer the mark. Now install the tank, carefully lining everything up and push the tank against the bolt heads and you'll end up with something like this.

A closer look makes the location obvious.

When you go to drill the holes, make sure you support the mount with wood blocks. The two holes should be 16" apart.... at least they were on my car.

And that completes the hard part..........locating and drilling all the mounting holes. I forgot the picture but the rubber washers are used here too.

Here's the canister in its stock position with the hose perfectly hitting the fitting... no cutting required.

My filler hose always seemed too short to me... as you can see.... so I bought a longer piece that I'll use when I complete the installation.

This is my 1/4" NPT fuel shut off valve from NAPA Part #WH6828. The deep socket is covering the hose barb but the easiest way to install the valve is to slide the deep socket over the hose barb to the "flats".

Add an extension and you can reach up and screw it right on...........I used some yellow Teflon tape rated for gas in the shut off threads.
Just a test fit but...... perfect!
 

Because Dave Boyd will be replacing this tank with a production tank, I didn't make any permanent connections and just confirmed that everything fit right up.......... whew!