While I have been waiting for the front suspension, I have been putting smaller things together in the trunk area.  As I was looking at the rear bumper guards and installing the lower brackets, I thought I should get the gas tank installed, to make sure things lined up correctly. Things looked like they would need some adjusting and I wanted all the parts in place before I started doing that.

Before hand, I spent some time cleaning up my original filler tube. It was pretty solid, and mostly dent free, so I went to work on it with the blasting cabinet, then followed up with some stainless steel spray paint. This is my new go to finisher for parts mostly unseen.  Since it looked like it was originally unpainted (not counting years of over-spray from cheap paint jobs), I thought stainless would do fine while protecting it and covering up a few blemishes.

Before installing, I watched the video on installing a fuel tank that I found here. As with all projects, I spent the next week waiting for parts. Without having to do any of the cleaning, this one was pretty straight forward. Fuel sending unit, mounting hardware, filler tube rubber hose. I realized I forgot the 4 filler tube screws, but with the new gas cap having one bolt, that was a good enough start to hold it all in place until next week.

The hardest part of this job is probably keeping this little rubber ring in place. I saw some others used a bit of weather stripping adhesive to hold it, but I just held the tank up so it was horizontal while I put the sending unit in place and it worked out fine. I did have a bit of trouble getting the sending unit past all 3 of those locking flanges while the tabs were lined up and the gasket was sealed. I ended up having to use a screwdriver to coerce it a bit, then it dropped in place.

Since it’s all new, with no fuel residue or vapor, I just used a screw driver and a small hammer to turn the lock ring in place. The Scott Drake install kit came with a ring, so did the tank, but I liked the shape of the Scott Drake ring better, so I used that one. I seem to be getting a small pile of spare parts. Just like building any Lego kit.

After putting down the strip caulking, the tank just dropped right in. I lined up the holes and screwed in the mounting hardware. To get the filler tube to line up, I put it in place and pushed the rubber tube over it as far up as it would go. This gave me enough clearance to line it up with the tank flange and push it down in place. I reused the original hose clamps after a bit of cleaning in the blasting booth.

Over all, it was pretty quick and easy. On top of that, I got out of all the hard work which is removing the old tank and cleaning the old caulking off the car.

With the tank in place, I took a look at the valance mounting brackets for the rear bumper guards. Things look like they are right in the right place.  Now I need to figure out what I need to do with mounting the valance. I found another problem with that project, but I can deal with that next. I can check the fuel tank off the list at this point.

Parts List

• Fuel tank
• Fuel tank mounting kit
• Strip caulk (enough for about 6 tank installs)
• Sending unit and install kit
• Hose – Fuel tank to filler pipe