With the jack ready to go there was a gas tank that needed to be dropped! It is a lot easier to handle an empty gas tank. And this replacement tank has a drain fitting. The gas gauge is reading empty, so slide a pan under the tank and empty out the “couple of gallons” of gas left in the tank.
Yeah, about that… I drained 6 gallons of gas out of the tank – basically a quarter of a tank. You may remember a mention many posts back of a Meter Match box that adjusts gauges so that they read correctly. I had ordered one. Now is clearly the time to install it!
The empty gas tank came out easily on the new jack frame. It didn’t wobble or fall – just stayed in place while I removed the supporting straps and wheeled the jack out from under the car.
Toss the gas tank up on the workbench and study the problem.
There are two holes in the gas tank: one for the filler neck and one for the gas pickup and sender. I suspect both of them, so will fix both of them.
The sender has a rubber gasket – a fairly flimsy rubber gasket. This had leaked before and I fixed it with gasket sealer. This time I ordered special fuel resistant gasket sealer – specifically Permatex 29132 MotoSeal. I also ordered several sheets of different kinds of gasket material to make custom gaskets. I ended up using 1/16″ thick Nitrile rubber – thicker than the original gasket. Trace the old gasket onto the rubber sheet, cut it out, and test fit it. Hmm, the locking ring doesn’t clamp down securely… Could this be part of the problem?
Cut out another gasket and test fit with two gaskets. This time the locking ring locks in place securely. Liberally coat all mating surfaces – including between the two rubber gaskets – with the gasket sealer, re-assemble, and tighten the locking ring securely. Out of paranoia add more gasket sealer over the entire assembly. This will be a nightmare if I ever need to take it apart but should now be leak free for life!
The filler neck needed more work. It is a separate pipe that slips into the gas tank and is sealed with an O-ring. I had dented it during a previous when the jack slipped. I rounded it out as well as I could, but may not have gotten it absolutely circular.
Considering this problem, I recalled that I had a tailpipe expander. These do a poor job of actually expanding a tailpipe, but they do a great job of making it round. After a few minutes of searching I was able to find it. Amazingly the smallest adapter actually fit inside the filler pipe! Clamp the assembly in the vise and crank down the adjuster bolt. And the filler now seems completely round.
While this was a good step I still didn’t completely trust it – so the filler pipe was re-installed in the gas tank with a liberal coating of gasket sealer.
That should take care of any potential leaks.
Plop the gas tank back on the jack and slide it under the car. Carefully raise it into position and secure the mounting straps. This was much easier than the last time I wrestled the gas tank!
Secure the fuel line to the gas tank and reconnect the sender wire. Everything should be ready to go.