Fuel Tank Question

[GRS72GT]

Hey,

I just bought a new GT. The previous owner removed the fuel tank and sandblasted it only to find a million little pinholes in the bottom He had a little plastic gas container rigged up, but I need something a little more permanent. I was wondering how much a replacement tank runs, or if there is a tank of similar dimensions from another vehicle I can temporarily use for now.

Thanks!

[BQS4]

As a temporary replacement, it's a crap shoot, just measure and see what's out there. As for new replacement, good luck, I don't think there is such a thing. Best bet would be to find another used one, in better shape, clean the inside, seal it, and use it.

[Sparky73]

They are a dime a dozen. I have a couple if your close enough to Michigan. If not, post a wanted ad and see what you can find.

[opelwasp]

If you are in Orange, CA I am in nor cal and may be able to send one to ya.

[kwilford]

Moderator Note: This thread was moved from the GT Forum, which is reserved for GT-specific questions of a non-technical nature. Technical questions should be placed in the appropriate Technical Forum, which is where I moved this to. For future assistance, please refer to the link at
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[tunepipe911]

could there be a market for brandnew tanks in stainless steel,depending on the amount to be produced,just thinking

[neuropel]

I would tend to agree that it should be relatively easy for you to find a good used tank, but as an FYI, these guys can renew your tank to like-new condition, regardless of condition (within reason). I live near their shop so I stopped by to visit one day. After seeing their process, I had them refurbish two Manta tanks and add a provision for fuel injection. I suspect the tanks will last far longer than any other part on the car.

[basic instinct]

id like to remove mine all together and get a safer lighter plastic version. maybe jegs has one?. the stock one o got now has got to come out because of dirt and even more sand for the restoring. i almost named my car sandy because of all that sand i removed. think i still might. 8))

i need to clean and rustolium paint the bottom of the back of the car back down in there.

whats involved in getting this thing out?. i looked and it looks like a heck of a job gtn that thing unhooked and out as usual.

[thescifiguy]

Drain your tank by pulling the hose off the outlet near the exhaust. Remove vertical panel below wood tire platform, remove all brackets for tire hold down and center platform support, remove bolts holding platform to side rails and slide out the platform, remove the platform support rails by finding their bolt heads OUTSIDE the car in the wheel wells(You can't get the tank out with them in place). Now you have access to your tank, remove the side hold-down bolts and vapor hoses and be gentle as you can getting the filler neck hose off the tank so you don't screw it up too bad. Remove the fuel tank sender unit wires.

The tank can now be lifted out. CLAMP A STURDY RUBBER HOSE OR SOMETHING ONTO THE FUEL TANK OUTLET TO PROTECT IT DURING REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION. It's fragile, too short, and difficult to replace. You might consider hose clamping a 3-4 foot length of rubber hose to it that you can feed through the chassis hole as you're reinstalling the tank. This will help guide and protect it. Have someone pull on the hose as you're guiding it in place.

[opelnut10]

Originally Posted by basic instinct id like to remove mine all together and get a safer lighter plastic version. maybe jegs has one?. the stock one o got now has got to come out because of dirt and even more sand for the restoring. i almost named my car sandy because of all that sand i removed. think i still might. 8)) i need to clean and rustolium paint the bottom of the back of the car back down in there. whats involved in getting this thing out?. i looked and it looks like a heck of a job gtn that thing unhooked and out as usual.

The problem is not finding a better tank, a small fuel cell (12-14 gallon) will fit with very few modifications. The biggest drawback is finding a fuel level sending unit to hook up to your fuel gauge. Unless you want to replace the gauge too, you will have a big poblem knowing how much gas you have in the tank.

[basic instinct]

meh, just what i was thinking. both a hassle. ill save this part untill next to last. im having someone put on the new rear window trim and put in the new windshield with its new trim also. its all rotten and junk and i dont know of it need sealeant or wha.. ive done trimmed almost all of the back seal off so i could get the primer where needed. thanks for the help agn. ill keep banging away on this project.

[myopels]

Tunepipe 911, That sounds like a great idea to make stainless gas tanks. They could redesign the pickup to work better with a big internal filter pickup. I had a GT that had a piece of the cork gas cap gasket fall into the tank, and every once in a while would get sucked down to the pickup pipe and starve the motor of gas. I had a so called friend steal it from me- I hope he has fun with it.

[Redskinsjbs]

SO I don'tknow anything about the topic, but does stainless spark more easily than normal steel? Just wondering, as that may be why it hasn't been done before.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by Redskinsjbs SO I don'tknow anything about the topic, but does stainless spark more easily than normal steel? Just wondering, as that may be why it hasn't been done before.

Probably material costs (about 3 times that of steel), and the fact that stainless has pretty bad 'deep draw' characteristics compared to a softer deep drawing low carbon steel (when stamping the tank halves out). Stainless can also be trickier to weld, depending on the method used.

Example: A mild steel gas tank for my friend's '69 Camaro cost him $210. A stainless steel version was close to $900. And that's on a very common (high volume) vehicle with a simple tank design. I would imagine it could conceivably cost $1500-$2000 for a GT tank.

Now, you could forgo the OEM shape of the GT tank (remember it fits snug to the shape of the floor pan of the car), and cut'n'weld the stainless tank from flat sheet material instead of paying for expensive die stamping tooling, but there you've probably increased the labor ten-fold.