Date:         Fri, 8 Dec 2000 11:54:43 -0500
Reply-To:     Sylvain B <sylvain1960@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Sylvain B <sylvain1960@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: I want to pull my tank... HELP! Removing fuel tank
Comments: To: pokey@VANAGON.ORG
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

No special skills needed. Just time and patience...

1- Unplug your battery

2- be sure you have a good extinguisher and assistance close by.

3- Empty your tank with a syphon or unplug the fuel lines at the rear bottom
of the tank to let the fuel run out (longer...)
Unplug the 2 fuel lines at the bottom of the tank when it is empty.

4- Lift the front of the van at least 8-10 inches
You can do this before emptying if you do not use a syphon.

5- Unplug both vents on each expansion tanks (both sides in the wheel well)

6- Extend your hand thru the wheel well to "pop off" both vents on the top
right side of the tank and the one on the left. If you cannot reach, dont
worry, they will just pop off when you lower the tank

7- remove the filler neck. To remove the plastic part that fixes the filler
neck to the body, you just need to go by the wheel well with a screwdriver
and hammer and hit the plastic part to "unscrew it" about 1/8 of a turn.
Dont do like i did and destroy it by trying to pry it off... I did not know
it needed to be unscrewd to get off.

8- The only remaining part connected to the tank now is the fuel gauge
sender unit. My wire was long enough to stay connected to the tank when i
lowered the tank.

9- You are ready to lower the tank. Unscrew the 2 bolts that retain the 2
retaining bars. Hold the tank up and remove the bars. The tank is about
25-30 lbs if you removed about all the fuel. Not very heavy... Slowly let
the tank go down. It is possible that it will be stuck and you will need to
pull it down. If you did not do it in "6", the fuel vents on the top of the
tank will pop of by themselves.
As soon as you can reach the fuel sender unit connection, disconnect it.

Thats it!

When you reinstall, you will need to go thru the wheel with your arm to
reconnect the 3 vents on the top of the tank. easy to do when you know where
they are.


Sylvain Bélanger
Montréal, Quebec
1.6l TD westy


>From: "1980 VW Westfalia \"Pokey\"" <pokey@VANAGON.ORG>
>Reply-To: "1980 VW Westfalia \"Pokey\"" <pokey@VANAGON.ORG>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: I want to pull my tank... HELP!
>Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 10:32:17 -0500
>
>Despite replacing both the tank and ALL the gas lines my gas tank STILL
>leaks. My suspicions now are pointing to the fuel gauge sender unit. I am
>trying to build up the nerve to pull my tank myself... does anyone have a
>step by step? My main concern is: how do I get the seals on top tight? Is
>there enough slack in the lines to lay the tank down, do the work, and then
>put it back up? While I'm at it I also have to put in a new filler neck as
>the one that is in there is rusty, and replace the inline pump to the BA6.
>Any thoughts? It is supposed to warm up to 0C / 32F Sunday is this warm
>enough to do the work (ie: will the lines and seals be flexible enough?).
>
>Thanks,
>Chris Gronski
>Toronto, Ontario,
>'80 Westy "Pokey" - SLOPOKEY
>'87 Chevrolet Sprint - Ice Racer
>'91 Pontiac Firefly - Convertible
>www.vanagon.org & .ca
>www.gronski.com, .org, & .ca
>www.nineeleven.org & .ca

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