Date:         Wed, 13 Mar 1996 13:32:57 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         walshp@ippdsgi3.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil (Pat Walsh)
Subject:      Re: Gas Smell When Tank Full

David Schwarze <des@teleport.com> writes:
>
>Pat Walsh writes:
>> 
>> On a '78 I know that if you take the intake system off (in my case a
>> Weber progressive) and remove the bolts holding up the rear cross beam so
>> that the back of the engine can be lowered an inch or two, you can JUST get
>> the tank out.
>
>I removed my tank with the engine out and it was a horrible job.  I
>can't imagine doing it with the engine in place!  Anyone who tries this
>is a brave, brave soul.
>
>-David
Nah, just kind of lazy.  :-)  The engine on the ex-girlfriend's bus swallowed
a valve guide or seat one fall and I'd spent the winter rebuilding it.  We
put it in and got everything hooked up but when I put the fuel line back on
the tank, it started leaking.  Looked like the previous owner had had trouble
with this, too, as there was some crud (fiberglass, looked like) globbed
around to try to seal it.  Well, I can tell you this:  I sure didn't feel
like taking that Type IV back out again to get to the tank!  I figured I'd
try taking the tank out with the engine in, and if I had to, I could always
pull the engine.  I took off the Weber and manifold, and the dist. cap and
rotor and lowered the engine in the rear, resting it on the floor jack.  It
was hard getting the tank out, but probably not MUCH harder than it would
have been with the engine out.  I took the tank to a radiator shop.  There
were two holes for fittings on the bottom, one of which was for the return
line for the original FI system.  The guy brazed a penny over that one, and
a brass "disk with a threaded hole in it" over the other one.  (Forget what
it's really called.)  The disk was (of course) almost flush with the sheet
metal of the tank, and it was a lot easier putting the tank back in with
just the disk on it instead of about 1" of tubing also sticking out.  Once
it was in place, I threaded a 1/8" NPT nipple into the disk and attached
the fuel line.

Pat Walsh, '71 Westy, walshp@ippdsgi3.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil