First, the photos in the Bentley were = of marginal help and text even less. Bentley did warn of sanitation needs and = Ken should add that to his instructions. There must be differences in = the way these crossover pipes are mounted if you take Ken's directions to heart. = My tank filler tube had no hose clamp on it, it was a press in/crimp job up by = the gas cap. The twin saddle tanks were dificult at best to remove despite only = one nut/washer holding them up. My hose arrangement was different than = the Bentley also as I had fuel hose crimped on the twin tanks and the = plastic T's. The Vanagain kit had adequate fuel hose to fix the old lines, = but was short several of the small hose clamps. By my count, I needed 17 hose = clampsand not the 10 supplied(one for the return line on driver's side of the = tank). I would've liked to have had the o ring for the fuel sender included in = this kit, but maybe they never leak. Would've also liked the rubber = nipple seal that goes between the overflow tube(tube from side of filler neck = that goes into one of the new grommets on pass. side) Silicone will = have to do for this trip. Also siliconed the back of the crimp job as part of PM, I = guess.

Another hassle I ran into was getting = the front of the van high enough to get the tank support bars to work their way out = of the hole in the frame. Driving the van up on the ramps was not sufficient, = so I had to precariously use the Sears 3 ton floor jack coupled with a cinder = block conglomeration to get the nose high enough to clear both of the = supports. The tank was wedged in there pretty good so after draining the fuel(as = much as I could), I pryed it out and it fell rather abruptly, pulling out = the barb/T's from the tank and leaving the old cross pipe hanging from the = bracket clamp on the body. Didn't know about that one and no way could I = see it. Since I'd already cut all the hoses from the tanks, it was = time to grind off the crimp connections with the carbide router tip in my Dremel = tool. Plugged up the hole in the tank for sanitation reasons and for fear of a = big boom that could've resulted. Cut and fit the new hose(very = tight fit despite using MMO to lube the friction points) Somewhere in all = that mess, I meticuously cleaned the top and sides of the tank while the holes were = still plugged ala Bentley rules. Used simple green and 409. Good = news was there wasn't a lick of rust in the bottom of the tank and no sediment = coming out of the drain hole.

Now the fun starts. I got the = clamps on the copper lines that flank the sides of the tank and inserted the plastic = pieces and put the crossover pipe on top of the coolant hoses thinking I = could reach them from the front and push the 3 barbs down from there. = Bolt the tank in place and go to the front and flail for an hour to try and = get the hand/forearm in far enough to get the barbs pushed down. = Remembered someone on the list saying it was tight, but my arm wasn't getting = within 6" of the grommets. Decided to sleep on it and start over Sunday AM = before church.

With the list help, I finally wedged = the tank in the front lip and let the back end hang down, supported by an 8" = cinderblock and a couple 1" shims. The back needs major support here as you are = going to be pushing real hard to get the barbs in. 303 protectant or MMO = should make that easier. Ken recommended Vaseline, but didn't have = any. Ended up that I had to thread the crossover pipe over everything = including a small hydraulic line of some sort and e-brake cable. Still haven't = figured out how to get the clamp on. With this angle of atttack and the = tank firmly supported I was able to get the driver's side in by laying on my = side and reaching way up and pushing as hard as I could. Success! Now = to the other side where I have two connectors to pop in. Did the overflow = pipe first, but the slack in the crossover pipe now was severely restricted( = in the future, I would buy more hose instead of that piece of plastic, whatever = diameter it it). a lot of wrestling and fancy language later I got = it in and then came the critical step; lifting the rear of the tank with = everything in place knowing that if it fell, we got to start all over again. Got lucky and nothing fell and got the tank bolted = in. Felt comfortable hooking up the return and supply lines at that = point.

Next nightmare was pushing in the = filler neck back in to the tank. My filler neck has a plastic ball check valve on = it to prevent gas from sloshing up the neck on hard left hand turns I guess, = but no photo of that in Bentley. Heck, it took me 30 minutes during = disassembly to figure out how the plastic body piece came loose from the body so the = filler neck can be freed( rotating it counter clockwise did the trick). I = digress. The big o-ring grommet was tighter than Dick's hat band = installed on the tank and I was gingerly pushing so I wouldn't damage either = the ball valve or the neck(remember 11 yr. old plastic here and Sun. = AM) It finally went and then I hooked up the hoses and returned the gas to the tank.

So far, so good. Film at 11!! I'm = not dissin' Ken's instructions, but he may have done this fix on a hoist and not = known aboutthe clearance problems us back yard mechanics have to deal = with. When time permits, I'll maybe get these organized a little better. = Maybe a Vanagons for Dummies book is in the offing.