Cris

I think I need to pull my gas tank. Underneath it looks pretty straightforward with the mounting straps and brace, but what do I need to do up top with the filler neck, the overfill boot, etc?

DansYellow66

I think it depends a little on if you have a Coupe or Convertible. If it's a Coupe the boot and filler neck need to come off I believe, to allow the tank to rotate forward and drop out. I don't think other than pulling the boot off, that this is necessary on a Convertible. :flag

bcwaller

I don't have a spare tire carrier, so it was pretty simple looking for the convertible. I did not actually remove the tank, but it tried to remove itself! I got a pretty good view of it while securing it up again and it sure does look simple.

Cris

I've got a coupe. Does the boot just slide off the filler neck? How do I remove the filler neck? Is it just bolted to the tank?

BTW, thanks for the info.

MidShark

Chris- Yes, just work the boot up over the neck and remove it, the drain hose comes with it. There are several small bolts securing the neck to the tank. Be sure to soak them with PB Blaster or some such before removal. They can break easily. You then may have to knock the neck loose as it's probably stuck pretty good to the gasket.

StingRay-Steve

I just did mine. Changing out the gas tank sounds like a big job but it's one of the easiest tasks on this car. Just make sure you remove as much of the gas as you can before you begin. It will make the tank lighter and save you from dumping gas all over yourself as you tip it over to remove it. This would be a good time to test your sender unit as well. Mine was completely corroded and I was not going to put it back into a nice new tank. It's fun to sit on the garage floor and stick your head up where the tank once was and take a look around :crazy:

good luck, steve

Cris

Thanks guys. I'll take a look tomorrow. I started with replacing my rear exhaust panel. To get to that I removed my exhaust. While the exhaust was out I replaced my rear sway bar. Of course the power antenna at that point had very easy access, might as well take a look at it (it never worked). And with the gas tank staring me in the face, how could I resist doing an R and R on it? Geez, this was supposed to be a weekend job.........

DansYellow66

Be sure and get some filler neck gaskets ordered. I ended up using two stacked together with gas resistant sealer before I got it to quit leaking upon reinstallation. Being cork they of course shrink after awhile and the screws need to be re-tightened after a few weeks. You might want to just leave the boot off for a couple weeks after installation to be able to do this easily.

You know the way you are going on dissassembly is how I eventually ended up with my whole car dissassembled in the garage and frame separated, when all I started out to do was a suspension rebuild. Good luck being disciplined. :party:

soppeng

I'm still in a learning mode with my corvette and have not removed the gas tank, but have removed the filler neck to replace the cork gaskets. My hands are fairly large, so getting to the screws securing the neck was difficult. Based on advice in forum archives, I bought a cheap ratcheting socket driver with a flexible shaft that made the removal and installation of the filler neck screws fairly easy.

Jeff Garner

I had to loosen the exhaust hangers at the rear and slide the mufflers out as far as possible and even cut a muffler off to drop the tank on my 64.
I also replaced the rear deck emblem and taillight bezels while the tank was out.


[Modified by Jeff Garner, 8:18 PM 3/8/2003]

Cris

Thought I'd do a post after I removed the gas tank so I could leave something for the archives. Thanks for all the advice. I did remove the filler neck before I dropped the tank. Not 100% sure I needed to but I deferred to the info I got on the forum. I also struggled with the outlet/gas meter assembly. I think the tank would have come out more easily if I would have removed it first. It just required a little futzing to drop the tank with the outlet in place.

I did a good inspection of the tank with mirrors and the metal inside my tank was very clean. I have been struggling with rusty water in the tank and I could not find how it was getting in. I then took a close look at the filler neck. The filler neck is actually made up of three pieces. The portion where the gas cap screws on is a separate piece and is pressed inside the tube that makes up the filler neck. The flange that attaches to the gas tank is also a separate piece and is pressed onto the outside of the filler neck tube. I could actually pass water through the seam between the flange and the filler neck tube. So if any water drizzled down the side of the filler neck, it could enter my tank. Add to this problem that when I originally got my car, my gas tank overflow boot had a plugged drain hole (it took me about three months to find that), plus the boot was in suspect condition. I am guessing with all that water hanging around the filler neck, and with this three piece assembly, the water I had in my tank came in through the filler neck. I am going to seal the seams of the filler neck (don't know what would be a good sealer) before I put this thing back together and I have a spanking new overflow boot on order.

And I didn't even tell the story about washing out my tank in the shower of my apartment (it's a rental), and yes I had thoroughly aired the tank out before I took it into the apartment. The stories on the forum about gas tank fires scared the @#$% out of me.

clibertyusa

Great and helpful discussion of gas tank removal! Thanks to all.
Am attempting replacement of the gas tank on my 64 convertible and have found that tire carrier support bracket is bolted at the front of the spare tire carrier to a box beam frame cross member. Bolt with lock nut is "accesible" thru a 2'' diameter hole thru beam adjacent to bolt and lock nut. The '63 shop manual I have appears to show this fuel tank support member as a beam (not box). Has my frame been modified? Or was this a change in 64? Am looking for a tool with the reach and (I guess) necessary u-joints to remove the tire carrier. Am I on the right track? Anyone else seen this situation on a 64?
Thanks so much for all the good info! I am learning so much!

Bill J

Cris, you didn't mention the gasket between the filler neck and the tank. Make sure it is in good shape. If your filler neck is leaking where it was put together, you can take it to a radiator shop and have it soldered up.

JohnZ

The spare tire tub drops right out after removing (4) bolts through its top and (2) at the rear that hold the rear support bolt; the (4) bolts are self-tapping - the front two go into the frame crossmember, and the rear two go into the fuel tank support beam. The two at the rear that attach the rear support bolt go into weld nuts in the rear frame crossmember. The bottom lid drops out when you remove the two long front hanger bolts, which thread into weld nuts in the frame crossmember.

C12345

One thing none of the other posters mentioned is the "squeek strip" that will need to be replaced. It is just a strip of roofing felt that glues onto the removable crossmember. It prevents metal-metal contact with the tank. A piece of vinyl works OK also.

King64

Holy thread revival - Just a comment on how this post helped me remove the gas tank on my '64 convertible project. Well worth the effort. Rust on the inside of the tank coincides with rust on the outside. Not sure how I got from putting on the brakes to removing the trailing arms, restoring all associated cables, drums, parts etc to removing the gas tank other then "might as well." Thanks to the forum, I have less gray hair!