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I have a project car that I obtained with no backstory. It has lots of parts that look brand new - one of which is the fuel tank. It looks like the original owner intended this to be a restoration project, but I intend for it to be a resto-mod. As such I need the fuel system to be suitable for EFI. So I needed to pop the sending unit off the tank and assess what I had. It does appear the tank is new - I'm not sure there was ever fuel in it and the rubber bladder looks pristine. However the sending unit was well attached with copious amounts of RTV, and in the process of removing it I ripped the neck portion of the bladder that wraps around the tank opening.
I've seen in other threads that when there are bladder issues with these tanks that it's generally the bladder that fails and people salvage the seal portion to use without the remainder of the bladder. I have exactly the opposite problem with what appears to be a new and perfect bladder with a bad seal, and I'm unsure what to do.
I think my options are:
Get a new EFI style tank and start from scratch - would definitely work, but is $$$
Try and get it to seal using regular gaskets and the threaded portion of the bladder seal
A lot of people have ditched the bladder and just reused the neck portion for the screw points and seal. I have a thread from last year where I dropped my tank and looked at the bladder and it was in perfect shape after 45 years. It had previously been collapsed and that is why i pulled the tank. The problem was tracked to a disconnected vacuum line. 1975 Fuel Tank Bladder - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion
One guy was adamant that i should get rid of it and many people do. I feel safer with it in there so I left it.
Another thread or shows how to modify the tank for fuel injection. Whoever it was did a great job and has a great write up. The info is out there on the forum.
I've seen the posts about re-using the neck portion. Unfortunately that's the only part of mine that seems damaged. If I had known about the seal being integral to a bladder before attempting to remove the sending unit..... I probably would have torn it a little bit less getting the RTV off. But I think I'd still have been doomed.
I have also seen some EFI tank mods, and that was my plan, since I'm trying to keep the car to something of a budget. Hence the desire to fix my little problem. Let's see if I can get a picture to work....
A lot of people have ditched the bladder and just reused the neck portion for the screw points and seal. I have a thread from last year where I dropped my tank and looked at the bladder and it was in perfect shape after 45 years. It had previously been collapsed and that is why i pulled the tank. The problem was tracked to a disconnected vacuum line. 1975 Fuel Tank Bladder - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion
One guy was adamant that i should get rid of it and many people do. I feel safer with it in there so I left it.
Another thread or shows how to modify the tank for fuel injection. Whoever it was did a great job and has a great write up. The info is out there on the forum.
...I did this to my 1975 Corvette back in 1994 after the Corvette Museum Grand Opening. When I removed my '75's bladder, the tank was mint so I was able to re-use it. Then, after many years the car finally held nearly 20gals of fuel, not the 13-15gals it always took to fill it up.
Check out my thread "77 EFI Conversion ". Bladder in tank Homemade baffle and fuel pump installation. 2 year's and thousands of miles later. Still working great.
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1976 Fuel tank bladder question
