Removing Gas Tank

I wanted to absolutely sure. You don't undertake this kind of thing unless you're having serious problems, or you want to be absolutely sure. Thankfully it was the latter for me. I'd had posted about my experiences with the gas tank hoses and someone on the Itinerant website told me to start all over and check my gas tank for debris. I gave it a cursory inspection through the fuel sender hole before with a flashlight and didn't see much. But Don's post got me thinking. What if there's some hidden sludge in there.. or an old shoe. And then this summer on my way to a campground, the shoe blocks the outlet hole and boom.. the Pickle dies a slow gas starved death while my wife and daughters give me the stink eye.

So I wanted to be absolutely sure. That and my neighbor Nick wanted to borrow my pressure washer. You see the pressure washer is tucked into a corner of our garage that's only accessible if you push out the engineless Pickle and make room to pull it out. So I went to all that trouble and decided right then and there to pull the gas tank.

The firewall was already removed, so getting access to the tank would never be easier than right now. I assessed the situation, read Ratwell's site and cautiously moved ahead, using a 13mm socket wrench to remove the metal straps that hold the tank to the tank compartment. I removed the breather hoses on top, removed the ground and sender wire to the top port, and lastely, cleared the two fuel hoses at the bottom of the tank.

At first it was hard getting it to lift, but with a long wrench stuck under the tank to lift it up straight, the bottom lines cleared the body and I took it out straight as you please.


The tank was pretty dusty. and then came the moment of truth as I peered in every hole with a flashlight. Thankfully, there was hardly any rust at all and it was pretty shinny.

I poured in some water and shook it to get any debris out. For the first five minutes on my rinse/repeat cycle.. I didn't hear anything but water swooshing in there.. then I heard something metalic clanking. Finally after a few minutes of working the clank toward the hole.. a large washer came out. You can see it there on the top of the tank on the picture above. I have no idea what it is.. and I hope it's not supposed to be in there somewhere.

I washed the tank inside and out and let it dry and I think it's in good enough condition to reinstall.


My next step was cleaning the engine compartment and then individual parts that will be reinstalled. More on that in our next issue.