October 29, 2001 - El Gas Tank

Gas tanks are fun.  Especially when they are keeping your car from running.  Time to drop the tank and clean the fuel lines.  In the process of dropping the tank a little gem was discovered that showed me the car had never had it's tank removed before.

Why yes it is the build sheet for the car.  Sadly it is almost gone.  It matches on the VIN and the dealer to the PHS documents though.  You can still make out the "L84 BLK SPC ED" lettering indicating a black special edition, which the PHS documents showed anyway (it's just neat to find the actual sheet your car came with off the line).  Just for further information the sheet was found underneath the top strap of the gas tank on the driver's side.

Wow that is a lot of plumbing.  Actually it is just three lines taken at a funny angle to make it look like a mess.  The lid with the wiring and tubing coming out rotates counter-clockwise about 60 degrees or so to come out.  It houses the fuel gauge pump and the "sock" that sucks fuel up into the fuel lines.  The top lid just slides out as it is held in with some sticky residue that turns to powder after 20 years and the tube itself holds it in (kind hard to describe, you just have to see for yourself).

The fuel gauge and fuel inlet are removed (such a pain just FYI).

We hosed the tank out and disposed of the fuel (if you can call it that) still left in the tank.  No pictures of that as I really don't think fermented apple juice and plastic residue make for interesting pictures.

Next to put the carburetor back on the engine.

Much better.  Now we find the fuel pump.  For all those of you out there who wanted to know where the fuel pump was but were too afraid to ask, on an Oldsmobile 403 engine it is on the left side below the oil filler neck in the picture above.

See?  The left inlet is the fuel line, the middle inlet is the fuel return line (for overflow so vapors don't go back into the atmosphere) and the far right tube supplies the carb with gasoline.

Get your compressed air out and stand back as we are about to blow the lines out with a 300psi pump.

Good thing you weren't standing too close otherwise we wouldn't be cleaning up just the floor.

And no car restoration session would be complete without our lovable friend Alan (who said that a 19 gallon gas tank didn't weigh that much fully loaded with water) doing something totally off the wall.

Another optical illusion, but hey it is fun regardless.

Next we hook everything back up, get 5-6 gallons of fresh gasoline, a fire extinguisher (or two) and prepare for the moment of truth.  Will the engine run?  Will the engine fire?  Literally?  Tune in tomorrow sports fans as we discover another chapter in the exciting adventures of Project Trans Am!

Well maybe not tomorrow but you get the idea.

Trans Am Page

Last updated October 30th, 2001 at 12:40AM