FUEL TANK REPLACEMENT
This was a bit of a fiddle to be honest. The tank and all of the fittings were original, so removing them involved snapping rather a lot of things, then finding a hole in the chassis that was hidden by the tank. The tank had always leaked if I filled it, so I essentially ran it with £30 most of the time. It eventually started to drip a bit even with £30 in it, then when I had to fit the floor mountings for the rear load bay seat belt anchors, I decided to do it properly and remove the tank. Be prepared to spend £150 if everything's knackered.....
First, remove the rear anti roll bar. Easy enough, but I discovered that the 8 M8 bolts holding the roll bar to the chassis were seized (then I snapped them), the bushes were all worn, and one of the drop links was beyond salvage. None of it expensive, just a few more bits to add to the list.
The tank is connected to the vehicle in several places:
Two bolts at the back to the rear cross member (fiddle)
Two bolts at the front end to the hanging bracket with rubber mounts (why, I'm not sure)
Fuel filler neck (large jubilee clips)
Air vent/overflow near filler (jubilee clips)
Fuel return pipe (top)
Fuel outlet pipe (passenger side, look above rear wheel to see it)
Wire to the fuel level sender (with fuel outlet pipe)
Here's what you hope to achieve, you need to take the driver side rear wheel off. Remove filler pipe & overflow vent. Loosen the fuel pipe where the purple arrow is above (mine snapped - new sender required) The wires disconnect from a connector clip (orange circles), they don't come out of the sender unit - so don't pull them!
You can undo the top fuel pipe when you drop the tank on the floor so leave that for now. Loosen (ha haa...) the four bolts (with a drill, grinder, hammer....)that hold the tank on. Two at the front end in the centre (pictured below), and two at the rear spaced further apart. Then drop the tank on a trolley jack to the floor.
Mine was goosed. Below is the tank top, the pipe had rusted through and split (hence leaky when full). The front end was also porous beside where the two bolt holes were.
Whilst it was off I fitted the floor mounts for the seat belts (below) and welded a plate over the rather large hole that was in the mid section of the chassis. Not going into that in depth, but essentially I grind out the rot, weld in the plate, paint, then waxoyle.
Fitting the new tank......after ordering lots of little bits is fairly straight forward, particularly if everything is new. This lot below (with one or two other bits) cost as much as the new tank did. The tank comes bare, except for a drain plug underneath in situ.
First assemble the tank, put on the return pipe and whatever the hell that one is below with the olive. Where rubber seals are used do not over tighten them. M5 bolts/screws hold this on.
Then put it under the car, connect the top pipe, then lift the tank into place. Bolt it in place with the four mounting bolts then you can put in the sender gauge, connect the wires and connect the fuel feed pipe. Refit your anti roll bar then you just need to spend £80 on fuel to fill your new tank! (although I filled it in £20 goes just in case I found a leak and had to drain it again!)
NOTE: I had to cut my fuel feed & return pipes. But if you buy standard diesel grade fuel pipe with an 8mm internal diameter, then it will slide over the existing fuel pipes and the connectors on the tank. I also painted the top of the tank before I fitted it, then I'll paint the underside at a later date (when there's no ice on the floor!)