Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:19:11 -0700
Reply-To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Procedure on my 85 Westy tank reseal
In-Reply-To: <4BCB558B.3040509@mischko.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
dear scott
thanks for the detailed step by step including problems encountered
i have the stuff here to do this (parts n all )
but based on your encountering other items along the way i may inventory my
parts against your details to see if i require more before i start
excellent bit of detailed sharing there
my name is roger and i have an 84 westie
hi roger
yours
On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Scott Chapman <scott_list@mischko.com>wrote:
> Buy the two grommets for the top of the expansion tank as well as the
> replacment kit. I found in mine that those two grommets were rather
> shot and the rest of the grommets were in good shape.
>
> Buy clamps. Everyone says, "This is low pressure - don't need clamps."
> The originals had clamps. You will need two sizes because the crossover
> pipe is bigger than the rest. I got two clamps for the crossover hoses
> at the local store. Everything else mail ordered as below.
>
> Old style clamps are used all around. Cut them with strong end cutters.
> Wire cutters won't work.
>
> I ordered from airheadparts.com:
>
> 2 x N90100501 - Grommet, Fuel Expansion Tank @ $5.50
>
> 20 x N245281 - Clamp, 5mm (Carb) Fuel Hose @ $0.92
>
> From van-cafe.com:
>
> Fuel Tank Reseal Kit A
> 251.201.KIT.A 1 $109.50 $109.50
>
> (I also ordered parts to upgrade fuel filter and hose up to the engine.
> If you do this, don't get the stupid expensive fitting for the
> firewall. Just run the hose on through or zip-tie it below its original
> hole.)
>
> There is one part that didn't come in the reseal kit that should have.
> There's a hose from the fuel tank fill down to the tank and the fitting
> that goes into the tank is plastic. That plastic piece wasn't included
> in the kits. Not a biggie as mine was fine and reusable.
>
> Put the front of the rig on jacks stands. Set the brake.
>
> Removing the front wheels gives you more room to work around in there.
> I got by ok removing the passengers side only. Put towel over
> wheel/brake assembly.
>
> Disconnect negative lead at battery.
>
> Drain the fuel out of the tank by disconnecting the fuel line that feeds
> the fuel pump then the return line. I didn't disconnect these from the
> tank itself, but from the next fitting up the line. This is one little
> section I didn't replace on mine. It's also easier to direct the
> draining into the bucket. Drill bits make good temporary plugs for
> these hoses when you're done draining. If you remove at the tank then
> you have to come up with some way to cap them which is more challenging.
>
> Drain into a 5-gallon plastic bucket (be careful not to do anything with
> that plastic bucket that will make a static spark). Use a funnel and
> pour from 5-gallon bucket to a proper gas can and seal it up.
>
> Figure out that the front hoses to the expansion tanks go to the front
> on the tank, etc. You need to put them back the same. I cut the fuel
> line going to the expansion tanks using a razor knife because I had new
> stuff to replace them with. The front hoses on each side, I cut close
> to the tanks (not close enough to cut the plastic fittings from the tank
> so about an inch and a half). The back ones on each side I cut a couple
> inches further from the overflow tanks. This way it's easy to tell
> which go where later when you're sizing new ones, etc.
>
> Pulling the overflow tanks. The way these are held in is rather
> interesting. Why there are even there is rather unknown to me. There's
> one bolt. You remove it and pull out and down on the BACK of the tank,
> not the front where the bolt is. You will see how they are held into
> the wheel well. Take a putty knife and clean all the accumulated road
> crud out of those and off the tank. Don't pull down too far on the
> tanks. There's a hose at the top. Don't remove the hose from the
> plastic. Remove the plastic from the tank. Wear latex gloves (I do for
> all mywork). The rubber will likely be deteriorated and sticky.
>
> You can replace the grommets and put those right back in place after
> removing the remaining hoses off the bottom after u cut 'em:
>
> Disconnect hoses to the expansion tanks. (Keep the pieces as you'll
> need them to get the right length when cutting new hoses.) Two hoses go
> to the bottom of each of these. Where they attach to the tanks the
> fittings are easy to bust off. Pull hoses off STRAIGHT! It is fairly
> easy to remove the hoses. Putting them back on is where you break
> things as they are mounted in the van and easy to go sideways on as
> you're pushing. Put vaseline on the plastic fittings to make things
> slide easier and be very careful putting the host back on or you'll
> "have stress". (I like to avoid stress). I broke one of mine and it was
> just far enough down the fitting that I simply continued putting the
> host on and clamped it.
>
> Ignore the other hose up by the expansion tanks.
>
> Fuel fill pipe. The Bently tells you to remove the clamp on the inside
> here. There wasn't any, and it won't come apart there. I had to
> unscrew the 3 screws that hold it in place under the gas cap. One of
> them was very difficult to get out. ' Had to push HARD and turn
> CAREFULLY. Eventually it cooperated. I replaced them with sheet metal
> screws with bolt heads so I can use a socket to remove them in the
> future. Remove the vent line from this assembly AT THE TANK, not up
> near the fill spout. It is not technically needed to remove the fill
> spout assembly to remove the tank because you can make the tank drop
> toward the pasenger side and thus pull the fill tube out of the tank as
> you drop it. It's very tricky to re-install the tank using this
> procedure. I don't recommend it. I removed my spout completely, took a
> wire wheel and removed all the rust/crud on the thing (tank side and
> fill side) and applied some black spray paint (masking the surface where
> the gas cap goes with masking tape). Very pretty when done. Even if
> there was a clamp and I could disconnect the filler from the tube, I'd
> do it this way, I think.
>
> The vent lines to the overflow tanks are now removed and the fill spout.
> There's the bigger vent line that goes across the tank. Reach into the
> wheel wells and pull them up. They will pop out fairly easily. Leave
> that hose with fittings hanging there. It's attached to the floor of the
> van and you can't remove it yet because the tanks in the way to unscrew
> that.
>
> The only thing left attached is the fuel sending wire. You get that
> after you lower the tank part way.
>
> Pulling the tank:
>
> The tank is on two metal rails that go fore and aft. They have bolts at
> the front and are curved down at the back, which goes into a slot on the
> cross member. When I lowered mine, I found that I hadn't jacked up the
> van far enough to get the curved portion to clear the slots. So I took
> a pair of channel locks and bent the curves to where they'd clear. Whew!
>
> You should be able to lower the front of the rails to the ground and
> leave the back up in the slots. The tank won't drop much at all like
> this. Take a flashlight with you and you get under the tank with your
> head to the back of the van and your knees under the middle of the tank.
> It's easy to hold it up with your knees. Then you remove the rails and
> move them out of the way while holding the tank. Push forward on the
> tank so the front stays on the lip up there and lower the back gently.
> You'll see the sending unit wire on the left up in there. Reach up in
> and pull that wire out. Then you can lower the tank with your knees and
> roll out from under it. Remember that there's an opening on the
> pasenger side where the fill spout goes in so roll out on that side.
> That way the hole stays high and you don't wear any gasoline.
>
> Note carefully where the crossover hose is routed above and below
> things. It should not go ABOVE all the junk going fore and aft. Some
> of that junks is too high up and will cause the new fittings to not go
> back into the tank nicely when you replace later. Remove it. The new
> one has a longer hose and isn't hose clamped. Put hose clamps on the
> new one. Longer hose is no problem, though you may decide not to clamp
> it to the floor when you replace it.
>
> Snip all the old clamps on the tank except the two that run fuel lines
> in/out the back (I didn't replace these as mine were fine). YMMV.
> Replace all the existing hose, grommets, and clamps. Put vaseline on
> the inside diameter of all the grommets including the one the fill spout
> goes into. Just a light layer. You don't want it going on into the
> tank and your fuel system.
>
> Clean around the fuel sending cap and remove it by twisting counter
> clockwise a bit. Replace seal. I took a 1/2 inch cold chisel and
> carefully scraped the rubber off the tank and put the new seal on. Don't
> forget vaseline on top or it'll be very hard to twist back on.
>
> Note on hoses to the overflow tanks. There are two different diameter
> hoses on the original. The smaller diameter hoses have little clips in
> that hold them up in the wheel well. I replace all the hose with a
> single piece and zip-tied them to the other hose up there which holds
> them fine.
>
> I added an inch or so on all my hoses. Probably wasn't necessary. I'll
> never know. :)
>
> Put the crossover hose in place above the tank, remembering it's route.
> Use the upper clamp to the floor of the van if you want to (I didn't).
> Put the tank back in the way you got it out and reconnect the fuel
> sending line as you raise the tank. ' Trick is to keep it up on the
> front cross member while you work with it but not difficult. Have the
> two rails handy and put them back but leave the front hanging down. The
> tank will sit there until you get to the front and tighten up the bolts.
>
> Push the hose fittings into the top of the tank grommets. The crossover
> hose goes in the hole toward the back on the passenger side. They
> should go quite easily if you put on vaseline. Fuel filler spout goes
> into the tank then reattached to the side of the van with new sheet
> metal screws. Breather hose from filler hose goes back into top of tank
> in the hole in front of the hole the crossover line goes in. Re-use
> plastic fitting on this one.
>
> Re-attach hoses out the back of the tank.
>
> Reconnect negative terminal.
>
> Put some gas back in the tank and start it up.
>
> Off jack stands.
>
> Go fill it up all the way and see if it leaks any more!
>
> Happy trails,
>
> Scott
> '85 Westy - not named yet.
>
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
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