Fuel tank access hole

[Nordical25]

I have learned that impact wrench and rust penetrant may help with some rusty bolts.

You could still remove that broken 14mm bolt depending how much thread is visible. And there are several techniques for that depending what kind of equipment you have available. You could look for those techniques from Youtube for example.

Heat can also help to rusty bolts but next to fuel tank I would avoid that tip. So do your best when removing bolts and see afterwards what needs to be fixed.

Rust penetrants help but they won't get everything loose unfortunately.

[Mogordo]

I don't have an impact wrench at home so I was on the good old ratchet and breaker pipe. I'll probably have to drill the bolt out at least in part, maybe an easy out will get it, maybe not. Hopefully I can keep the threads of the hole in good shape. I sprayed some PB Blaster in there, figured it might get down to the threads of what's left of the bolt. Working it back and forth with penetrant might have worked, I think I was expecting it to be less rusted like the other one. But the six little bolts for the fuel pick up will be well soaked in PB Blaster, been spraying them daily...

[Nordical25]

Well, let us know how it went. You can definitely live without impact wrench but it helps with rusted bolts by knocking technique and by letting user to focus on correct position of tool.

[Mogordo]

Well, What ended up happening was I sprayed the pick-up bolts with PB Blaster about every day for a week or so and then they all came out just fine. My dad came for an unexpected but welcome visit and soaked the pick-up in a rust dissolving solution for about three weeks. Yes, Weeks. The directions said about 12 hours is usually enough. Anyway, my Dad would take it out and use a wire brush on the lines every now and then and after weeks it was cleaned up and free of rust and the lines appeared plenty strong still so he coated the metal with four coats of epoxy and put it back in the tank. Sealed it somehow also. I replaced the one rusted section of line on the car with some rubber line (Does anyone know how come the one line has long lengths and gets looped back in a few places rather than just having a much shorter line?) and we re-installed the tank. My dad had drilled out the broken fuel tank bolt and re-tapped it.
I have pictures on my camera of what the pick-up looked like after it was cleaned up. It's fun to see so I'll see about getting a picture posted one of these days.

[NWMO]

Great report, looking forward to the pictures!

Chris

[Mogordo]

DSC_4846.JPG

Here is the picture from after the rust was removed and it was coated in epoxy.

[NWMO]

Looks good, keep up the good work.

Chris

[Mogordo]

Thanks. Credit for that one goes to my dad Still haven't figured the original issue...

[Petros]

I think they put a big loop in the fuel line over the tank so the metal line will be able to expand and contact with temperature without causing fatigue where the line goes thorough the cover plate. I do not know, but when i had mine out I thought that looked kind of crazy, but they would not waste extra length of metal fuel line for no reason. They have been building cars for a long time, so I imagine they get all kind of odd failures over time.

conisder that you might refuel the car on a really hot day, parked over pavement that is very hot. than with a fresh tank of fuel that just came out of a deep underground tank, when you start the car the fuel line gets a sudden blast of cold fuel. metal changes length and shape when that happens. having a fuel line that can flex and accommodate the length change would reduce the thermal fatigue on it.

[Mogordo]

Thanks Petros, It's been a while since I checked in here. My dad and I thought there would be a reason but neither of us had a good idea what it would be. Your idea makes some sense for sure. Maybe that was it. I don't remember right now if that was the section I replaced but since I used rubber line then if allowing for movement in an expanding and contracting metal line was the purpose then maybe since there is more rubber there it wouldn't matter if the loop was gone.

[Esaus]

Looks like youll need a new pickup tube thing. I dont know where to get one. Luckily the gas tank i got from a wreckers had a homemade one made out of copper tubes and works great. Someone soldered copper pipes to a metal disc and cut them to length and made the right bends. Will outlast the tank!

[Mogordo]

It all worked out for the pieces I needed being there.