Yeah. Found out why my car smells like gas recently. Gas Tank is leeking. Fabulous. So My question is how do i replace it if i get another (possibly got one lined up for $75 used if its good, opposed to $420 from the factory). Its above the muffler which has been attached for a few years it looks. Can't heat the muffler to take it off, or ill roast the nearest 3 blocks including myself and the car, so thats out. Mechanic thinks we could cut the exhaust pipe, drop the muffler out, switch the tanks, then weld the pipe back together since that tank would be completely dry. Really don't know what im doing with this. Its a carbed 305 87. Any Help would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a great day. -matt

 

One gallon of gas weighs 5lbs. So my suggestion would be to use all the gas in the car you have. Just drive it around and carry a gallon container with you. Don't venture more than 10 miles from your house. Just let it sip off the 1-gallon container till you get to where you wanna drop the tank.(shop)

cuz dem sumbitchas is heavvvvvy.

 

The exhaust must come out. I just recently did a coworkers 85 IROC, and here's what it involved:

1. Siphon all fuel from the tank and remove cap.
2. Use wheel stops on the front wheels and rest the rear subframe on the tallest jackstands you can find.
3. Disconnect the exhaust from the converter.
4. Remove rear sway bar, panhard bar, and panhard brace.
5. Support rear and unbolt shocks from rear end.
6. Remove brake line bracket from body of car.
7. Remove rear wheels and lower rear end as much as possible.
8. Remove exhaust.
9. Remove all necessary heat shields.
10. Remove all fuel line and wiring connections.
12. Support gas tank and remove straps.
12. Remove gas tank by pulling down and rotating passenger side of tank forward and up.

Should only take about 4 hours with common hand tools in a driveway. I did mine at work on a lift, so I finished the whole fuel pump sway in only 2 hours.

 

If it only took you 4 hours, you're God. It took me 8, and all of my stuff had been out of the car recently, so I didn't have to mess with torching bolts or breaking them off.

 

I've never done it in a driveway or garage before. That 85 IROC was my first pump, and like I said, it only took just over 2 hours at work. An asymmetrical A-arm lift with air tools makes the job go much quicker From all the horror stories I've heard about over at www.thirdgen.org, I was really dreading it. It's MUCH easier than a lot of people think. Not a cakewalk, but definately not as hard as some - like say a 99-02 Cougar I'll bet I could do it in 4 hours at home - maybe

 

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll be handing this information over to my mechanic, since my dorm room doesn't even have lifts. Take Care, Hopefully He'll be able to get the bolts off and it wont be a big welding job on the exhaust.

 

I had to do the same job to my 86 a few yeare ago.No matter how hard you try to drain your tank you will still have gas fumes in it , and the risk of putting your car up in flames is there. Go to your local wal-mart super center and spend $5.00 on 5 lbs of dry ice.Break it up and put the pieces down the filler neck. You will displace the gasoline fumes with the CO2 which is ineart and will not burn.And the best part after it has vaporized it does not leave any residue behind to mess up your fule system. I used this same process to change out my fule pump and its well worth the time and cost!

 

I went to gastanks.com and got a new gastank there. Took my mechanic 3 hours to do on a lift and we didn't have to take the SLP 3 in ehaust off. Had to drop the rear end tho. Left it hanging on a tranny mount and did the R&R