Late model fuel tank replacement

[Yoshi]

First off, this was a biatch because my old tank was beaten to hell by previous owners. The gas tank is in there very tightly.

Tools needed:
5mm allen socket or wrench
13mm sockets and open wrenches
8/10/17/19mm sockets
screw drivers
Hammer (come on, you always need a hammer)

First step is to remove the drive shaft and exhaust. I'll not bother with that.

Once that's done, drain the fuel tank. 5mm allen socket comes into play here.





Your car should look vaguely similar to this. (You know, regular control arms, no skid plate, etc etc)


Time to unhook all the fuel lines. Under the driver's side and in front of the wheel well is the grouping of lines. Disconnect and drain.


Then jump into the back seat and remove the fuel pump and level sensors. The sender on the driver's side comes out with a counter clockwise twist using a flat top and a hammer. Take out the other sender on the passenger's side with 4 8mm nuts, then do the same counter clockwise hammer tapping to the fuel pump housing.


Not pictured is removal of the fuel tank hose on the back of the tank. Also, you need to remove the 3 vent hoses on the back of the fuel pump access hole. I wound up getting them after the fuel tank was down but you should be able to get to it while the tank is still attached.

The tank is held in by 5 13mm bolts. One, is the piece that holds the fuel filter in place.


Here are some after shots




I had a really cut up hose about here. I think it was the cause of my fuel leaking problems. It is a vent tube that goes to the expansion tank behind the passenger rear wheel.


The hose traverses out of the cabin through the wheel well. It's held in by 4 10mm plastic nuts.


Expansion tank


I replaced the hose but I had to rerun the plastic hoses around and under the tank. Probably not the best way but I couldn't get the hose in any other way.


Just a reference. From back to front it goes fuel feed, return, evap. Doesn't look like it from my picture thanks to my bolt in roll cage messing with things.



Installation is reverse of assembly.

[M20_fever]

Good info, stickied.

[joecrotch]

hey i been meaning to ask where did you get the bolt in roll cage, and how "bolt in" was it?

[Yoshi]

Autopower. I got it from ioportracing.com It was very bolt in. Works great.

[M20_fever]

I'll be needing this eventually, I recently learned that OE tank setups on these cars are prone to fuel starvation in hard turns so I'll be swapping to a fuel cell once I work my way up to Rcomp tires.

[Yoshi]

I don't see how. The baffles are actually pretty good. As long as you are a quarter of a tank, I doubt you should see any starvation.

[M20_fever]

well I talked to a guy that is hard core into club racing and has a SICK e30 he runs. He said anything under half a tank will fuel starve in hard corners. Now remember, he's running full race slicks so a hard corner for him is unimaginable for any of our setups. It will be a year or two at least until I get to Rcomp level, but eventually I will need to address this.

[Yoshi]

fuel cell. be happy

[joecrotch]

thats where I'm headed. got a old fuel cell from a buddies track car just need a new bladder and the stock tank is a gonner!

[M20_fever]

nice score, I want to find a cell that fits into the spare tire hole.

[joecrotch]

i would have loved to do that as well but since i cut out the spare well an put a aluminum sheet in its place my square one is perfect lol

[M20_fever]

I almost did the same thing, but I'm glad I didn't now, haha.