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Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:11 am

Just wondering if anyone can give any advice on dropping a tank and refurbing it. I believe this is what I need to do?

I recently purchased the dream machine from friend, who inherited from his grandfather (orig owner). It had sat for a while so I drained the fuel and changed the oil.

Ran great for 100 miles, then the problems started. We encountered turbulent bucking and eventually loss of power (however idled fine).

I changed out fuel filter, cleaned the pump, changed plugs, wires, dist cap, points, fuel lines, and disconnected the cold start valve. We were back in business for 50 miles.

And so we went, through all of our square filters and I started replacing them with 20 micron filters from the parts store. Our mileage on a filter decreased to 5.

Now, I am thinking to replace the tank but there are none avail????

So any advice would be great.

Thanks,

79 Bus
2.0L FI

andy

Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:13 am

I would suggest reading up over here....

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/FuelTankRestoration.html

Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:07 am

Definitely read up on Ratwell's advice.
Also, check that your filler neck is not cracked and disintegrating. I had a similar problem and found that my tank was clean except for bits of rubber dropping into it from the neck. These were clogging the tank outlet.

I also found that it is possible (barely, and with a bit of cussing) to remove the firewall and tank without dropping the engine.

Good luck!

Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:15 am

That tank needs to come outta there. You can take it to a radiator shop and they'll dip it for you for about $100 if I remember right. Once the rust starts you have to clean it out and seal it so the rust stops. At the same time change out all the filler and vent hoses. It's a bummer but you have to face up to it and get it done. You don't have any other options I'm afraid.

Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:45 am

Hello to All again,

I removed the tank and replaced the lines and now no power. In park in produces high rpm but in gear i have no power???

Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:51 am

What kind of fuel pressure are you seeing?

Are all of the electrical connections correctly hooked up?

Thu Aug 19, 2010 9:00 am

Are you sure this is not related to your automatic transmission? 26lbs I seem to remember. Return line off the pass side rail that goes back into the tank clear??? I'm not the best with FI and know nothing about the automatics, but it may be indeed that the trans itself is problematic.

Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:17 pm

Hey BrownTrout. I noticed that you said you can remove the gas tank without removing the engine which is what I was suspecting. What was the tighest spot during the removal. The bottom fuel line nozzels? I have Fuel Injection. If I remove all that can I get er out or do I need to also tkae off the intake? Thanks, I know there has to be a way to squeeze the gas tank out without removing the whole dang engine to do so. Any advice will be appreciated. Please no sarcasm or puns. :D

Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:50 pm

make sure you plugged the plug into the back of the AFM

Tue Feb 19, 2013 6:29 pm

Davidcu wrote: Hey BrownTrout. I noticed that you said you can remove the gas tank without removing the engine which is what I was suspecting. What was the tighest spot during the removal. The bottom fuel line nozzels? I have Fuel Injection. If I remove all that can I get er out or do I need to also tkae off the intake? Thanks, I know there has to be a way to squeeze the gas tank out without removing the whole dang engine to do so. Any advice will be appreciated. Please no sarcasm or puns. :D
You can do it with most of the FI installed, the S boot and AFM have to come off for sure. Remove the carrier bolts above the bellhousing as well as the moustache bar bolts through the frame and lower the engine a few inches on a jack.

Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:04 pm

This bus came to me from a customer who bought it from a border patrol auction. It had no fuel tank. You can guess why?

From the pics you can see that the BP didn't lower the engine to remove the tank.

When I installed the new tank I just went in over the top. it was tight but worked.

The BP cut the hold down straps so I installed swagged cables instead..

Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:09 pm

Definitely don't need to lower the engine at all to get the tank out over the top. It's tight, but doable.

Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:07 pm

THnaks everyone for all the great information. Just looking at the tank I was thinking I could remove it without dealing with the engine at all or at the least just lowering it a little. In either case a bunch easier than dropping the whole thing. Will start the work this weekend, thanks Bro's! :P

Fri May 03, 2013 10:43 am

going through a similar process here on the '74. Tank came out over the top pretty easy, @ 5 minutes. Had to remove the Carb, Coil, Dist Cap, heater blower. Straps however were shot on the threaded ends...Need to replace those. The Plastic coated Steel Cable w/ Swage Clips looks like a doable option. Thank you everyone for the photos.... helps a lot.

I also discovered a mid 80's Porsche Fuel Sending unit is also a DIRECT fit. It's about the same price but I had 2 extras laying around. EXACT Fit, same readings on resistance tests too. Tested the unit hooked up to the VW's electrical and readings on the gauge are accurate.

Mon Jun 29, 2015 5:21 pm

Thanks for all the pics and info. I'm about to undertake this project this weekend without dropping motor.

I have a 79. Any new tips about restoring or replacing tank?

Mon Jun 29, 2015 6:39 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=378770

Fri Feb 10, 2017 10:46 am

VDubTech wrote: Definitely don't need to lower the engine at all to get the tank out over the top. It's tight, but doable.
I took this advice and removed old fuel tank and installed a new tank without lowering or removing engine on my fuel injected 78 bay window. Simply removed throttle assembly, vacuum pump etc, auxiliary fan and air cleaner. Small.amount of wiggling and tank was out and new installed. Took longer to remove and reinstall engine parts than removal and re-installation of tank. Thanks for posting this or i would have follkwed advice of my local VW shop and had them remove engine entirely as i didn't have the facilities to do engine drop myself.