

| Subject: | Re: Procedure on my 85 Westy tank reseal |
| From: | Scott Chapman |
| Date: | Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:43:01 -0400 |
Your web site has this for the description of that product (it's truncated): "Fits 2wd Vanagon 83�-91 (Fr Vin 25-D-114613). Comes complete with Breather Crossover Assembly (not a "generic" hose assy, but a correctly made piece exclusively reproduced by Airhead/VWG), 1.5 meters of 5mm ID Fuel Hose, 20 Fuel Hose Clamps, 3 Breather t" and there is no image. Your kit doesn't include as much hose. I had about 3 inches left when done. I made all the hoses a little bit longer when I did mine. Their site's description is available at http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/page_493_293/fuel_tank_reseal_kit_a.html. Old Volks Home wrote: > Scott - > > Just out of curiousity, why not order the Fuel Tank Reseal Kit which > includes the Expansion Tank Seals and the Clamps from airheadparts.com > <http://airheadparts.com> ? It's only $99 for everything. > > http://www.airheadparts.com/viewDetail.asp?strMasterCat=&idproduct=8983 > <http://www.airheadparts.com/viewDetail.asp?strMasterCat=&idproduct=8983> > -- > Jim Thompson > 84 GL 1.9 "Gloria" > 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt" > 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug" > 75 914 1.8 (No Name Yet) > Full Timing Since March 1999 > oldvolkshome@gmail.com <mailto:oldvolkshome@gmail.com> > http://www.oldvolkshome.com > *********************************** > On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Scott Chapman > <scott_list@mischko.com <mailto: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 <http://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 <http://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. >
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