Glen, 
No, I didn't have to drop the engine on my '72, but I did have to remove the
dual Dellortos. Good reason to have the hose you need in hand before starting
the project, or an alternate source of transportation to the store. However,
with your '77, if it's still fuel injected, I don't know if you'll have to
remove much. You definetly won't have to drop the engine, tho. Open the hood,
squat down and look directly foreward in the engine compartment. The galvanized
(if it hasn't been painted) panel that runs across the front of the engine comp.
is about 20"x35" and it's held in place by a dozen or so Phillips head sheet
metal screws. Comes right off. Access to the hose is clear, no need to remove
the tank.
The hose I'm speaking of is the more likely of the two (the other being the
filler neck hose) to cause the gas smell. Number one, it is a much less
substantial hose than the filler, and two, it is right at the top of the tank,
much closer to the gas level than the filler neck. You'd have to be humpin'
pretty hard on the fold out bed to slosh gas all the way up the filler tube to
the big hose by the gas cap. The hose on top of the gas tank, OTOH, will splurt
gas all over the top of the tank any time you top off the tank (the fuel going
up the filler tube when you use the auto shut off on the gas pump handle is
higher than the small hose on the top of the tank, thereby forcing gas out the
holey (no references to diety ;-) hose until the fill tube is once again empty.
Good luck, Amigo!

Andy McKinley
75112.2101@compuserve.com
'72 Westy, looking for a Thing to buy

"...the car itself was still full of bugs." -Heinz Nordhoff, 1948, rebuilding
the VW after the war.