Fuel Tank Straps

[jrichards]

I am fitting my fuel tank and the straps are way too short. The longer strap is not the passenger side but now way is it going to fit. Wondering if I have the wrong straps for my car or there is some secret to this. The bends in the straps look like they are right but the welded on bolt holes are way too tight. I can get it to work if I get longer bolts perhaps but this just doesn't seem right.

[Rodster]

Yes - this is a common problem -- Actually, it is not that the straps are too short, it is the way they are bent. And the bolts are too short. I thought I had some pictures of this, but can't find them right now.

I smashed flat the end near the hole and re-bent the strap. Be careful when you do this, I suspect you cannot bend and re-bend more than once. I added a threaded spacer and longer yellow zinc plated bolts. to mount the tank.

Currently, the bolts and strap are loosely fastened, there are some adjustments to be done when fitting the body parts.

I will look for the pictures or take some new ones later this weekend.

[jrichards]

Thats what I did essentially. I regent the straps to better fit and then just bit the bullet, went to Lowes and bought longer bolts. Once I had them cinched up I could use the shorter bolt on the driver side bit still used a longer bolt on the passenger's side.

[Rodster]

Very good! keep moving, and show us some pictures of your progress some time!
-wayne-

[Fluge]

I struggled too. I couldn't even get a bolt through the strap ends. I exchanged my straps and the second set was much better. I used longer bolts in the front and used my air ratchet to tighten them. Then I measured the space needed for a spacer, took it apart and inserted the spacer before reassembly. Don't forget the plastic plugs for the hangers. I also used a piece of rubber hose at the base of each steel hanger to pad the contact between the tank and the hanger. Somehow I also managed to squeeze the plastic tank shield in there also.

[John Dol]

Jacked up the tank under the car, used a clamp to pinch the strap as close as possible to the mount, then used a longer bolt to mount.

John

[CobraKai]

I had to flatten out the bent parts around the tank seam and use longer bolts. It still barely fit. But it is in there good and tight now, tank shield too!

[CHOTIS BILL]

As CobraKai mentioned you need to flatten out the bent parts around the tank seam in four places. This wasn’t mentioned in any of the 3 different manuials I received.

Bill Lomenick

[narkosys]

From the top of page 44 of the electronic manual: "At the locations on the tank where the tank straps come near the tank, use a pair of pliers and bend the
bent parts flat."

Kind of confusing in the wording and it's small enough to be easy to miss.

P

[CHOTIS BILL]

Must be a newer version my electronic version doesn’t mention it. I am glad it has been added.

Bill Lomenick

[CobraKai]

It's not in my manual either. I found out about it on the other forum. Thank goodness for the forums!!!

[narkosys]

That is from the donor tear down section so it makes sense that it gets missed now days with the complete kit.

P

[jrichards]

I didn't find it in my manual or didn't notice it. Because I have a complete kit a don't read the tear down parts of the manual. The longer bolts worked fine. On the drivers side, once I used the longer bolt and tightened it up I was able to use the shorter bolt and it worked fine. Funny that they put the bends in the straps and then tell you to flatten them out.

[Jeff Kleiner]

...Funny that they put the bends in the straps and then tell you to flatten them out.

It does not mean to flatten the straps. You're supposed to flatten the forward edge of the tank flange. You'll see that it is bent upwards where it comes into contact with the vertical square "legs" of the chassis in line with the straps. Doing so will gain ~1/4" to 3/8". They're still difficult sometimes; I've always done as some of the others have suggested using a long bolt to pull the straps into shape then swapping to the shorter ones.

Jeff