E
epetersen
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- Last seen
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2023
- Thunderbird Year
- 1964
First post on the forum! Got a '64 that was garaged for 35 years. Going through things to get'er running again and saw rust in the gas tank filler tube as well as a 35 year old rotten gas smell. Figured it was time to replace both as new replacements are available and not terribly expensive. Here's my experience. First, I needed to remove the filler tube. Reading the shop manual it seemed pretty simple. Remove the four screws at the filler tube flange, grasp it firmly, rotate it, give a good tug, and out she comes, right? Nope. It was firmly in place. The manual gives instructions on how to McGiver up a tool to pull it, you don't need to do that. I searched the forums for tips and found a bunch of nonsense so I figured I'd post this. First, you don't need to remove the cover in the trunk (and mess up your perfect trunk liner like I did) nor the filler tube sleeve. NO NEED TO DO THIS. Next, don't try to drop the tank and work the filler tube off it after, it won't work. There's no real room in the underside area to grab the filler tube near the tank, no need to mess with that. What I did, since I was replacing the filler tube ($45 bucks, don't be a cheapo), was get a slide hammer with a "rear axle bearing remover set" end. I went to teh local O'Reilly parts store and they have the tools, you pay a deposit and they're free to use. The end slips into the filler tube then snugs up nicely. A few good pops with the slide hammer and out it came. Skip all the other crappola methods and JUST DO THIS. It was basically rust-welded to the tank, see pix. Then just a lot of WD-40 on the tank strap bolts and out she came. I did put my floor jack with a 2x4 on it under the tank to drop it as it still has a couple gallons of crappy fuel in it (drain plug wasn't cooperating). A few other tips; the new tank came with a new filler tube O ring and a new sending unit lock ring so no need to buy those like I did (paid shipping to return). The new sending unit I got didn't have the low fuel light wire on it. Basically from what I see these all have the low fuel light so get the right one so you don't need to reorder and return the wrong one like I did. The new sending unit also came with a new gasket and lock ring, so really don't order it separately. The sending unit hole on the new tank has very sharp edges, so don't grab in there to lift it and cut up your fingers like I did. There's a little rubber vent tube on the old tank you'll need and some little metal clips that don't come with the new one, as well as the heavy tar paper pad you need to remove and put on the new one (see pic). I used black Gorilla tape to secure it, seems OK. Don't chuck the old tank until you have all that stuff off of it in other words. The old filler tube has "TOP" stamped on the flange. The new one doesn't of course. It looks like the filler tube is a double-walled tube with a drain back to the tank if over filled?? Inside the old tube and under the "TOP" stamp there's a bulge in the inner tube with holes in it (kinda hard to see in my pic). The same exists in the new one. Just put that bulge on the top when you install the new one and you're good to go. Hit me up with any other questions. Cheers!
