Painting and Refitting The Fuel Tank

The fuel tank is back in and looks a treat.

Fuel tank refitted

Lifting the covering lid to reveal the tank had been like opening up a time capsule. 

Opening the lid over the tank was like opening a time capsule

And if you read my post HERE, you'll know that by some miracle I found my tank seems to be in remarkable condition internally.

My petrol tank is (currently) shiny and rust free inside

Because of this, I sold the new replacement tank I'd already bought and was thinking of just  shoving the old one back in and closing it away again.

Closer examination showed a thick layer of dust on the flat surface by the filler neck. It was REALLY thick...I assume that since my car had sat in a barn for 14+ years without rear wings, it had blown in? it really was VERY thick....Anyway, dampness had lifted the paint under the dust and the surface was just starting to rust. As was the top face of the seam around of the tank at that point. 

THICK dust

These things being so, I took advantage of a hot spell to get the stripped and painted. And besides, I'd already painted the area the tank sat in.

Painting The Fuel Tank

My tank has been empty and off the car for a number of years. 

I blasted it through with compressed air to remove any lingering vapour - though I doubted there was any. I removed and kept the non-matching red and brown vinyl strips that had sat under the tank straps. They looked so 'of their time'. I was definitely putting those back on.

Protective strip under the tank strap

Removing the paint with a wire wheel on a drill was easy - but very noisy. After a de-grease with panel wipe, I applied rust killer all over - but particularly to the area over the filler neck and around the seam, and I primed in the seam between top and bottom halves with a rust curing product.

Rust-killer applied

The tank came up very well.

Prep-ed and ready for painting

The tank is big and awkward. And heavy. I rigged up some hooks on the patio to hang the tank from the pergola. I masked off the openings and screw threads and applied a primer coat of two part epoxy. This comes in rattle can form and I've used it a lot as a base coat for black parts.

It's not at all cheap, but adheres exceptionally well and gives great rust protection. Since i was bothering, I also painted the dust shields over the rear suspension pipework. I had *just* enough for one good coat on everything. 

I used an epoxy primer on the tank

I allowed a day for the epoxy to cure and then broke out the compressor and spray gun. For top coats I used Eastwoods 'Underwood Black'. No - I'm not sponsored by Eastwood! As far as I'm concerned, it gives a lovely mid sheen finish - more than satin, but less than gloss. Just like old black parts you find under the hood....

I already had a plan for how and where I'd leave the tank to dry.

Note how I had to prop the engine crane up with a stick! See my post HERE.

I'd already cleaned and glued back-in the rubber strips that sit under the tank to stop it rattling around.

Before: rubber strips under the tank

Fitting the Fuel Tank

Fitting really is the reverse of removal. I covered that HERE. Now it came to putting it back, it took me a while to work out where the little foam rubber spacers on the tank seam would best sit. It partly depends where the little metal securing tabs are around the tank hole Once I'd decided what needed to go where, I glued them on - to stop them being knocked off when I was fitting the tank. I carefully located the filler neck in its hole and then lowered the tank in place.

Perhaps the trickiest job at that point was  squeezing the tank short sides past the bent metal tabs without catching them. The side-to-side fit of the tank seemed to be particularly tight. I used a wide piece of thin metal to cover the tabs and then slid the tank over that - then removed the metal.

Not a lot of room down the tank sides

Now that I had sight of where the metal fixing straps would go, I slapped some contact adhesive around on the top of the tank - with the same care-free abandon evident when I removed the tank - and refitted the red and brown vinyl strips that would sit under the tank straps. And of course then the straps themselves were fitted. That tank wasn't going anywhere.

Fitting The Pick Up and Breather Pipes

It's easier to refit the fuel breather from the rear wheel arch with the grommets removed from the chassis. Mine had been removed for painting anyway. I first slotted one of the grommets onto the breather pipe and fed it  through the two holes in the right hand wheel arch chassis near the fuel filler tunnel. 

I fitted the grommet on the wheel arch side. In the engine bay I slipped on the other grommet and fitted that. Done!

The nylon pick up hose running under the outer sill is stiff and prone to fold in on itself if forced to curve too tightly.  There isn't a lot of 'bending room' between where the hose passes through the sill and the eye through the bottom of the 'B' pillar.

Pick up hose passes through an eye in the B pillar

For that reason, in the sill I removed most of the clips that held the nylon fuel hose in place on both sides of the B pillar and gave myself extra scope for feeding and bending the hose for the next task - fitting the sealing sleeve over the hose....

The fuel pick up hose is a snug fit in a curved tube in the tank - but it has an air gap around it. That gap needs to be closed to prevent fuel vapour escaping and I think to also aid the suction from the fuel pump. Citroen fitted a black rubber sealing sleeve over the pick up hose. 

The sealing sleeve

At the tank end, the sealing sleeve goes over the end of the curved metal tube that the hose passes through. The other end of the sleeve ends at a point in the outer sill. The original Citroen sleeve was so tight on the hose, that there are no sealing clips at either end. The tight fit is sufficient to seal any air gaps. When you do as I did and replace your fuel hose, it's near impossible to refit that original sleeve. For this reason, simple kits are sold that are a far easier fit over the fuel hose. These are a looser fit over the fuel line and so rely on jubilee clips on both ends to provide an airtight seal.

Sealing kit

I had one of these kits but first tried - and succeeded - to refit the Citroen original. (I did say 'near impossible'....). Why I bothered though, I'm not really sure! Bloddy-mindedness I suspect.....

Unlike the fuel breather hose - where the two holes in the chassis it passes through are in line - the two holes through the sill for the pick up hose are offset through the sill sides......It was VERY fiddly trying to the fuel hose and sleeve through the two grommets in the sill.

Pick up fuel hose passing through the sill

But it was still marginally easier than trying to fit the grommets afterwards. Yes. I tried it both ways. Once the fuel pick up was in the fuel tank area I fed it through the curved metal tube until it came out of the filter plug hole in the floor of the car. 

Fuel pick up emerging from where the filter plug will be fitted

But I then had to re-adjust (several times) the position of the sealing sleeve on the hose/ through the sill to both take up that hose slack in the sill and to still fit over the metal spigot on the tank. Just to ensure their sleeve was air tight I added a Ligarex clip at both ends of the sleeve and refitted the hose clips on the sill. 

I fitted a new short, curved hose that fits the breather to the tank. That hose has Ligarex clips on it, and there is a little brass bush inside the breather hose so that tightening the Ligarex band around the curved hose doesn't crush the breather hose. And that was that.

Before: curved breather hose and pick up hose on the tank

After: note the angle of the pick up hose through the sill

I want to investigate changing the cracked cork float on the fuel sender for something more likely to float, so am not fitting that yet.