Well I went ahead and swapped out the 2 tanks today!
And yes there were a few booby traps along the way!! I followed the step by step guide kindly posted by Quest which despite the booby traps kept me on the right path. So I will just add a few pointers that will prevent people encountering the booby traps and make the Job a hell of a lot easier!
1) have a small hack saw handy as you may need to hack the old Jublie clips of should they be badly corroded as mine where. If you don't fancy risking creating a spark then use a good pair of strong snips to be extra safe!
2) Wear safety goggles as I got an eye full of the rusty stuff just about every time I went under the car!
3) I had to use an extension about 7-8 inches to reach the drivers side (my 4-5 inch just wasn't enough), forward nut behind the heat shield! I obviously never had the extension at the time of discovery and had to nip to the shop to purchase one!
4) I had a bit of a ball ache removing the pump from the tank as I never disconnected the red hose/line going into it first. Once removed, the pump came easy enough by giving it a tap anti clockwise as Quest guide suggested, however I would recommend purchasing a pump removing tool as it would make the job a hell of lot easier especially when putting it back on!
5) When detaching the thin hose from the top/centre of the tank from the plastic thingy bobby (I don't know what it is as I am not a mechanic!!) it is attached to, I stupidly tried pulling the thin hose from the tank end of the union and ended up snapping it as I now know they are very delicate! There is a thicker hose on the other end of the plastic thingy bobby that you disconnect instead!
6) Once the tank was removed I prepared the new tank using the old hoses and went to install the pump, this is where the major ball ache came!!!!! I put the gasket and pump into the tank and then spent a considerable amount of time trying to get the retaining ring turned clock wise into lock position, I also spent a lot of time cursing and swearing (the neighbours must of thought I was having a nervous break down)! The problem was that the retaining ring (whatever it is called you will know what I mean if you ever go and install a pump) was warped which made it near impossible to rotate the ring under the hinges that lock it in place, my Girlfriend assisted me to no avail and if it wasn't for the luck of my mother being present and lending a third finger (to hold the ring down to get it under one of the many hinges), I may of not got it on! I strongly recommend that if possible you source a brand new one as my opinion is that the retaining ring will 9 times out of 10 be warped. If a new one is not available then get as many fingers as you can to hold the sucker down!
7) When reinstalling the tank I had a bit of bother getting it aligned properly. I tried aligning it from the passenger side first as I thought it would be easier to attach the pump/filter first but the heat shields on the drivers side where a becoming a bit of a hindrance! So I detached all the hoses again and started again but on the drivers side. It was easier to navigate the tank in and around the heat shields and I had it in place in no time! I managed it by myself but I highly recommend you have someone to assist as it is awkward and more time consuming on your own.
This was my first Job ever working on a car never mind changing a fuel tank, so I was expecting it to be a suck it and see exercise. The job despite the few booby traps went extremely well! If it was a job I had done numerous times then it would of taken no more than a couple of hours. I still have a Jublie to attach and to replace the plastic thingy bobby I broke. And then I will fire her up and hopefully she wont go BOOM!
I will let you know the result of my hard labour tomorrow....fingers crossed!
@flyingscotsman - I did see the set however I opted to get those ratchet stands just to save few extra pennies. The set will end up in my garage at some point in the near future I am sure!
