65 Gas Tank Removal

[D Mo]

Is there a trick I don't know about on how to remove the tank? Car is jacked up in the air, straps are completely removed, fuel neck is pulled out, hoses are disconnected, gas tank is empty. I cannot for the life of me figure out what configuration I need to put this beast in to get it to drop. I jack one end, I pry on the other end, nothing.

Day 2 and I am frustrated again. Pretty sure my fuel pick-up is the problem, as I siphoned 5 gallons of gas out. I can run on a jerry can, but not off the fuel line. Either way this thing is coming out and getting touched up.

HELP!

[Dan Szwarc]

It should just drop away from the body. You may have to carefully tap the tank and pry it away from the body, gently, with plastic or wooden tools. Use a jack with a wooden board against the tank to support it for when it releases from the body. You don't want it falling down. Hopefully, you got as much gas out as possible. 8lbs per gallon.

[silk2ben]

And disconnect your shocks so the rear end can fall at it`s lowest level, if not your tank wont drop.

[KGB Pilot125]

And disconnect your shocks so the rear end can fall at it`s lowest level, if not your tank wont drop.

Came into post this. Not sure how you are supporting the car but you cant use the leaf springs as they have to hang pretty low so the tank can clear the pumpkin. Also in the manual it gives you dimensions to build a tool to pull the filler neck. It can be a pain to remove.

[D Mo]

I got the filler neck out.



She either needs a refresh or a new one all together. lol.

Dan, I thought so too, and I read that I needed to drop the shocks on a 62, was hoping to slide by on my 65. I'll drop them shocks like it's hot tomorrow and post up the results. I siphoned 5 gallons out. Not sure what to do with it. It was fun watching the rust flow through the tube and up to the hand pump. That was a lot of work. Thanks NAPA for the $4 doo-dad.

[veedub00]

I jacked up my car really high and put it on stands. then I used a jack on the rear diff to raise and lower it to get the tank out and in. Its kind of like playing a carnival game, with the precision, but it doable.

[John Mc]

D Mo, did you finally drop the tank??? How bad was it? Did you get it boiled out?? Inquiring minds want to know!

[whitecastle]

I've pulled my tank twice in the last week while installing airbags.

There is, in fact, a trick to it: on the top rear corner of the tank, the back plate and top plate are pressed together and for a 1/2 lip of sheet metal that sticks out of the tank all around it. It's two pieces of sheet metal and is fairly ridgid.

That lip catches on the top frame brace that extends from one side of the car to the other (same brace you put hook the tank straps too) and wedges the tank in there. It's simply a friction fit - You can work the tank back and forth, up and down, and eventually it will come off the pivot point that it's catching on at the top and drop down. Just make sure there are two of you underneath to catch it - unless it's empty. But still, 4 hands are better.

Not sure if that was an intentional design or not.

[gradyjacoway]

Go under gastankrenu.com
They restore gas tanks.

800-997-3688

Grady

[John Cashman]

Removal of 64-65 gas tanks is a real pain... Whoever engineered that design should be locked away and made to R&R it 10 times. 66-69 design was much easier as rear shock removal is not necessary as it is on the 64-65 models. Also the bump out in the well doesn't help! TIP: do not re-install the metal pan around the base... These just collect and hold moisture to help the tank rust out. They did not use them on 66-69 models. Good luck...

[whitecastle]

TIP: do not re-install the metal pan around the base... .

Metal pan? I guess mine must have been removed before I got her.

[continentalguy]

Hi everyone! I realize this thread is a little old, but currently working on this exact same project. We have detached the shocks from the top and jacked the car as far up as we can. Unfortunately, the tank doesn’t seem to budge past a certain point. We jacked the car up pretty far, but I’m guessing it needs to go further? Where should we be jacking? Currently doing it around the trunk floor.

Thanks!

[TonyC]

We talking a '65 in your case? Actually, you should not have to detach the shocks. You just need to get the tail end up a good two feet (at least) off the ground. Remove the filler pipe, disconnect the wiring and fuel lines at the sending unit, unbolt the straps, and the tank should slide out.

But other cars of other years will be handled differently. On a side note, I hope you didn't actually jack it up at the trunk floor. That metal is not strong enough to hold the weight of the car with a jack. You need to jack it at the rear subframe rails; or better, get it on a hoist.

---Tony

[continentalguy]

Hi Tony! Thanks for the suggestions. We did jack up on the rear subframe rails, but our jacks are not tall enough. We never jacked on the trunk floor at all. If we use a hoist, where would you suggest we connect to? Bumper?

The only problem with the hoist is it doesn’t seem like it would be safe to be under there.

[frasern]

Here are the jacking locations, this shows the fuel tank for '61-3, '64-up have a different tank location.

click to zoom