Having a difficult time removing gas tank!

I think you need to drop the rear suspension out of the way a bit. If you take off the bottom shock bolt and the sway bar link, it may drop enough to clear. Otherwise, take the brake caliper loose and remove the rotor, you should have more than enough room then. DONT take off the upright bushing bolts or you will have more fun than you wanted trying to put it back together.

 

In addition to disassembling the suspension wish bones from the hub, you have to remove the transfer gears cover. This will give you enough clearance to maneuver the gas tank out.

 

You don't need to totally remove the petrol tank. Remove the straps and hoses and jockey it rearward, to get it away from the firewall for hose access. Pulling the hoses is an Olympic Event not easily accomplished in one session. Connect a new hose to an old one for the pull, doing the cotton covered brake vacuum first then use some vasoline or KY on the water hose to make it slide easily. Replace hoses on the gas tank before replacing it.

 

There's a walk though here with a pic:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137663&

In addition to removing the transfer case cover I had to remove a few of the studs.

 

You don't have to remove the tank to snake new heater hoses. It's a pain, but it can be done without removing the tank. But if you must, here's some detailes notes I made when I removed mine. Note, I did not have to remove any studs from the transfer gear case, only the case needed to be removed to make for enough clearance.

Lift car about a foot off the ground
Remove rear wheels
Remove wheel wells
Drain gas via drain plug from cross pipe
May have to remove right exhaust heat shield
Remove tank straps
Remove all upper and lower hoses
Disconnect fuel sending unit
Remove bake calipers (Note: Use thread locking compound when re-installing)
Remove caliper mount braket (Note: Pay attention to the shims. They must be installed in the same location so the caliper remains aligned to the hub)
Remove brake disk

Right Tank

There should be enough space to fiddle tank out

Left Tank

Remove upper control arm
Remove oil cooler
Remove transmission gear cover & cover gears to protect them from dust and debrees
Unbolt coolant reserviour support to move ouf of the way to gain clearance to upper shock absorber bolt
Remove shock absorber
Unbolt lower control arm hub bolt
Support hub and push it back
May have to remove electrical starting coil bracket support so coils can be out of the way
Tank should slide out.

Comments:

The caliper mounting braket has spacers that must be installed
Left tank is larger than the right side