Gas tank removal

Has anyone here removed the tanks? I've replaced all of the fuel lines and there's still a strong smell in the trunk suggesting some pin holes in the tank. I was poking around today and it looks like just a few nuts and bolts and they lift out of the trunk. Can anyone verify?
My carpet backing is mostly dry and turning to powder so the complete job is looking like this;
Remove carpet
Remove tanks
Fix tanks
Paint to match oem
Clean up carpet and remove backing remnants
Add sound deadening and new carpet backing
Install carpets
Place luggage in trunk without it smelling like gas by the end of the trip.

 

Don't understand that last word trip?
Do these cars actually drive??

 

Yes, but only at great risk, such as experiencing massive diminished value should it get caught by a rain shower. See Dave Stacy's tale of woe a little while ago. I wonder if he has recovered from the emotional trauma yet.

I thought that the fuel tanks are covered with fiberglass. While I suppose that a 40+ year old car can develop a pinhole through the metal and then the fiberglass, it seems unlikely to me. Am I wrong about the coating?

 

This is the beginning of a thread called Fuel Tank Smell. If you look it up it'll give you the name of the material I used to fix those pin holes.
Greg

I know this issue is discussed in various threads but usually as an aside.

This week I had the tanks pulled out of the '84 and pressure tested at the local RV repair garage. As hoped, holes were located, all in the passenger side tank. There were 3 pin holes in the bottom and 1 pencil lead sized hole in a 3 sided corner at the bottom. These have all been patched with a two part, Mil-Spec'ed, aricraft fuel tank sealer used on the outside of the tank.

The gauge of the aluminum sheet used to fabricate the tanks is quite thin making the tanks very light. I suspect this also makes the tank bottom prey to condensation collecting as water and sinking to the bottom to just sit there. Then add long storage periods and, voila! leaks.

I hope this rids the trunk of the smell. I am also replacing all the carpet pad cushions supporting the tanks because they have soaked up fuel and also stink.

Greg

 

Hello, there is a product from us that treats the symptoms you mention. Maybe you can find it in your new country ...

traitement réservoir ALU fissuré ou poreux

 

Is it something like tankerite ?
http://www.tankerite.com/tankerite.html


Inviato dal mio SM-N910F utilizzando Tapatalk

 

I posted the wrong thread name earlier.
To make it simple for US based owners, here is a link to Flamemaster CS-3204 <http://flamemaster.com/cs-3204-class-a-b-c/> which is the material I used.
Greg

 

Flamemaster? What an interesting name for a fuel tank sealer!

 

Yes it looks. These are products for sealing tanks. We must ensure that the product does not contain any polyester resin or polyurethane and solvent that are dissolved by gasoline.

 

Somehow, this thread quickly moved from tank removal to how to repair leaks
The short answer is they can be removed with relative ease except the left tank, as it has the pita fill hose above it that makes removal a bit challenging.

Obviously, you have to remove the bumper reinforcement tube above each tank which is attached with one bolt that ties the rear end of the tube to the bumper mount (there should be some felt cushioning material that's between the tube & the tank). Once the bolt is removed, just lift up on the tube to unhook it on the front end.
Pumping out the fuel in the tanks from the filler neck gets most of it out but there are baffles inside that prevent you from pumping all of it out. I was able to pump 99% of it out where I could place a rag under the union that ties to the middle tank to absorb the remaining fuel. If you feel uneasy about the fuel spillage, you could remove the drain plug (#78) from the 'additional tank'.

Ferrari 400i (1983 Mechanical) - Fuel Tanks, Pumps, Lines: Page 009 | Order Online Eurospares

If the tanks are coated in fiberglass, my car missed that step in the build. Mine has creme colored, what looks to be, sound deadening material sprayed on the outside of it. If you're sealing the pinholes from the outside, scrape the sound deadening material (or chip the fiberglass) away down to virgin aluminum.

 

Laughing. I still haven't made up my mind if I'm going to part it out or just drive it as a junker.

 

I say drive it like you stole it

 

+1, that car has been tainted for ever by the rain shower Dave subjected it to... No one would dare buy it now. Might as well just drive it and enjoy what little may be left of it!

Ruben

 

Thanks Bruce

 

I have my tanks out as well. Does anyone have any pictures of the correct tank to trunk insulation placement? I think 412's may be rubber, 400's may be wool felt?

 

On 400 is of the wool felt, tanks are fixed that the two metal bars which pass through the trunk. I covered these two bars of a foam insulation similar to the insulation for air conditioning. Nothing else fixed tanks. For my part, I deleted the old wool felt and I handed the new wool felt. You can also put the rubber. Tanks are made of aluminum covered with a protection I covered with a layer of insulating paint specially manufactured to cover the reservoirs. This painting is not sensitive to solvents. It is thick.
If it's not too late I'd take pictures next week.

 

That would be wonderful. I do have time. I have some samples of SAE graded wool felt coming in the post. When I determine correct firmness and color I will make the supplier and part spec available to the forum.

 

The insulation (whatever it is) runs lengthwise on top of the tank & under the tube. A Series 2 using the wool insulation:

Pic #19
1983 Ferrari 400i for sale #1792701 | Hemmings Motor News

 

Great pics thanks! When GT gets his tanks out I would like to see the pattern on the bottom.

GT Paint match. Brett turned me on to this. I went to Autozone (or other vendor) to the duplicolor OEM paint match section. Small rattle cans. Took a tank with me and matched mine to the cap of a Ford OEM gold there were about three shade. There was a close match slightly more shiny gold , but very similar color. In shade or out of direct light (in the trunk) imperceptible. If you did a light top coat of both under a fluorescent on the table in your shop completely indistinguishable.

 

Pics of the bumper assembly removed and paint I used. I only painted the very top flat of the tank. Paint could have been a little flatter, in the shadow of the trunk not not that noticeable. If I wouldn't have shown the pic only I would have known.
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Thanks Rick. Can you confirm the color #?

 

Here inside my car trunk with insulation sleeves around the tubes. As you can see I changed the color of the tanks. The color of goose poop does not please me.
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Great info guys. Tomorrow I'm going to get some help with a smoke machine to check for leaks in the tanks and connecting pipes. I should bring my guitar to play some Deep Purple too. Ferrari has used some odd colors on components; check out my aqua blue brake shields
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They had the same color on the BB brake shields up to and including 78. They switched to black in 79 on the BB.

 

Hereby pictures of my gastank
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