RR Fuel Tanks

Well,

I go out this morning to the RustRover that's been sitting waiting on me to play with for a week while SWMBO has been very ill (As far as we can tell District Nurse and Midwife are the only forms of primary health care we haven't tried in the last 3 days - she's a bit better now).

There is a wet spot under the rear.

There is a big wet spot under the rear

There is a stench of petrol.

Well, looks like the fuel tank has a hole.

So, I have a look, and it looks like the hole is somewhere above the line of the rear mounting bracket, ah well. Off to Hell^H^H^Halfords to get some epoxy petropatch and a socket set as somewhere along the line my 1/2" socket has cracked.

I get back and get the Haynes and look for the section on how to remove the fuel tank. OK - section 3 - fuel system. Turn to section 3. Look at contents for section 3. Main fuel tank is page 20. Turn to page 20..... Umm

- try again. Turn to page 20..... WTH?? Section 3 ends at page 19.

Now, given that the original RangeRover manual has to be around 20 years old now at least I suspect that they have let some spotty little herbert edit it to remove all "dangerous" tasks, such as removing the main fuel tank. Haynes manuals have definitely gone to hell in a hand basket recently.

Anyway, I get one of the nuts off the rear bracket, and the other two have rounded. No problem - hammer a 12mm socket onto them and off they come.

At this point I discover that the bracket is actually part of the fuel tank, or so it seems. I also discover that the work I have done to remove these nuts has caused the fuel drip to turn into a pissing leak.

So I get out of there and look around. Ah - there's something that looks like a drain plug - this car should only have around 3 gallons in it anyway, so let's just let all the fuel out into a catcher can.

Can I move the drain plug? Even with a power bar? Can I hell!

It looks like the tank has rusted all the way along the leading edge of the rear bracket and as such is going to continue pissing fuel until it is empty. I have put oil drainer cans where most of the fuel is falling, but obviously can't catch it all, and I'll take my chances with it evaporating rather than putting newspapers under it to become a wick.

So - the questions for the group wisdom (you knew it was coming, didn't you?)

1) Is the bracket actually part of the tank, or am I just damn unlucky

2) is there any easy way to remove the drain plug? It appears to be a brass one which will round very easily if I abuse it.

3) Does anybody know of a "cheap" source of fuel tanks for 82 model 5 door RR V8s? Is there anybody who has done the LPG conversion who would have the original tank they'd be willing to part with?

I would very much like to get this car back on the road as it was going to be my project runaround for the next few months, but I'm buggered if I'm paying main dealer prices for any of the parts if I can avoid it (£329.98 for a replacement fuel tank for this particular car). Just "doing an LPG conversion" is right out again because of the costs. At the point I spend more on keeping a car on the road over a year than it cost to buy then I consider it a write off and it goes to the big crusher in the sky.

Thanks

P.

Reply to
Paul S Brown
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In article , usenet160103 @geekstuff.co.uk says... [SNIP]

That threw me a bit as well until I stumbled across the way they number things. The Index has Section-Page style references, whereas the contents page for each section has Section-Item style references. That's right, each 'task' or 'item' is numbered, and the "20" you're referring to is probably item number 20 - each item is numbered in the heading (the pictures use Item.step references, so picture 23.7 refers to item/task 23, step 7).

Of course, this probably isn't much help to you by now... :)

Cheers, Aled.

Reply to
Aled Treharne

SNIP>

You should be able to get a third party tank for between 80-120 quid.It won't be as well made as the original, but do you intend to keep it for another twenty years. You will need a new jubillee clip to hold the filler pipe on On the other side the input and output pipes may need replacing. And finally,if you can get the float out without damage you will have done very well I do have one somewhere.(West midlands.) Regards

Reply to
Rudolph Hucker

SNIP

My Dad had one of these and he absolutely hated it more than he hated the fuel consumption of the Triumph 2.5pi he'd had before. Kept it for a year Swapped it for a Rover SDI with a V8, and totally rebuilt the engine. Much more his sort of car and with the promotion at work he could afford to run it.

We got ours from Paddocks, Matlock I think or John Craddock's at Cannock I can't remember which exactly, but have used both of them in the past and had good service from them.

Reply to
Nikki

----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul S Brown" Newsgroups: alt.fan.landrover Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 3:50 AM Subject: RR Fuel Tanks

I changed a tank over on the weekend, due to having a hole in the original where the circular "divot" is in the bottom of the tank.

Answer 1: The bracket is part of the tank.

Answer 2: Run it till it runs out of fuel, and you won't have to remove the plug! :) Both my tanks were close enough to empty when I started.

Answer 3: Well, if you happen to be in Australia anytime soon....

Procedure:! I removed the three nuts across the rear of the tank, undid the two at the front (be warned, the bolts they thread onto are not captive, and will spin). Slid the flexible joint further up towards the filler cap, cut the breather hose off (well, it wouldn't move for me!), unscrewed all the fuel lines, (one at the front of the tank, one on the side), and unplugged the leads from the side. dropped the whole shebang down on the non-filler side first to clear the filler neck, and as the haynes manual says, removal is the reverse.

I replaced the filler cap and neck as well (due to some rust appearing in the pipe). Be warned, if you are changing the filler cap & neck, there is another breather tube off the top of the larger breather tube that disappears up into the rear pillar. It's a pain in the proverbial to get back on... :(

I had all the parts in another rangy that is now sitting in the backyard (thank god it's still got the lpg system on it so I can move it around!)

I have an older haynes manual (circa 1988) and removing the tank is in that, but it probably doesn't help you... :(

Good luck!

Macca

Reply to
Macca

In message , Macca writes

... but if you remove the blanking plate inside the rear body first it's a lot easier than feeling up the side of the wing!

Reply to
AndyG

... and guess what I'd managed to do before I realised that the plate was there! :-(

Reply to
AndyG

Diesel or petrol?

Are they both the same?

Reply to
Hugh Hogan

In message , Hugh Hogan writes

Never done a diesel so I can't say.

Reply to
AndyG

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