Chapter 7 - How to Remove a Gas Tank and live to tell about it
Take an empty wide-mouthed jar. Set it on the ground and walk a safe distance away. Now have the kid next door drop just one drop of gasoline into the jar. Wait 10 seconds. Now have the kid drop a lit match into the jar. As you can clearly see, gasoline vaporizes easily, and those vapors can explode with great force. Take the child to the hospital; see a good lawyer on your way home.
But seriously, is a series of small explosions the best way to get to work, each day? They say the internal combustion engine was invented in 1876 by Nicolaus Otto. How many other inventions from 1876 are in wide use today? A V-8 engine has about 100 moving parts, and moving parts wear out. So we find ourselves spending too much time and too much money at the local repair shop.
Just one more. In 1899 an electric car was clocked doing 68mph. I hope, but am not certain, that the Volt Vette will beat that number.
But enough stalling. The gas tank and the fuel system it is a part of must be removed. I crawl under the car. It doesn't look good. I check the shop manual. There is no getting around it, this is going to be a nightmare. The whole rear end of the Corvette must be unbolted before the tank can be removed!
I use a hand pump to remove as much gasoline as possible. The last pint of gas fills the tank with a highly explosive vapor. Not good! With the garden hose, I shoot 2 gallons of water into the tank. The water forces the gas up and out of its hiding place. Once that was pumped out, I started to unbolt the rear body panel from the frame. Lots of screws, lots of bolts; most had not seen a wrench in 20 years. Chris and Jim work topside on the hard-to-get-to screws just under the fiberglass skin.
After many hours of work, the rear panel was finally off
With the gas tank finally in full view; the end of the job was in sight. But, no. Even after cutting away the steel straps holding the tank to the frame, the tank could not be removed. We had to unbolt the rear part of the frame and drop it to the floor; only then were we able to get at the final hidden mounting bolts!
Jim quickly removed the fuel lines and not one, but 2 fuel filters. This Corvette must have needed very clean gasoline!
It took a few more days to rid the garage of gasoline fumes. The road ahead looks long and difficult.