[sherlock9c1]

Oh contrare my friend, minivans are insanely handy.

My brother who works in fleet and marine maintenance contends that the red stuff is just ethanol and water, and would burn just fine. I don't know if it was in the gas cans or it came out of the wagon, but I'm still glad I got rid of that stuff; I don't have the time/resources to mess with it, so bybye.

Actually, I take that back, it must have been in the gas cans, because we watched the fuel being pumped out of the wagon through a clear hose and never saw any of that stuff. Well, if that's true, check your gas cans before use.

 

[95wagon]

Minivan , the sweatpants of automobiles. 😄

 

[Caddylack]

Now that you know for sure that your gas tank does not seal properly, you should add that to your list.

(edit: unless it came from the gas cans)

 

[sherlock9c1]

@Caddylack I don't think any B-body fuel system is fully sealed given the rotted-out EVAP hoses up front and the EVAP vent line that always breaks over the rear axle. This particular car sat outside in the humid south for two years before transferring to my garage for the following four.

 

[Caddylack]

@Caddylack I don't think any B-body fuel system is fully sealed given the rotted-out EVAP hoses up front and the EVAP vent line that always breaks over the rear axle. This particular car sat outside in the humid south for two years before transferring to my garage for the following four.

Good point.

I'm not sure how the vent hose functions, but I assume it isn't just an open hose. B-bodies do have noticeable "suction" at the gas cap, yes?

 

[sherlock9c1]

After a busy week, nothing better than removing fuel tanks with one of your sons. I was under the wagon and saw this shot of my son working on the 13mm bolts/nuts on the rear of the tank straps. We did both tanks simultaneously to take advantage of the learning curve.

The wagon rear axle area is much tighter than the sedan. I was not looking forward to disconnecting the fuel lines before dropping the tank.

First step was to remove the front heat shields. 7mm bolts.

This little bitty screw on the passenger side had to come out too. I don't remember this one being here on my other wagons. Oh well.

When I first went up to see the car, the previous owner explained to me that he had dropped the tank and "done the Sherlock9c1 mods on the sending unit." You should have seen the look on his face when I said "I'm Sherlock9c1." We had a good laugh on that one. But buddy, did you have to use such a long screw right here? Not only is it needless, in a crash, it could puncture the tank. A ziptie will be going back here during reassembly.

 

[sherlock9c1]

This car was a lifelong Florida USA car that spent one year in New Jersey before going back to Nashville TN. Very clean. These 13mm rear strap nuts came out easy. Leave the bolts in for later removal.

The wagon fill and vent pipes are on the driver's side. They didn't fight me as much as the Impala's had, because these had been off probably around 2015, seven years ago.

Front strap bolts came right out with a 15mm on an impact. This pic is from the Impala so pretend the heat shields aren't there. In retrospect I probably should have removed them from the Impala as well; I'll do that before reassembly.

Oops, forgot to disconnect the wagon fuel sending unit harness from the body. The wagon has these two clips; the sedan has none.

 

[sherlock9c1]

And they're out. I remove both 15mm front bolts, then disconnect the fuel lines (3/8" and 5/16", the cheapo Harbor Freight scissors-looking tool works fine). Lift up on the tank, let the straps hang down, pull the rear strap bolts, remove the straps, and then fight the tank off the fill tube hose and you're good. Wagon's tank and straps are on the right. Notice the different sending unit positions; this is why you can't use a wagon sender on a sedan, and vice versa, although everything inside the tank is the same.

The tanks appear to be roughly the same height. The sedan tank in the background has a slightly higher top.

Front shot.

So you'd think that the wagon's shiny sending unit would look correspondingly nicer inside. NOPE. This ain't good. The Impala's original 170,000 mile sending unit is in the background. This means the wagon fuel pump could have eaten a bunch of debris while I was pumping the tank out. Would that ruin it? Then again, when my son reached in to retrieve the strainer, it turned to dust in his hand. Maybe it's OK.

Yuck.

 

[sherlock9c1]

Where'd the fuel strainer go? Oh look, there it is, along with all that red junk we got when we pumped it out previously.

My son reached in with his smaller hands and tried to remove it; it just crumbled to pieces in his hands.

More red goo lurking in the rear of the tank.

All the stuff we couldn't get out. Any suggestions on how to wash this tank out? Garden hose and lots of water?

 

[sherlock9c1]

Wel, this sending unit is in pretty poor shape. I'll have to see if I have any OEM spares laying around; restoring this one will be labor-intensive.

Green corrosion on the fuel pump connector. Excessive water in this tank?

That gas gauge resistor is looking pretty sketchy. And this rusty blob in the foreground once was a retainer clip holding the sending unit together...

OEM sending unit from the Impala for comparison.

 

[sherlock9c1]

Side note; the wagon's fill tube is on the right. It has a checkball in it that the sedan tube on the left does not.

Wagon checkball.

Sedan, no checkball.

 

[sherlock9c1]

Miscellaneous shots; the wagon underbody was pretty clean; these upper tank rails ALWAYS rust. Whatever GM engineer designed the rustproofing on these cars, I hope you're in the witness protection program. Stupid.

Left bumper shock is oily. All the lower push pins are missing from the bumper cover; I wonder if this car got tagged in the left rear at some point. Racetronix fuel pump harness is visible in the background. I'll tidy this up before it all gets buttoned up.

Passenger side bumper shock is bone dry. Wagon body seam silliness in the left side of this picture. No push pin holding the bumper cover on. Good for flapping while at speed.

Fuel line ends are in excellent shape. I'm still thinking about replacing all of the fuel lines while I have the car apart. Car fires are no fun.

 

[sherlock9c1]

This is a curious leak pattern. Rear cover is dry, passenger axle tube insertion point is dry, pinion area is dry. Maybe overfilled OR some got pumped out the vent? It's a 2.56 open rear end so the whole thing is getting replaced with a 3.23 / Eaton rear posi and a Navy Lifer wagon rear disc conversion. I sprayed AeroKroil on all the rear suspension bolts in anticipation of that.

These rear springs are super soft. Look how many coils so close together. Admittedly the wagon is full of parts but not heavy ones. i'll be replacing them with something else along with AirLift bags. Those Bilstein rear shocks aren't doing much damping at all; they'll be coming out and serviced or replaced soon.

One last thing - My preference is to paint the sending unit lines AND then surround them in plastic loom to protect both them and the body from chafing through the paint. A lot of this was probably just me trying to wrestle the tank out from the fill hose, but still.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Nice job! I just did my tank R&R last weekend (for the 3rd time on this particular wagon).
I’ve actually always left the entire fill hose/tube assembly on the tank when I do this. Remove the three small mounting screws and the gas cap, slowly lower the tank using a transmission scissor jack, guide the fill tube down as the tank lowers. Have to tilt the tank to get it out from under the car, but nothing serious.

 

[sherlock9c1]

One of my friends is a lube tech at a local dealership; he was bored all Easter Saturday with nothing to do, so he texts me and asks me if I'm wrenching. Well, no, I had been taking a rest day, but this guy is a hard worker and very skilled so come on over and let's get some rear axles out.

First order of business was to pull out one bearing that had been installed in the new housing. Some rain had gotten in it and boy was did it fight that slide hammer.

We ended up breaking off the race in pieces; what an ornery bearing to get out.

Suggestions on de-rusting this tube are welcomed. It's got a little surface rust here and there.

 

[sherlock9c1]

Next step was to remove the old axle housing out of the wagon. Fortunately, the exhaust, driveshaft and fuel stank were already out. And this was a Florida car so all the bolts played nice.

We fished out the ABS sensor wiring first. Easy job; the connector is next to the fuel filter.

Next, the parking brake cables had to come off. I pulled hard on the cable, then locked it with vice grips to keep slack in the cable, then tapped one side out with a screwdriver and hammer while I held the other side with another set of vice grips.

Next we had to unthread the long adjuster bracket, then retract the three tangs to get it out from the frame. Note to self: each tang is a different length; start with the long tang first, then the second tang, then the shortest tank. You can thank me later.

That ornery upper brake line came right out. Whew!

 

[sherlock9c1]

With a floor jack under the pumpkin, we lifted up the axle slightly and removed both shock bolts. 18 or 19mm. Fortunately the shock bolt didn't turn, but it can, so watch for that so you don't chew up the bushing. We used a screwdriver to pop the shock loose.

Once the shocks were out, we lowered the axle enough to remove the springs, then got the upper control arms loose. This sure is ton easier with no exhaust, as we found out an hour later on the Impala.

With the upper arms disconnected from the axle, we unbolted the lower arms but held the axle still on the jack.
Note to self - that rule of "don't tighten the suspension bolts until the vehicle is at ride height" is very true. Be sure to just loosen the bolts next time and then you get a lot more freedom of movement as you're taking the control arm bolts out.

Once all the control arm bolts were out, we pulled the axle backward and then downward, and at that point it rolled off the jack right onto the floor. Fortunately it turns out that drums and concrete don't really mind each other if it's from a few inches, so we wheeled the whole axle out from under the car on the drums. Easy peasy.

Not much back here right now, and that hitch is going to be replaced with a KDS Class 3 before the tailpipes get built. The weather will be good this week for cleaning and painting the frame and touching up rust spots.

 

[SAH62]

Products like Evaporust will do a nice job on removing rust from that tube.

 

[sherlock9c1]

Products like Evaporust will do a nice job on removing rust from that tube.

Just FYI - Rust Remover Showdown. Will Evapo-Rust prevail? - YouTube

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Just FYI - Rust Remover Showdown. Will Evapo-Rust prevail? - YouTube

I’ve had good luck with white vinegar, at least better than this video shows. I didn’t see him scrub any parts, which is when the vinegars results show up. After 24 hrs soak, I give it a brief scrub with a metal brush and then rinse, most parts except the worst offenders usually look pretty decent. Hard to beat considering the price.