I decided to tackle the gas tank removeal first thing, while I was fresh. Turned out to be an easy job ... the tank drops in from above and a PO hadn't bothered to bolt it down!
Before disconnecting the three wires to the fuel gage sending unit I made a note of their colors and position. Standing at the back of the car, looking straight down, the fuel line goes off at 3 o'clock. Just to the right is the brown wire. At 12 o'clock is the brown with yellow dots,and at 6 o'clock is brown with a black stripe. We drained out the two gallons still in it to use in the shop's tow truck. I want to treat the inside with POR-15 Fuel Tank Sealer, but I doubt anyone in Honolulu stocks it.
With the tank out I spent a few minutes inspecting the area and found more evidence of what I already suspected, old collision damage. What surprised me this time was the poor quality of some of the work. My plan is to leave alone as much as I can, and re-do what obviously needs to be done. I need to get under the car and remove that fuel line before I can weld the crack.
I finally got around to removing the white plastic wheel well covers. I also checked out the rubber drain plaugs along the floor ahead of the wheel well and tank area. They turned out to be dried and crumbly, not savable.
The reason for removing the tank, beyond the fact that it needed to be, was to weld this area.
Just a few minutes of grinding revealed a thick coat of bondo covering an old collision damaged area.
I spent a good halk hour grinding away all the bondo. There is no reason for it to be so thick below the bumper.
Look how thick it is, 1/8 in.in places.
I cut out the damaged areas, and cut two patches from my sheet metal stock. I finished with wire brush scrubbing with POR-15 Marine Clean followed by a coat of Metal Prep. Next week I'll shape and flange the patches, and hopefully weld them in.
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