JCWhitney fuel tank tips - 77CJ5

I just replaced my leaking steel tank on my 77 CJ5 and ran into some issues. I thought I'd detail them here in case anyone else is planning to do this.

Steel tank info: formed filler hose between fuel cap and tank. This formed hose has a steel port bored into it and affixed to the hose for the vent hose. The vent hose (3/4" ID) goes from this steel port to the tank. My assumption is this assembly is designed to vent the air out of the tank as the tank is being filled. Since the filler hose is rather large and I have to fill it slow it it "backwashes", this vent hose is probably not needed anyway. But, it's there.

The replacement fuel tank - JC Whitney part number ZX817814R, 15Gal Polyethylene, has a longer neck on the tank than the steel tank had - about 4" longer. The formed filler tube slid over this neck, but not all of the way down. I ended up shifting the tank towards the drivers side to make it work - plenty of room under the steel skid plate, tho.

The formed vent hose was a different matter, tho. This wouldn't fit because the tank was now too far away and, the tank for some unknown reason (brilliant engineering, I guess) had a 1" OD connector for the vent hose.

Now, this 1" OD connector sticks out of the tank about 1 1/4", and looked like it was moulded solid then drilled with a 1/2" bit. Luckily, whoever drilled it did it off center, so I had room to shave off the plastic to decrease the OD to about 3/4". I did this by having a small propane torch next to me and a razor blade held by needle nose pliers (the tank was never used, I had no fear of working with this setup). I heated the razor blade repeatedly and shaved off the excess plastic on the tank.

To replace the vent line, I had a new issue - try finding fuel line in an automotive store that's larger than 3/8" ID. Do what I did - go to a boat (Marine) dealer. I was able to obtain a 30" length of 5/8" ID fuel line for about $7 with 2 new clamps.

The new fuel line was able to stretch over the steel tube on the formed filler hose and over the shaved down plastic tube from the fuel tank.

Overall, the biggest pain in the butt was dropping the original tank, but the new tank went on fairly easy once I was able to obtain the fuel line and shave down the plastic port on the tank.

When I do my frame-off rebuild in 2-3 years, I plan on having a custom tank built, so I look at this tank as a temporary measure to stop the leaking from the old tank.

I'll be glad to discuss this in more detail with anyone via this forum (I have no issue with email, but feel the forums are a great place for everyone to pick up tips and tricks while email is not open to everyone's viewing).

Dave
77 CJ5 304, Acme hardtop