WELL, I went to the parts store and the guy I talked to advised against it, along with a few other people there. I dunno.

It looks like I may be dropping the tank afterall. The lines that go up there look funky. I bought 5 feet of steel line and two pressure fittings. The way this looks, I might actually be going with rubber fuel lines instead, no bending, no flaring. Simple. but if i do it, its gonna be permanent. SO. I was thinking about maybe getting some sheathing? I'm sure you guys have seen it, I see it used on lawn mowers alot to protect from heat and rubbing. If I can't find any proper sheathing, maybe I could wrap the rubber line in something? teflon tape? electrical tape? something that will protect it for a long time so that nothing rubs through it like the edge of the tank or w/e. Also. connecting the rubber line to the steel lines on the fuel filter, should I just cut away the line short and then connect it or is there some kinda sealant i should put on it?

The fuel/brake line mounting brackets were in there like they were welded, so I soaked em in PB Blaster as well as any other bolt that I may be encountering.

suggestions? tips? also. does anyone have a pic of the top of an h body gas tank with lines and pump assy installed?

The Rush fan already answered this one.
It looks to me like 5 feet might get you from the tank to the filter, once it is all bent up, but then what? You are still going to have to butt splice it into the existing line somewhere past the filter. Go back and trade the steel for high pressure flexible line. If they won't sell you what you need, go to a different store. Take your filer with you, and size it up to two brass barbed fittings that will screw into the filter on one end, and the flexible line will slide over the barbs at the other end of the brass fitting. So that instead of having screw in fittings for the steel line, your filter will have the two barb fittings for the flexible hose. Then you'll need to flare the existing steel line wherever you cut it so the clamped end of the flexible hose won't slide off, or become cut by the jagged edge of the severed steel.

And I hope you are feeling better. Head colds and gasoline fumes are a bad combination.

Here is the fuel tank assembly from the service manual:



The drill is drain the tank, take off the gas cap, remove the exhaust heatshield, remove the rear exhaust hanger, then remove the two straps holding the tank to the body of the car. Use a jack to support the weight of the tank and lower it out of the car. Pad the jack with a block of wood, old phone book, etc to not dent the tank. It comes out at an angle (dropping the exhaust hanger lets the exhaust pipe sag down far enough to get the tank out without removing the exhaust from the car.)

With 5ft of steel tubing, you should have enough to go from the filter to the sender. Practice making the flair on the end of the tubing that connects to the new fuel filter. Once you have that down, you're ready to drop the tank, bend the tubing, and install it.

No sealant is required, but I recall there'* a tiny O-ring on the inlet side of the filter (should be with the new filter.)

Money, time, and space to work were your concerns at the beginning of the post. Rubber High pressure fuel line solves those problems. My wife'* old car (92 olds) came from the factory with plastic. Metal is not the only way to go. If the line is rotted all the way up to the tank and sending unit would be the only reason to drop the tank.

Thanks very much curt, I didn't even think about looking in the FSM for a diagram.

I have been under the car for the past few hours and have almost everything ready to drop the tank, the only problem I'm having is with the filler hose/pump shutoff hose. The dang thing is like MELTED on there and its not very easy to get to since its directly above the control arm.

I was checkin it out, and thinkin maybe I should drop the cat support too? or just the two in the rear?

So far removed:
e brake cable (so far 6 bolts)
brake line/fuel line supports
broke loose strap bolts (with EASE)
took off clamps from filler tubes (ugh)
banged head on car (so far 6 times)

to do:
get filler tubes disconnected
siphon out fuel
remove heat shield
drop rear exhaust
get jack and phone book under tank
pray
loosen straps
take out tank
cut out old lines
bend new lines
flare new lines
clean tank
check everything
install lines
check for functionality
install tank
install heat shield
install exhaust
install filler tubes
pack lines back in place
reinstall e brake cable
DOUBLE TRIPLE QUADRUPLE check everything
Turn. The. Key.

ok. gettin back to work. hope i can finish this today.

Ok. frick.

houston we have a problem.

1. So I went and REALLY got on that filler hose and used every ounce of might in me and got it off. Went and siphoned out about 13 gals. This was a good thing

Status: Normal

2. Ok. so I went to unmount the exhaust and BOTH the rear support bolts sheared off and the nut is SECURELY rusted to the bracket. Soooo I was like, ok. I can wire that back together, no biggie....so then I unhooked the cat and laid the exhaust on the floor.

Status: Miffed

3. Then I went and tried to take out the heat shield and two of the bolt heads stripped with the proper size close headed wrench. HOW is that possible? So part of it is off, part not. But still enough to work the tank around it.

Status: Annoyed

4. So now I look around and I have just about everything ready to drop the tank, jack placed under with a board of wood. So I go to start on one of the PB Blaster pretreated straps with a 24" 1/2 drive breaker bar, yeah. STILL difficult. So I get one about 1/4 the way out and it goes SNAP! The clip it sits in broke its securement and is NOW SPINNING WITH THE BOLT.

Status: PISSED

so right now thats where I am. its starting to get dark, I can't believe how insanely difficult this is turning out to be.

I want to THROW THIS CAR OFF A DAMN CLIFF. I will finish tomorrow if I can continue to get that bolt out, if not, I don't know what the heck to do.

suggestions?

I'll take some pics and show yeh the situation.

Working on cars pushing 20 years old can be like this sometimes.

I haven't been online most of the day...I've been under my '87 Camaro trying to get all the stuff on it taken care of so it can be restored to flight status. Nothing rusted in place, just old and worn with 175k on the meter. (And mostly cussing at the putz who re-did the upholstery for me back in '98..and did a pathetic job of it.)

Ok, Your biggest problem now is the strap bolt and it'* speed nut. Plan A, cut it off with a cut-off wheel or a hacksaw blade. Plan B, put a cresent wrench or vise-grips on the nut (it should be a square nut welded to a spring steel clip.) and continue removing the bolt. Use a backup wrench on the other strap bolt..it will be just as nasty as this one.

Patience is in order (yeah, I know, not much of that going 'round right now) but the car had a lot of rusted in place fasteners, not much else you can do except exercise some patience.

I tell yah man, you're lucky to be livin down there. Don't have to deal with all this rust. Not to mention that I went through about 2 miles of pure mud right before i broke down, so the bottom of the car isn't all that clean.

I will do that. I gave up for today, I feel like a truck ran over me. I will add some pics tomorrow also.

Thanks to all of you for the help on this. Don't know what I would do withoutcha!

That strap thing happened to me, on both my bolts. Never did anything with them, it happened on the 2nd turn, and my tank is still like that today. You gotta cut the strap man.

WELL. I would, but I have NO way to get to a parts store now, I'm trying to keep everything in a working status. Umm, But if I cut the straps, how the heck am I gonna get the bolts out?