Ok, admittedly, first time in two years I've had the movitation to work on this beast (been sitting since I moved into this home 2.5 years ago, not even fired it up) Now I'm moving. I went to drop the tank. What a bunch of bs. Bolts are near the bumper. My rear bumper and valance is not perfect, been hit very slightly, but it appears I'll have to drop the rear bumper and drop that rear valance to get the tank out, wtf is this bs??? Is this right?? How do I do this? So, I decide, since I'm shorthanded on time to just drop the sender instead. Easy enough. 5 minutes later, I'm literally lying spread out on top of a pool of gasoline....maybe it's good for my hair..... and can't get to or see what I believe to be the gunk in the tank (no gas to carb, new fuel pump, clogged something. However, the sender is original, and the screen way gone, so I'm guessing there is some serious **** floating around in that tank that I can't get too.. I knock the sender against the ground a few times and out comes a bunch of crap that looks like mexican food and beers constipated a day after. I reinstall, throw gas in, and watch my lovely leak at the tank. WTF?? Are those metal tabs supposed to stay in the grooves in the tank, or slide around the groove? Whatever the hell. I filled up the float bowl with gas, stuck a battery in the car. DIdn't bother to change any fluids or prime anything and it fired like it was yesterday (nevermind the fact that the 302 has two dead cylinders) it still ran dry and didn't suck any gas from the tank. screw this, I'm towing the beast to my new house. For the first time in my life of 31 years, I thought of ditching the pos and telling my mother to store it or I'll dump it ( it was her car bought new in 72) Don't worry, that only lasted maybe ten seconds or so, but nonetheless I'm disappointed as hell. a few questions: 1. Does summit or anyone else still sell new senders for a maverick 72 302??? Just give me the link folks and I'll order one right now. 2. WTF is involved in pulling the tank?? I'll search here too, but a quick answer wouldn't hurt. 3. I'm just venting a little, but at least I heard here come to life and speak to me once more. Now, in my new house I'll have the motivation to clean the tank and lines out once I figure how to drop the beast, then get that roller 5.0 in. This could have been in tech too, but I wanted to vent and ask for tech advice at the same time,+ haven't bs'd with you guys in a while. any suggestions on items one and two??
Autokrafters and ebay have sending units. When changing sending units or gas tanks, be careful...my dad burned down the garage and everything in it when he took the sending unit off and had gas come out like what happened to you. He lost a mint Torino 428 Cobra Jet and a 1967 Cougar with a 427 in it.
Ouch, that really sucks. Hmmm, my water heater is in the garage. This sucks. Nothing I can do but hope, I'll check autocrafters for the sending unit, thanks.
Yes, the tank strap bolts are behind the valance panel so it needs to be moved to get it out. Sometimes you can just remove the bottom nuts inside the trunk and then pull the bottom of the valance out to get to them. Then you have to remove the filler neck too. What did you think was going to happen when you open a 2" hole in the side of the tank? The O ring that seals the sending unit is available from Ford. Buy new ones and use some grease or silicone to hold it in position while you reinstall it. Next time just get a gallon of gas and a piece of fuel line and put it under the hood. Its a good temporary fix.
How far do you need to drive? I used to run all my demo derby cars with a 6 gallon outboard motor tank inside the car. Atleast you could get it to the new house.
Okay guys, you are all scaring me a bit with the gasoline thing...I had a little cousin who decided that her and a friend would play "Tea Party" in the garage...with gas....The water heater was in there and it had no legs on it..the gas spilled and the whole place went up in flames, kids and all...the two girls survived but the other little girl had burns in 80 percent of her body...just be careful
when i bought my maverick...it had a 3 gallon boat tank in the trunk and then a rubber hose clamped to the bottom of the car to the carb.....i took that all out and found a new gas tank and had it cleaned out and pressure tested and then i put the new(used) tank back in place and found some tank straps from a maverick in a junkyard... i used extensions and a universal to get the nuts on the tank straps and it worked....but it took a lot longer than it should have.....jsut make sure you have a jack holding the "empty" tank in place....it gets heavy after a while.... when you get the tank disconnected....take the fuel line off the carb and get an air compressor and blow the crap towards the back of the car...so no gas gets in the engine bay....the air compressor will shoot out all the junk in the fuel line....i had a seed from a tree in my line....i am guesing thats why the guy used a boat tank and a rubber line....and i put 2 fuel filters in line before the carb to catch anything in the future... hope this helps a little good luck
