johngammel

My 1961 has a replacement gas tank labelled GM45C 02420228W Made In Canada. From the oral history of the car I know this is a replacement. The fiberglass gas tank cover has never had any fasteners since I've owned the car. In trying to fasten it the body but it apparently sits too far back towards the trunk for the cover to seat down - but not by much (unless it's the straps or something else). I have two pictures of it following. Don't know how it's supposed to look.

What's the recommended way to fix this? As always thanks to forum members for your help.

jimh_1962

Reproduction tanks sometimes are slightly larger. Now, two options replace the tank and get one which fits or get out the rubber mallet and start banging at the corners. Also, make sure to strap down the straps tightly down. The straps do not look right (too loose). You might have to hammer down the tabs at the corners. Also, I cannot remember if there were tabs on the front I had to work on. Not sure... Too long ago. I just remember it was hot and really a hard job to get the gas tank to fit into the space.

Straps look too loose. Either way the tank is larger which is causing you some issues. I only needed to bang the corners slightly (tabs and corner of the tank) to make the cover flush.

1COOL60

I've been through the whole thing myself. It was a pain in the a$$. I ended up modifying the tank cover, but in hindsight I should have dimpled the tank with a rubber mallet or a dead-blow hammer. Here is a link to my story.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...k-install.html

160

SDVette

Same story here.. I used a dead-blow hammer.. The tank looked like it was in a roll-over accident, but the damn cover finally went on!

johngammel

I really was hoping for a better conclusion than beating on it. I'll do some more checking with clay to determine where the actual interference is.

jimh_1962

Tank, you, too big.. It is on the backside where you will see the problem. Plus the straps look too loose...

427390HP

There have been a number of us who have installed new repro tanks and I believe it is nearly unanimous that all repro tanks (made by Spectra or Quanta) are slightly bigger than an original tank.

I truly do not think you need to beat on the tank to reform it to get it in. I eneded up simply bending the entire flange along the front of the tank (just like the bends where the straps go - only do it the entire length of the front of the tank) and my tank ended up fitting in pretty well.

Here is link to the entire thread I started on it about 3 years ago:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...62-owners.html

It may help you to read through the entire thread, but if you want to cut to the chase, just go to post #23.

Here is a picture of my tank installed after I bent the front flange. It was still snug getting it in, but that little bit of room I gained was just enough to get the tank in the way it should be.

Hope this helps you out.

Terry

rfn026

I'm also a member of the bad tank club. It always amazes me that a company can spend a lot of money to create a product and then get it wrong. Quanta had a good reputation at one time. This tank situation is killing that reputation.

I've sent both Corvette Central and Quanta links to these threads. We'll see if they get back to us. Has anyone actually complained to the manufacturer? What was their response?

Richard Newton

Steve59

If they had made these tanks 1/2 inch smaller they would drop right in......a lot of work for such a small adjustment.

rfn026

I got a response from Quanta. Here is what they say about this problem.

Hi Richard.
I would like to make you aware of a few things. Quanta does not manufacture tanks. We have them manufactured to our specs. The picture in the link is not one of our tanks. It does not have the OLA logo next to the sending unit hole. We are licensed to use the OLA logo and it is our Registered Trademark. The tanks manufactured for Quanta with the logo were adjusted to stop the issue of not fitting. We found the following issues with the earlier tanks…the seam weld was not as tight to the body of the tank that it should have been which didn’t allow the flange to be trimmed tight enough, also the flanges on the tank were not bent enough, especially in the area where the straps go. These issues have been corrected on our tanks. I hope this has been helpful. If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact me at the number below.

Thank you,

David Bell
Operations Manager

Richard Newton

johngammel

Clay affirmed that the tank seems to be to big for the cover to fit easily. I stood on top of the tank and it didn't seem loose. Some light jumping on also did not show any give. As the pictures from the underside show there is about 3/4" clearance on the outer edges of the tank, but the tank sits right on the body in the middle. I'd like to "smack" the tight spots but I think that has the potential for disaster since the tank has gas in it.

From looking at the other long tank posting I think my options are: 1) leave it 2) drain the tank, do any repositioning that's needed, and beat the crud out of it until it fits and hope it doesn't leak 3) build a spacer so that the tank is sealed down (or use a lot of caulk) or 4) buy a new tank. But with all the problems buying a new tank isn't going to gain me much. And I really want to fix this so leaving it isn't good - but I can't find much about the tank cover in the NCRS judging sheets. I'm going to try some extra caulk. If that looks poor then it will be on to draining and beating.

Comments? Thoughts?

427390HP

My new tank sat just like yours in the picture from the previous post, i.e., there was a gap when looking at the tank from the underside body holes.

Since one of your options was to drain and remove the tank and then beat on it, why not just try bending the flange as I suggested? It's a heckuva lot easier on both you and the tank. As a very last resort, then you can beat on the tank.

By removing the tank you can also check if the anti-squeak pads somehow got bunched up and are contributing to the problem.

Terry

427390HP

Nice job Richard!

It appears that Quanta may have solved the problem. I would love to know if a new Quanta tank will now just slip right in.

Terry

jimh_1962

I did take out the tank and re bent the flanges. Still had to do some banging on the corners. Very slight though.

rfn026

It seems that this mystery isn't over yet. My tank has the proper logo but it's in the wrong orientation. That means that it's not one of their tanks. Also, at the time I purchased the tank from Corvette Central Quanta says they they were not shipping tanks to Corvette Central.

This means the ball is now back in Corvette Central's court.

Did you purchase this tank from Corvette Central? The tank you have is not one of ours. I believe it is a tank that they had manufactured overseas. The logo should be turned so the bottom of the A is toward the sending unit and ours would not have the 1303 stamped in it. Ours would have a silver sticker with Made in Canada and the TGM45C part number printed on it. I hope this clears up your confusion.

Everyone is being very nice but we still have gas tanks that don't fit. I'll keep working on this. At this point we all need to start digging our our receipts.

Richard Newton

johngammel

I'm going to work on it some more myself. When that fails I'm going to get one of the guys from our '61 work group to come over and help me get the tank out. A picture of the driver's side strap from the bottom of the car follows. Basically the bolt cants to the front on both of them. Interestingly they don't match the rest of the paint work on the bottom. Are these perhaps repro parts? Should I paint them?

rfn026

Has anyone here purchased a tank that actually fits?

Richard Newton

John S 1961

I can guarantee you that the guys at the factory that put your car together had a variety of hammers (or various other adjusting tools) available as required!

johngammel

I went to loosen the straps to see if I could ever so slightly change the angle. I can't get a socket to fit over the 5/16" bolt. Tried a little bending with a pry bar and it's a still a no go. So do I have the correct strap fasteners? This looks like a perfect place for a socket head cap screw.

wmf62

i did
Bill