The first order of business was getting the remaining gas out of the tank. Due to a lack of foresight I started the disassembly with about a quarter tank of fuel left.
As luck would have it the tank didn’t have a drain at one of the low points, my only options were the sending unit and inlet pipe. In an effort to not splash gasoline all over the garage I crafted an artisanal drain pan stand before breaking the seal on the fuel sender.
While that was draining I started on removing the gas cap and fill pipe.
The tank was done draining at that point, so I went ahead and removed the fuel sender. Gasoline sure does a great job of keeping metal looking nice and clean
With the sender out I was faced with trying to get the remaining gas out of the tank. Unfortunately due to the shape of the tank neither the hole where the fuel sender was mounted nor the inlet pipe were low points no matter how I oriented the tank. With a fair amount of shaking and cajoling I was able to get a majority of the gas out but there was still enough remaining to make me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to risk making a spark by drilling a hole or using a cut off wheel so I opted for tin snips.
It wasn’t pretty but it got the job done. Good thing I wasn’t planning on reusing the tank.
With the tank out I found that I had much better access to the problematic bolt that was holding the passenger side bumperette in place. The regular doses of PB Blaster and a longer ratchet paid off and I was able to break it free.
With the bumperette out of the way the rear valence came off easily, exposing enough rust damage to make the rest of the trunk proud.
