Kammback Fuel Tank Refresh

[vangremlin]

Hi folks,

Going to fill you in on the refresh of the fuel tank for my Kammback Pepe. I’ll probably be making several posts to get everything in and be able to describe the photos.

I pulled Pepe out of a junkyard about 16 years ago after it had been parked for about 16 years. The junkyard drilled a hole in the gas tank to drain it so I took it to a local radiator shop that fixed the hole, cleaned the tank, and sealed it.

However, over the last couple of years I had a real rust problem and was having to change filters often. I converted the car to throttle body fuel injection a few years ago so I have filters before and after the inline fuel pump.

New tanks aren’t available for Kammback’s and SX/4’s so my only choice was to get this one cleaned. I pulled the tank just before Christmas and took it to Spike Radiator in Denver, great shop!

Here are some pictures of the tank, the sock, and a blurry picture of the inside of the tank from a borescope. Sorry it’s not more clear, but I think it shows how nasty the inside of the tank was.

[vangremlin]

I got the tank back about three weeks later. They really did a great job. They also restored a radiator and surge tank for my 64 Mercury.

Here are some pictures of the tank, the vent hose attachment (which was loose), and the sealed interior.

[vangremlin]

My neighbor and I put the tank back in today. There were a couple challenges. The Kammback originally came with a rubber fuel filler hose, which starts with a 2” ID at the license plate inlet and tapers to a 2” OD at the tank grommet.  When I got the car, the original hose had turned into the nastiest goo I’ve ever seen.  And of course, the original style filler hose is not available. At the time I ended up going with a 2” ID hose, and a 1-5/8” ID hose slid inside. I didn’t realize it, but they were both radiator hoses but got the job done.  There is a picture of the setup below.

This time I wanted to see if I could come up with a better solution. We decided to go with a tapered fuel filler hose 2” ID on one end and 1-1/2” ID on the other. The small end was a bit too small for the grommet on the tank, so we put that end inside a 2”OD piece of exhaust pipe, which fit perfectly into the tank grommet. I found the hose on eBay, the exhaust pipe at Advanced Auto.

Here are the links for the hose and the exhaust pipe

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235252697366?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=h66icQPJRra&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=CcL5qXOAQsS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/nickson-exhaust-connector-1-7-8-inside-diameter-2-outside-diameter-4-long-548527/5602440

[vangremlin]

The other challenge we had was when we went to put the sock on the fuel inlet. I bought one from an AMC supplier and one from Amazon and the hole on both of the socks was bigger than that the inlet tube. I bought this fuel sending unit after I got the car so it is aftermarket. We couldn’t come up with a workable solution so we put the sending unit in with no sock. Not too worried since the tank is clean and I will continue to use a 40 micron filter before the fuel pump.

I also needed to replace the float as the older one had a crack and had some gas in it. I picked up one from OReilly’s that is made for an 80s jeep. I think the brass ones for the 60s Fords would also work.

With two people the tank went in pretty easily, took about an hour and a half. That includes time to think about the fuel filler options and what to do about the sock. Put some gas in the tank and the car started right up. The needle on the fuel gauge went up so I am ready to get this Eagle back on the road!

Thanks for reading!

[89 MJ]

Very nice!

[vangremlin]

If you decide to use the piece of exhaust pipe in the fuel filler hose setup, make sure you remove the label!

http://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=47635.0