Hi Ken,
Uh oh. I just went through this. If the whole assembly is turning, you've
got a problem.
FIRST: note that gasoline fumes are highly explosive. Clean the
tank extremely well before doing any soldering, welding, brazing
around it. My tank had been empty for nearly 20 years, but still had
some odor of gasoline.
You don't necessarily need to remove the vent pipe to remove the
tank. If the solid pipe has a rubber hose on the bottom that drains
through the hole in the floor just cut the hose and put a new one
in. If it's a solid pipe all the way, it might be difficult to remove
and you might end up cutting the pipe above the floor level, then
slipping a rubber hose on it later. Or, the pipe is a bit flexible and
you might be able to tilt the tank to pull clear of the hole in the
floor.
It's better to work on the vent fitting out of the car. A little
heat applied to the bolt will usually loosen it. Try not to overheat,
there are two fiber washers on either side of the banjo fitting that
can be difficult to find.
If the fitting is turning as you say, the solder that held it to
the tank has given way and will need to be redone. Here's the problem,
though. There is another pipe inside the tank, attached to the side,
that attached to the fitting. Turning the fitting has undoubtedly
broken that connection as well. Without disassembling the tank, there
is no way to reattach that internal pipe.
Nope. Later TR4 (I think) and TR4A/250/5/6 (I know) do *not* have
the vent pipe. They use a vent hole in the filler cap, instead. Unless
you are going racing with the car, you might want to consider getting
a later filler cap and just plugging up the current vent hole. An
alternative I'm pursuing is a one-way check valve that can be fitted
inside the rubber hose extension on the vent pipe. Without one or the
other of these, despite some internal baffling in the TR4 tank, I'd be
concerned about fuel splashing out the vent durign hard cornering,
since the internal tube is now disconnected. The purpose of the vent
is just to allow air into the tank as the fuel level drops, to prevent
a possible vacuum that might prevent the fuel pump from pulling fuel
out of the tank.
Since the banjo bolt at the vent is frozen, likely due to rust on
the threads, I'd wager you will *also* find the drain and outlet on
the bottom of the tank are both also frozen. These are the same size
and their "bungs" are also just soldered into place. Don't put a
wrench on them without trying to loosen with WD40, maybe a little
gentle heat (not enough to de-solder) and gripping the collar of the
"bung" with a Vise Grip or similar.
I've welded all three fittings on my TR4's tank, replacing the
bottom ones with 3/8" NPT bungs so that Aeroquip fittings and lines
could be used. This was quite a job, even with very careful
welding. It's hard to avoid causing leaks at the seams during this
work ("Heat Fence" helped). Previous (DPO) work on the bottom fittings
made soldering and even brazing impossible. I couidn't get solder or
braze to stick on the top either. The bottom fittings were impossible
to install directly because the thin tank steel burned through very
easily and tended to crack as the welds cooled. I ended up installing
the fittings in separate 16 gauge plates, that in turn were carefully
welded to the tank. There is still some sheet metal distortion, but I
think the tank is tight, no leaks. I will use a "tank restoration" on
it anyway, and I hope eventually to completely replace it with a
marine-grade aluminum one.
Sorry for some bad news, but I hope this helps.
P.S. & BTW The large foam seals between the tank and the floor
proved to be a bit elusive. Actually, TRF has them, they just don't
know it. They call them "window handle dust seals" or something like
that! I cross-referenced the TR4 original part number. Let me know if
you need it.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT17602L
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