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Fuel tank z brackets backwards

Latech15

Well Known Member
Title says it all. One tank was right, the other had 5 brackets facing the wrong direction. After some research, it appears vans recommends drilling them out and fishing out the rivet tails from inside the tank. I did that and was able to retrieve 24 of the 30 rivet tails. There are 6 still in there somewhere. I have shaken, rattled and rolled the tank and I can’t get the last 6 out. They must have found a nice cozy corner to wedge into because they aren’t rattling or moving at all.

I’ve run a little camera in there but it is pretty useless beyond the first baffle. I vibrated the tank with a reciprocating saw (sans blade). I’ve bounced it and beat on it. Where ever they are, they aren’t moving.

I know that I could cut the rear baffle for an access hole, but not knowing which baffle they are in (I’m sure it’s multiple). I hate to go cutting on a tank that finally passed the leak tests.

I’m planning to put a gallon of fuel in and sloshing it around to see if that breaks them free, but I’m looking for other ideas. What ya got?
 
Rivet tails

If they were prosealed, I bet each is flopped over right beside the hole. I woule use a wire bent to 90 to scrape them loose.
 
I would be they are hanging on to their holes.. have you tried taking a 90 degree pick and see if you can twirl around the hole and break it free?
 
I had one hang on like that. The rest I heard hit the bottom when I knocked them out with the punch.
 
Best of luck

Best of luck finding them and getting them out.
I am sure none of those would make it past the fuel pick up screen.
Once you fill the tanks with fuel they might come loose and end up at the root of the tank. A down stream fuel filter would also catch them if by some miracle they made it past the fuel pick up screen.
Cutting access holes into the baffle might enable you to find the errant rivet tails but you will introduce another set of issues, perhaps worse than a few rivet tails in the tank.
 
It took a few hours, but I did eventually get them all out.

I took a very strong magnet and covered it with tape and rubbed all of the rivet lines until I heard the rivet tails come loose. Most I was able to shake down to the fuel cap end and get out, a couple of the stubborn ones I was able to navigate a borescope to where they were once I located them and use the small magnet on the end of that to grab them.

I did end up having to take my fuel level sender out to gain access to that other end, but that was the extent of the disassembly….after the z brackets. Once I get the new pop rivets in, I’ll put her back together and start the leak testing all over again.

Better luck next time I guess……
 
I just wanted to provide a little more advice for someone who may find themselves in this situation in the future.

Drill out the rivets in one baffle section at a time so when you go hunting for them, you at least know which section they are in. Taping a magnet to the nose of the tank when you pop the rivet tails out would also probably help keep them in place. On second thought, laying the tank on its side….the bottom side…with the magnet placed directly adjacent to the hole in the bottom rear of the baffle would be great. That is the easiest spot to get at when fishing into the tank.

Interestingly enough, when you are rubbing the magnet along, the tiny amount of steel shavings from the mandrel in the pop rivets rubbing against the tank walls will sound like a rivet. That big empty tank is like a megaphone.
 
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