DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Good news

Cheers Mark

So I stripped the outer cable of the new tank to see what I was dealing with - a simple two core affair that can easily be soldered so I cut off the old tank in the absence of being able to tempt the sender free. Then gave the inner arch area a really good clean to see what I had, with some latex gloves over the hard lines so no crap fell down them



With it all cleaned out I could see one small patch of rust on the outer wing to door panel seam. There was no evidence of welding in the door shut, so I think some debris gas got trapped up there and the stone chip lifted and it rusted a little. No welding needed, just inhibitor, seem sealer so there were no places to trap water or dirt, stone chip and then some blue paint and lacquer




The old tank was a right state- absolutely caked in oil like it has been blowing it out for years. Time will tell whether that stops, but bearing in mind I am trying to fix the reverse problem (it not breathing) I am not so sure.

I could then give the inner wing a proper inspection. As mentioned earlier, the rear sections of both wings have some minor ripples and let the car down, so I bought two complete rear quarters from a broken car last year. The side I am working on appeared to have had some work, with a horizontal crack under the black Carrera stripe, met by a vertical crack. Therefore I was expecting to replace the whole panel rather than make repair panels for the rear



With it all cleaned out the inner arch can be seen to be absolutely mint - no sign of welding, seams, ripples or damage



So the last job before I put in the new tank and all new clean parts was to remove the last broken bobbin mount. They must fit these before the thermostat as there is no way to get on a good clean bit, let alone a 30 year old rusted one. So I used my favourite tool, an electric belt sander, to grind it down until the thread fell out. 5 mins work and it was free




A quick rust treatment of the body mounts whilst free and it is now all ready to fit up with new parts


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Were you in Masham today for the classic car meet .. if not my mate sent a pic of an identical car

No I wasn’t James, but I know the car and owner. He bought it off Pete Morris a couple of years ago and I met him at Donington Park - he couldn’t believe it when I showed him the pics of the sister car!


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In between re-laying the patio post extension at home, I managed to get the oil tank built up ready to refit

Taking off the old sender gasket wasn’t quite as easy as it should be. The below pic shows the new gasket, the old one has separated rubber from steel inserts which needed to be unscrewed from each thread




And then build back up with cover plate




Them onto the mounting rubbers. The ones I bought were not OE so a bit long, so I cut them shorter and used one of my other favourite tools to get the threads started





Basically, it grinds a cone on the top of a flat piece of stud to give you a starter thread. Me and a mate always get each other the best tool we have discovered all year for Christmas, and I got him the pencil file and he got me this. It really is super cool.

So now the tank is ready to go with new mounts, gaskets and most importantly pressure release valve




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Have you got a link for that Wayne?

Here you go Mark

https://www.gsfcarparts.com/seadb04


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Thanks Wayne - just ordered one

Refitting is the reversal of removal

Well that’s what they say, the oil tank refit wasn’t quite so simple, but more of that later. First up, refitted the dust cover to the back of the lock. The stud had partially sheared, so I used a plastic wheel arch liner but from a Boxster fitted in reverse, so the locking part secured it




Then I made sure the tank was ready, so fitted the smallest pipe and made sure the jubilees were on the others. The aim was to connect the rear most bottom pipe that goes into the thermostat housing, then work backwards, as I could pivot around this point. For the most part, it worked



I then fitted the washers and nuts to the bottom mount which is slotted. There is no space by the thermostat so knew it would be interesting to tighten, so I decided on a standard thread instead of a nyloc, with a normal and locking washer



This largely set everything I. About the right place. I had put the light stubby pipe on the side of the tank to the wrong outlet, so swapped it before I got too far. I then had to really fight to get the top mount levered into position but it did go on




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I could then connect up the last thermostat housing pipe, and then those on the side of the tank. I remembered that the thermostat housing was held up with a huge cable tie, because it seems to sort of float but in doing so one of the hard lines would rub in the suspension arm when under load. So I hacked up the housing (it moved up almost an inch) and then secured it with an enormous cable tie. I can see no other mountings so had to revert to the previous fairly crude solution…



Here is the pipe as it goes over the arm



And the clearance created




At this point I started on the pipes at the top of the tank which I had marked, all fairly straightforward as they are the ones I had previously replaced



When I tried to connect the new dipstick tube I couldn’t get the right angle, and with male thread being brass I knew it would be really easy to cross thread. Then a pipe troubled me…

The big pipe running top to bottom is kind of in the firing line for the wheel and just didn’t look right (as well as being in the way of the dipstick tube). I checked my old photos but didn’t have anything from before, could it fit behind the top mount?


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So I disconnected the top mount and wrestled it for about half an hour, but I did just manage to lever the pipe behind the mount, clear of the wheel.



I could then, albeit impaired, just connect the dipstick tube. I put some copper slip on it to ease on the thread, and given the history of it seizing

That’s where I left it. Nearly ready to fill with oil….


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What a ball ache of a job ! . I thought a 73 tank install was bad enough

Yep sounds a complete pain in the arse - well done for sticking with it

I put my 73T oil tank in place in 1989 so do not recall it being a pig, but the thick rubber seal I do remember was a sod.
Had to carve a lot away to get the filter on when all done up tight.

As to this tank, surely the factory could not tolerate such hardship on their production line?

Good going to get it finally done Wayne.

Cheers gents. Grabbed half an hour at lunchtime . Secured the new dipstick tube in the engine bay;



And then repositioned the smallest pipe the other side of the pipe I wrestled with last night to make it neater. Didn’t look right as a snakes nest..



Finally I sorted the triangular body seal to protect the engine bay from wheel arch crud - not the easiest with access especially poor from the engine bay



Next stop is a new filter and oil. The filter is in a remote housing Graham, so not expecting any problems with it (famous last words). Think I prefer doing the patio slabs!


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