Club 80-90 Forums

The probably original fuel tank, filler pipes and breathers have had their day and need replacing with new.

Would anyone be able to advise which parts I would need, bearing in mind I am not keeping any of the old stuff.

I am looking for new tank, filler pipes, sender, balance pipe, rubber grommets, breather pipes to the plastic wheel arch tanks.

I have lengths of 5.6 mm fuel hose and 6mm metal pipe, so maybe I could use those.

First check which filler neck you have 68mm metal or 48mm plastic, they did have a habit of corroding the original metal filler necks and where replaced with the later smaller diameter plastic ones using an adapter seal in the fuel tank opening. If it have the plastic filler neck then you can use the later fuel tank.
You will need the three seals for the breathers on the top of the tank and a new seal for the fuel sender, about a metre of 5.6mm fuel hose and a short length of 12mm fuel hose if you still have the metal filler neck.
Before you remove the tank you will have to reach over the top of tank through the wheel arch and pull out the balance pipe and the filler neck breather as they stay on the vehicle.

Removing the breathers


The pattern tanks are poor quality, before you fit it, offer the tank up and make sure the filler neck hole lines up, this one didn't. So send it back


While the tank is out grease the gearshift bush and check the fuel sender earth connection is not corroded


This is the top of the tank with the balance pipe fitted which would normally stay on the vehicle.

Thank you bigherb for your help and advice. The filler neck is plastic so probably not original. So from what you said, the later tank is what I need to get.

The 2 plastic breather tanks look ok but I will need to remove them to replace the very corroded metal pipes and perished rubber pipes. I am thinking of using the 5.6mm fuel hose and cut and bend lengths of 6mm metal pipe to replace the old stuff. Does that make sense.

I can feel a plastic valve on top of each plastic tank but no breather hoses, should there be?

The two metal bracket straps supporting the tank seem ok, but the bolts are bad. Could I just cut the bolts off, are they just bolts or bolts and nuts.

mgbman wrote: The 2 plastic breather tanks look ok but I will need to remove them to replace the very corroded metal pipes and perished rubber pipes. I am thinking of using the 5.6mm fuel hose and cut and bend lengths of 6mm metal pipe to replace the old stuff. Does that make sense.

You can just use rubber fuel hose all the way through makes life a bit easier, Or use kunifer brake pipe, easier to bend.

mgbman wrote: I can feel a plastic valve on top of each plastic tank but no breather hoses, should there be?

Originally there was a hard plastic pipe fitted as the breather pipe. It is hard up against the rear of the wheel arch easy to miss. .
Like this.

Can replace it with rubber hose if necessary

mgbman wrote: The two metal bracket straps supporting the tank seem ok, but the bolts are bad. Could I just cut the bolts off, are they just bolts or bolts and nuts.

They are bolts going into welded on nuts. Spray some plus gas onto the bolts here for a few days before you start.

I'm just in the middle of doing this job, and have already got the old tank out. But I hadn't even thought of cleaning up the fuel sender earth. Cheers for the heads up !

bigherb wrote:While the tank is out grease the gearshift bush and check the fuel sender earth connection is not corroded

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And if your hand brake cable/rod is suspect in any way replace it, because the only access to this is to take the tank out.

Thank you for the helpful pics and advice. I now have a good understanding of the set up and will be doing the job shortly.

Hi All,

I completed this same job over the winter (Good used tank with the smaller filler hole + plastic filler neck and all new breather hoses/grommets) and have filled up 2 or 3 times now with no overflow whatsoever.
I filled up at the weekend though and fuel started leaking out where the plastic filer neck enters the (New) rubber grommet in the tank.

Its fairly easy to remove the filler neck and re-fit so I'm wondering whether its worth re-installing the filler neck using some type of fuel resistant sealant. Anyone else experienced this problem?

parkero wrote:Hi All,

I completed this same job over the winter (Good used tank with the smaller filler hole + plastic filler neck and all new breather hoses/grommets) and have filled up 2 or 3 times now with no overflow whatsoever.
I filled up at the weekend though and fuel started leaking out where the plastic filer neck enters the (New) rubber grommet in the tank.

Its fairly easy to remove the filler neck and re-fit so I'm wondering whether its worth re-installing the filler neck using some type of fuel resistant sealant. Anyone else experienced this problem?

I replaced my tank and seals about two years ago and last weekend it has done exactly the same as yours!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Was the seal a genuine VW? It is also possible that the hole in the tank is slightly too big and not compressing the seal enough.

Mine was from just kampers so prob not genuine. I have some oil resistant gasket sealant, I'll try that at the weekend.

I used the sunny weekend to get this job sorted and managed to get my new petrol tank fitted

bigherb wrote:You can just use rubber fuel hose all the way through makes life a bit easier

Took BigHerb's advice and used rubber fuel hose all the way through for the fuel breather tanks.

The petrol tank was new, and as mentioned in previous posts, the fit wasn't the best. Whole tank was a very tight fit and needed to be encouraged with a rubber mallet. Also the filler pipe hole was a little low, but useable. I haven't had the chance to fill it yet, so I don't know if the petrol filler rubber seal will leak ?