2ltr Aircooled fuel tank

[nedkelly113]

Hi
Can anyone shed any light on where to source a new fuel tank?
I've got a leak on the fuel tank (70mm metal filler neck) so bought one off flea bay, a brand new vw heritage one(apparently!!). After getting the old one off and the new one on i realised that the filler neck hole on the tank was 20mm lower than the old one so the main beam covers part of the hole and i cant fit the filler neck. i've got the mot coming up so need to get it soted soonest. Phoned the garage and they said they couldn't help so here i am!

The van is a '81 Aircooled

Any help would be great.
Thanks

Ned

[SouthEastWesty]

Little confused by you saying the beam is in the way of the neck? The neck isn't lower it's just a different size.

The original tanks had a 68mm filler neck, this changed in '82/'83 to a 48mm neck. It appears someone has changed the old size tank and filler neck on your van as the old filler necks are very rare (same thing happened to me recently on my '81).
If you can source a 68mm neck then you can get that and fit it to your tank (i've only seen one recently on ebay and there are no reproductions being made).
Only other alternative is that you buy the newer tank with the 48mm neck. The tanks are the same shape and size only the filler neck is different. Got mine from Brickwerks.

Good luck.

[nedkelly113]

Hi
What i was meaning is, the filler hole is the same, but the distance from the tank seam to the bottom of the filler hole is 60mm whereas the one i have fitted is 80mm so the new one is partially blocked by the beam.
Is it possible to change the 68mm for a 46mm one? That might be an option. Take it i just buy a 46mm tank and filler neck(take it theres a breather on it) and change the rubber on the filler cap???
Cheers
Ned

[VWCamperfan]

I got mine from JK and I know exactly what you are going through. The filler hole is too flippin' low on the tank (obviously put in the wrong place) and you can't get the filler pipe in because of the chassis being in the way.
Why can't these companies who manufacture aftermarket goods just use a tape measure sometimes. Are they really that stupid to believe we're all going to just keep buying shoddy goods from them and trying to come up with a workaround because of their incompetence?
I did wonder how long it would be before someone else had this problem!
To be honest I wouldnt change to the smaller filler tube either if you're buying new, they're the same... Too low. (Thats the one I had after coming down from the larger filler hole).
Luckily with the smaller filler hole you have a new plastic pipe and I could melt it on one side and bodge it into the half a hole I could see. With a load of sealer in place and quite a few miles of luck later it hasn't leaked a drop.
The tank was also about 5mm too long to fit in the chassis so I had to resort to a big hammer to whack it into place, bending the egde to get it in.
Anyway... Unless you want to go through all that as I did... Wang it in the bin and get one that fits. I really don't think there's another way round this.

[nedkelly113]

Hi Mark
Yeah i was gutted when i eventually got it on. Did it on my own so it took ages. I've just been on brickwerks website and they claim theirs fits like a glove so i've e-mailed them and asked for the dimension from the seam to the bottom of the filler hole. I'll let you know if their any good.
Cheers
Ned

[VWCamperfan]

Brickwerks are superb. It will fit if you get it from there!
Mine is hammered in so hard the van was longer when I had finished and it's never coming out unless I drop a match in it! Probably couldn't change it if I wanted to!

[nedkelly113]

nice one
Hopefully this'll sort me out, mot's due in a couple of weeks!!
Fingers crossed!

Ned

[toomanytoys]

Sounds like poor quality part...

I have fitted "late" small filler tanks to early bus' no problem.. the hole lines up.. or at least they did on the ones I had.. but last one I did was a few years ago now..

[simple]

I had issues, I bought a old one off ebay, excellent condition, used. Painted it with 3 x coats of rustoleum, went to fit it only to find the one in the van that leaked was a later type and so I didn't have a filler neck that would fit. Holeydubon4wheels sorted me out with a donated one. Now I can get £70 quids worth in , but a least it doesn't leak .

Good luck, I'm sure the brickwerks one will fit as stated.