What's inside a Rabbit fuel tank? Let's look

Post by **Fatmobile** » Mon May 14, 2007 2:46 am

Well I'm scrapping out a Rabbit fuel tank so I got the sheet metal cutters and opened it up.

This is the plastic intank screen holder:

The cylindrical screen is sitting to the left of it.
There are 2 flappers that let fuel into the pickup area quickly but slows it's flow from this area.... bottom center.
I always thought there was a round disc-shaped screen at the bottom, under the removable screen,... but there isn't. It's a round rubber disc that contains an o-ring which fits over a lip and seals the area from underneath.... sitting to the right.

Inside the tank:

The 2 curving metal lines running inside the top of the tank are the vent lines. 1 goes to the fat vent line, leading to the top of fuel filler neck, the other goes to the gravity valve (stops fuel flow from the tank when car is on it's side) then on to the engine bay.
The one running along the front of the tank, then turning into the pickup area is the return line.
I probably should have cut more from the tank, because it's hard to see the metal line running along the bottom of the tank, from the pickup to the edge of the tank,... that's of course the fuel supply line.

tylernt · Post by **tylernt** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:59 am

Interesting. Thanks for the pics!

Post by **Fatmobile** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:46 pm

Yeah, I know how you like to share pics

, there's a couple more for your album.

tawney · Post by **tawney** » Tue May 15, 2007 8:37 pm

Thanks for the pictures! They may help me fix the vent line on my Rabbit. It's clogged inside the tank, so I've been leaving the fuel cap loose, and, of course, it fell off somewhere. Can you tell me if the black plastic looking section of that vent line, (the small one going to the gravity valve,) spans a space between two metal lines? I'm able to run a thin cable into the tank only a short distance; I thought I was hitting the 'clog', but maybe it's hanging up on the face of the next piece of metal line. Also, the end of that line looks like it's crimped or something at the top; can't tell exactly. I guess either way, with the lines now identified, I could probably reach in through the sending unit opening, cut the vent line with pliers and possibly run the thin cable back the other way. From the picture it looks like that vent line rises toward the top of the tank. I guess that's to avoid the possibility of air bubbles being sucked into the pick-up tube. Any chance I might be able to feed a cable down through the top of that line?

Post by **Fatmobile** » Thu May 17, 2007 10:15 pm

riight that was you. You inspired me to cut the tank open and take some pictures.... it took me awhile to get around to it.
I thought of you when I saw that piece of rubber hose in the vent line,... that probably where your cable snagged up.
They are attached to the top of the tank and the ends both turn down.
I don't know what it would take to run snake that line from the inside.
Air is drawn into the tank through this small vent line. I don't see why you couldn't poke/slice a hole in the rubber tubing... I mean it doesn't need to come all the way to the center of the tank to vent... not saying it would be easy.
I suppose fuel could be pushed up the line when it expands, if the tip was submerged.

Post by **Fatmobile** » Tue May 22, 2007 12:22 am

I took another look and that small vent line tube isn't turned down at the end.
There is a flat flap extending from the top of it, that is spot welded to the top of the tank.

tawney · Post by **tawney** » Tue May 22, 2007 4:00 pm

Thanks for the additional details. If it's spot welded to the top of the tank, then I'll bet the line got crimped when the tank collapsed like it did. I've got the car out on loan right now, but when I get it back I'm going in through the sending unit access hole to see what I can do to get it vented again. I'll post here when I get some results.

Thanks again,

Steve