This 911 has been sitting for over 15 years and in addition to the mouse-nest damage that we had in the pedal box area, we also knew we have to pull the gas tank out and clean it thoroughly. The gas in the car has long sinced turned to varnish—we could tell by the distinctive smell—and the tank itself had some areas of rust that needed to be remedied.
The tank comes out pretty easily—you unbolt a few clamps and pull upwards. You can help it along by using a floor jack under the bottom of the tank—just protect the tank with a rag and use only a little bit of pressure from the jack. Too much and you'll dent the bottom of the tank.
Once the tank was out of our car, we drained the two gallons of vintage fuel for disposal. Our car is a late 1973, so while it's got the cool long front hood and a full-size spare, it also has CIS fuel injection, which has some different fittings on the fuel lines, as well as a "swirl pot" inside the tank. That means our fuel tank is very unusual, so we can't just replace it with a cost-effective new one. We will have to get this one cleaned out if we can't find a suitable replacement.
Wtih the tank out of the car, we set to work with an angle ginder and a wire-wheel attachment. This made quick work of the surface corrosion around the tank support and under the battery boxes. We don't think we'll have to replace either piece with new sheetmetal, as the holes are all quite small and not widespread.
