brofore the mk3 goes in to be sprayed i thought that seen as though I'm waiting on him to get a free slot to fit the car in i might as well get rid of the big flappy filler cap cover. befor i start welding the body up i thought it would be best to work out the plumbing first. (re-routing to seats)

basicaly just wonderd if any one has taken the tank out of a mk3/1993mk2f polo and wether ther is any problems, tips or had any un expected easy- to be an expensive kcuf up moments --dont lie we have all had at least one

Changed my tank last month (94 MK3 Genesis), it's not too bad, first thing to do is spray the bolts with WD40 the night before and let it soak in, there are two nuts on the rear edge of the tank and a big nut at the front on the strap.

Also a good idea to run the guage down into the red.

The exhaust will need to come off, i removed the centre and tail section complete, you will need to slacken off and disconnect the handbrake cables, also remove the cable brackets from the rear axle and move them out the way, lift the back seat and diconnect the fuel hoses multi-plug and breather from the top of the tank (under the round black plate on the floor), disconnect the filler neck rubber grommet thing from the wing and feed it in leaving it on the neck, slacken the tank off and drop it down a bit (have an axle stand handy to support it), then remove the filler neck grommet completely to allow the tank to move around (you need to jiggle it about a bit to get it out), also watch out for the clear breather hose on the front of the neck going into the inner wing, this needs to come off and is a bit tricky to get at.

See easy peasy :biggrin:

I won't lie, it can be a biatch of a job.

Main two tips

- have as little fuel in as possible, because it's bloody heavy stuff

- get the car as high as you can... ideally on a lift, oh for the ideal workshop

It's worthwhile depressurising the fuel system, I was told the easiest way to do this earlier. Start the car, take the fuse out of the yellow holder above the box, and wait til it cuts out.

Then the fun begins.

Take the fuel cap off.

Back seat base up, undo the cover, and unplug the pump/sender unit.

Underneath the car, undo the strap, and the two bolts at the back (bet you shear one!)

Undo 101 hoses and breathers... remembering where they all go

Pull the tank backwards and down.

Generally get arsed off with it and bend the back of the sill out a bit to accomodate the filler neck coming out.

drop the back axle to make it easyer saves focking about on you back will drop strait out then

True enough, at least on the offside, might as well take the exhaust off the rubbers too.

From memory I did not have to unhook my exhaust, the back axle is the main pinch point, you will NEED to unbolt the offside mounting which obstructs the filler neck but it's an easy peasy job to unbolt and then fix back on after.

From memory I did not have to unhook my exhaust, the back axle is the main pinch point, you will NEED to unbolt the offside mounting which obstructs the filler neck but it's an easy peasy job to unbolt and then fix back on after.

Didn't need to do this with mine but took a fair bit of twisting and jiggling the thing about, and a wee bit of swearing

I generally unhook the exhaust because it's that quick it seems daft not to, and then you can bring the tank out backwards if you have to.

thanks for all the help guys I've done it and it only took 2 hours lol. and yes yeti i did bend the sill a litle but its still not sprayed yet so the body shop can fcuk about with that.going to drain it off tomorow and flush it out, then to plum in a new spout so i can fill it from the passenger side (save queing at petrol stations) how you ask... I've got no back seats so it can come out of my boot build 1 way or another. (not designd it yet).my lil "project polo" will hopefuli be ready for ultimate dubs. :-) thanks again guys :-)

Generally get arsed off with it and bend the back of the sill out a bit to accomodate the filler neck coming out.

Oh hey,cheers - you've just solved a mystery.

As you know,i re-shelled my red MK2 last year with a rust-free blue shell,and didnt even have to fit a new tank as it already had a brand new one fitted.

But i noticed the end of the sill by the pipe is bent outwards a good half inch,warped at an arch rivet hole. I couldn't work out how this happened,and figured it'd been a violent MOT tester or something..

Now i know it was done by the previous owner - enjoying the challenge of changing the tank!