Howdy all,

I was just reading about gas caps for wagons. That post reminded me of something related, but it applies to sedans only because, to the best of my knowledge, no one is making a replacement gas tank for the wagons. Yet.

Just after Christmas of last year I replaced the gas tank in my sedan with one of the Volvo authorized reproductions. It is a very close match to the original save for a couple of things.

One thing that I really did not like was the connection to the hardline. The original tank had a threaded bung. A hose with fittings on each end connected the tank to the hard line. The replacement has a tube brazed to the tank. You have to cut the fitting off of the hardline and use clamps to secure the hose. There is no way to install the tank without notching the mounting flange of the trunk to clear that tube. Well, you could salvage the bung and pickup tube from the original tank, remove the tube, and braze the bung into the replacement tank. I didn't. I notched the mounting flange and clamped the hose.

More importantly, the replacement tank was manufactured in the Far East. It uses metric dimensions and threads. The sending unit will require new screws. They are so close to US threads that I thought the screws were installed, only to find out that they were "popping" loose after installation. I think they turned out to be M6 but that was awhile back; I may be mistaken.

Finally, the filler neck on the replacement tank is sized in metric dimensions. The inside diameter where the gas cap mounts is just slightly larger than the original. I have a new cap that fit the original tank just fine. It barely works on the replacement tank. The "ears" are just a tad too short to engage the rim properly. You have to carefully turn the cap while keeping it centered. And, if you go too far around, it pops loose. I also doubled-up on the rubber gasket. One thickness of gasket will not create enough tension to hold the cap in place.
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Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- (I've taken to using Mr. because my name tends to mislead folks on the WWW. I am a 51 year old fat man ;-) -- KD5QBL