Options for short neck tank in a '73?

[Son of Marty]

Jp5 hit the nail on the head, new tank welding is no sweat add a little black paint and Bobs your uncle.

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, TobyB said:

My experience is somewhat different-

 

the long neck tube stopped in mid- 71 with the 'not a facelift' 

that changed dashes, fuses, etc.

 

the long neck and short neck have very different attachments on

the rear quarter- the long neck's held on with one hose clamp,

whereas the short neck has a flange with 4 screws.  I recall them being

machine, not self- tapping, but that's a furry recollection.  

 

This is JUST based on the cars I've had and have worked on-

in my head, the tank type follows the number of fuses.

 

By 1969, 2002's had been rearended and caught on fire, a la Pinto,

so the mid- 71 changeover makes sense.

 

fwiw, the early style is pretty unsafe in a low- speed rearender-

it will pop off the flange as soon as the rear quarterpanel is deformed,

and the rear of the car will deform below 5 mph if the impact is transferred

into the quarter.

 

As I said above, this is just what I've seen on the cars I've had...

 

t

 

+1

 

Doing no research, I, too thought the changeover to the long-neck fuel tank occurred in April 1971, with the Modell 71 introduction. I’m, unfortunately, not where my old parts catalogues are, but…

 

1. I’m fairly (well, at least, somewhat) certain that all tii’s have long-neck fuel tank fillers, whether they have the twist-in fuel pickup (early, up through VIN 2761963) or the screw-down pickup (later, from 2761964). The tii was introduced with the Modell 71 introduction in April 1971. The changeover of fuel pickups, however, in contrast to fuel tank fillers, was with VIN 2761964, manufactured in June 1972.

 

2. VIN 2583404 was also a June 1972 car — OK, it could be very late May 1972. BUT WITH ARCHIVES OUT OF COMMISSION FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS, IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO KNOW! ? (stay calm, Steve, stay calm!) Is there any possibility that the change Les is seeing at VIN 2583404 and the tii change at 2761964 — again, both June 1972 events — are related and reflect not the lengthening of the fuel tank filler, but some other modifications?

 

Can five owners with 12-fuse cars manufactured before 1973 June 1972 (April 1971 through May 1972) please run out to the garage and look whether you have a short or a tall filler neck?

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[man_mark_7]

2 hours ago, jp5Touring said:

How bad of shape is your old tank ?   If the tank is junk I would cut off the long filler neck and weld it to the new tank.

 

 

That's what I've been thinking. The old tank is fine, other than a fairly large dent in the bottom.

 

I'm petrified of sawing and welding on a fuel tank. I have heard you can cause a pretty bad explosion brazing a fuel tank that is empty. I have heard you really need to keep them flushed with an inert gas while working on them or you have a high risk of explosion. Obviously it doesn't work so well to fill with water then try to braze. I don't know about welding w/ a water filled tank?

 

I suppose I could fill the old one with water while grinding / sawing the filler neck off. The new one has never seen fuel so it shouldn't be an issue.

[Son of Marty]

Your new tank will be safe as long as no gas has been in it, the old tank I would fill it with water until the tank is full but not the filler neck and make your cut with a saw or cut off wheel. I would make the cut off longer than is needed so you can be sure to have enough length so you can trim it to fit the new tank filler with little or no gap.  

[Mike Self]

Many years ago a radiator shop repaired a hole in my 73's fuel tank--from running over something sharp on the Interstate by soldering a copper penny over the hole (still visible--think it's a 74-D). 

 

I took 'em the empty tank; they took it outside, ran a hose from a running car's exhaust to the filler pipe, let the car run for a minute or two, then soldered away.  Did the trick.

 

mike

[TobyB]

22 hours ago, man_mark_7 said:

Thanks!

 

I will never understand how RealOEM works. When I drill down to the fuel tank stuff for my '73 it doesn't show a part # for the fuel neck, therefore I assumed it was no longer available. But that's what I thought "Ended" was meant to indicate. Also, it looks like the older filler version uses a Hose Clamp (3) to mount but the newer version uses a big sandwich plate (10,11,12).

 

When I searched the part# you provided I found out they are still available. 

 

 

 

 

RealOEM won't show you the early car part numbers because you selected a '73, which has the later parts.

 

If you entered a 1970 car, it would only give you the earlier part numbers.

 

The pictures show both- the parts number tables are what BMW thinks your car has on it.

 

They tend to be more- or- less correct, but by no means exact.  

 

t

[man_mark_7]

1 hour ago, TobyB said:

 

RealOEM won't show you the early car part numbers because you selected a '73, which has the later parts.

 

If you entered a 1970 car, it would only give you the earlier part numbers.

 

The pictures show both- the parts number tables are what BMW thinks your car has on it.

 

They tend to be more- or- less correct, but by no means exact.  

 

t

Ah - ha!! Now it makes sense. Thank you.