claytonjn

iTrader: (5)

My '92 Vert is in desperate need of new paint, so I am trying to get started with all the body work I need to get done ahead of time. There's some minor damage that needs to be fixed, other than that I plan on shaving the door handles, antenna, door trim, and gas door. I am also considering modifying the front bumper such that it is flat across, without the hump in between the headlights (as a couple other people have done on this forum).

Pretty much everything I know how to do myself, although I won't be able to do the actual body work. I know how to install the door solenoids and poppers, relocate the antenna, etc. The only thing I don't really know about is the gas tank filler tube.

Ideally, I would like the inlet to pump gas to be located behind the license plate. It should be fairly simple to move the lock for the trunk a little off to the side and I should have plenty of room there. There's a couple problems I can think of however...

1. The filler tube would have to go around the entire trunk area, slightly declining the entire time...I don't know what kind of clearance issues I would run into.
2. I don't know what materials can be used to accomplish this...can I use flexible plastic? Braided tubing? A particular type of metal?
3. Obviously the ting has to be water tight, I don't know how I would attach the new tube to the existing tank
4. How much of the existing inlet do I need? The entire part that receives the gas nozzle, or can it just be a hole that can be somehow plugged?
5. Does it need to be at a certain angle for the gas to pump properly?
6. If I had a smaller tube that didn't flow as freely, would it cause problems when pumping gas?

I think these are all of my questions...

I have seen the shaved gas door done many times but no one has really gone into detail on how they add gas to the car...I've seen many people mention fuel cells (which I don't want to get into) and one example where they pumped has into the locking compartment in the trunk (which isn't an option for me because it's a convertible...)


Any help is greatly appreciated!

Jaxom

I saw a guy do a real nice job with one once...he put the driver's taillight assembly on hinges and had it latch on the outer corner with a gas door latch cable that he scrounged from something in a junkyard. It was pretty slick to see him reach down beside the drivers seat, just inside the doorsill, and then see the taillight pop out slightly and swing open. If I ever shave my gas door, that's how I'll do it.

claytonjn

iTrader: (5)

That's how Bel Airs were IIRC. I've seen a few hot rods with the inlet behind the tail light too. I think that would be a lot more work though, and just because of the size of the lights I think behind the license plate would be more elegant...

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Just a few thoughts on this:

If you have the power trunk release, you can't move the mechanism and motor and it takes up so much room behind the plate that you can't fit the filler neck around it. At least that's how its set up on my 92.

If you've got a vert, you're trunk is basically useless as is. I would drop the gas tank and have a shop move the filler neck from the side to the rear. Cut a hole in the rear of the axle hump and run the filler neck straight out the back of the car. You'll want to box in around it inside the trunk area for safety and fume control. Probably you're easiest route, even though it involves welding on a gas tank.

Running the filler neck around the back of the trunk area from the stock location is not easy. You will end up having to redo the entire trunk interior as there is really no room between the interior trunk panels and the outer sheetmetal of the car.

You could leave the filler neck in the stock location and just shave the little finger notch off the filler door. I did that on my Camaro when I shaved the door handles and antenna and it looks a 100x better then the stock door. Or one of those stupid cheap hrome door covers.

Leaving it in the stock location, you could make a larger door that fits tighter in the hole to close up the gap. Then use the same cable-pull system to open it.

claytonjn

iTrader: (5)

I do have the power pull-down latch...it looked to me like there might be enough room between the latch bracket and the sheet metal but it's been a few months since I've looked. The lock could be relocated without relocating the entire latch mechanism.

Why do you say the vert trunk is useless? The trunk is the same size as any thirdgen...when the top is up stuff can be put on the hump and when down the top actually takes up less space then the T-Tops...IMO the vert trunk provides MORE space when compared with a car with the T-Tops in the bag on the hump...the ONLY way the hatchbacks provide more space is from the hump up to the rear glass, but really how often do you stick stuff there... it would fall into the front of the car or bang your rear passengers on the head, etc...I've gone one week long camping trips with my girlfriend and everything fit in the trunk no problem (minus food in the back seat).

There isn't room along the outside edge, behind the plastic trim pieces? I'm pretty sure there would be room for at least 1" flexible hose to run along there but like I said I don't know what materials I'm limited to...

Honestly, the finger thing isn't what bugs me, its the seam. I HATE seams on cars, in fact I'm considering smoothing out the seams where the front and rear bumpers meet the quarter panels, only leaving necessary seams (such as hood, trunk, doors) I've even considered making the hood and front fenders one piece so they all lift up, but there's way too much modification that would be required for that...

Andre#4

have you filled in the seams of the convert conversion yet? I hate the look of those caps on the rear fenders. I want so bad to have them grafted in seamlessly, or just getting rid of them and having it made up in metal. I am afraid it would ruin the resale value. I hate that. It would be an improvement.. I photoshopped what my car would look like without the seams. I was going to post the picture, but it is on my other hard drive.

(Like me, You must hate the new cars these days, where they don't even finish the roof welds, and they have random joint cracks all over the car, sometimes changing direction in the middle of the joint, because they have realized that the bigger they make the bumper covers, the less metal they have to make, so they are wrapping the bumpers all the way up to the trunklids, and all the way around to the wheel wells and even having cracks in the middle of the wheel wells where plastic meets metal. And the back bumpers and trunks are so high, all you see out the rear view mirror is the sky.) And these cheap plastic headlights that turn yellow after 3 years and you can't even see the road because the light can't get out of the plastic lenses. And these ugly silver taillights.

claytonjn

iTrader: (5)

To tell you the truth, the caps don't bother me as much as the other seams, maybe because they're horizontal, idk...I'd probably leave those, they would be a lot more work than it's worth, IMO. If you can, post your photoshopped picture and I'll see what I think. If you can't find it let me know and I'll do a photoshop rendering myself.

I don't hate ALL newer cars, but some do stick out as being particularly bad. IIRC, the newest Ford Taurus' has some extremely ugly seams in the rear quarters...I think that one in particular I cringe every time I see.


I should probably find someone with a black Camaro (that's the color I want to paint it) to see how the seams look to see it it's even worth it. They probably just look so bad on my car because the clearcoat is gone on the front and back bumper, so it looks like those are a different shade of green...

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

I was accounting for the whole hatch area, not just behind the hump. I can(and do) put stuff on top of the t-tops when they are in the bag. Nothing heavy like my toolbox, but I've had 2 bags of golf clubs on top of them with no problems. And while you can't stack things too high in the hatch area, you can put a single layer of taller items in there that you couldn't do in a vert trunk. I will admit that i've only seen one vert trunk up close though, and it was one of the earlier conversions(84, I think) by a different company than the one that did the later conversions.

As for the rear plastics, on my Camaro, there is only an inch or so between the rear sheetmetal and the plastic trunk panel that goes in front of it. Its not enough room to fit a filler neck behind. Especially when you account for the length of the filler nozzle on the pump hose, and the radius needed for the bend to keep the fuel flow from backing up. Just the nozzle on the fuel pump is going to stick into the filler neck 2-3". Using the typical 2" diameter filler neck that our fuel tanks have, you would need at least 3-4" of clearance.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it or say that I don't like the idea, because I do. I just don't see how its possible to put the filler neck behind the plate without sacrificing a lot of the trunk space that we have so little of. That area behind the hump is a perfect fit for a standard toolbox with the 3 drawers.

Spike-Z

iTrader: (4)

Look at my cardomain pics for the shaved gas cap mod.

claytonjn

iTrader: (5)

I have seen another member who accomplished the relocation similarly, however to me having to pump gas into the trunk isn't even something I would consider. I suppose I could understand it if it's a care you only drive a few days throughout the year but this is my daily driver and there's no way I'm making it so I have to pump gas into my trunk. First of all, I don't want gasoline dripping all over everything in my trunk, such as my photography equipment. Second, I don't want the fumes in there. Third, what do you do when it's raining? Most gas stations (at least around me) are covered, but not all...

claytonjn

iTrader: (5)

Have a little more info now so I thought I'd update...After having to replace the fuel filter twice in the two years I've owned my Camaro, I finally decided to look into the tank. It was pretty rusty and bad, which didn't surprise me because the previous owner let it sit for 8 years without any storage prep. I just finished pulling out my tank, and I'm about to put a plastic one in from an LS1 Camaro. There's a few reasons I decided to go with the plastic tank...1, I won't have to worry about rust at all and worry that the car will randomly stall from starvation. 2, I'm planning on putting an LS in eventually so when I do I'll already have the right fuel pump and emissions stuff. 3, the charcoal canister is built into the tank so I can remove the ugly one up front. 4, The pump is designed to prevent starvation around fast corners. 5, I'm hoping the fuel level will read more accurately/not jump around so much while driving (I bought a programmable Autometer gauge instead of messing with the sender). and last but not least, 6, The fuel neck connects to the tank with rubber hose, so it's super easy to relocate.

I did some looking with the 4th gen neck and basically, without going straight back it would never work behind the license plate. the nozzle of the pump would stick back to far, etc. It just wouldn't work. Plus moving the trunk latch and everything would be a pain. I also saw that sticking the neck behind the driver's tail light would be relatively extremely easy. So, that's my plan. I'm going to wait until I get LEDs for the tail lights so I can remove the big bulb sockets and everything and the light will look nice and finished from behind. Stick it on a hinge, and figure out a latch. Should be pretty easy. It's not very high on my list of things to do right now though so I have no idea when I'll get around to it, but it should be a lot easier when I do because of the plastic tank.

Btw, I've seen lots of post of people saying the fill neck behind the tail light has been done on a third-gen Camaro, but I haven't seen an actual thread about it or pics or anything. If anyone knows of either that would be great!