Drop tank or trap door

There's a great sticky here on dropping the tank to replace the fuel pump. I also noticed on the Net that many
people suggest cutting a trap door for a faster fuel pump job.

Opinions on which method is better ?

The only benefit to cutting a trap door is if you do a lot of road trips and want to be able to replace the pump while on the side of the road.

Otherwise I would not bother. You will spend more time cutting the floor and then sealing it back up then you will just dropping the tank.

If you plan on keeping the car for a long time, and suspect that you might have to replace the pump more than twice, making the mod the first time is cost/time effective. Once you have replaced the pump a few times, it is a less effective tradeoff in time and money. You have to get the sheet metal part from a donor car, so availability of parts is another consideration.

There is a write up here someplace that I did, don't have time to look it up now, but will later. Someone may drop in with it.

Tom

I plan on using a quality wallbro pump & I doubt I'll put more than 100K miles on it
so probably 1st & last time.

Found it: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Tom

Good pictures, great write up. Another way to cut is to put a stop collar on a drill bit so the drill
can't penetrate too deep & just drill a series of holes. I might drop the tank anyway just to
check on all the wiring & tubing. Make sure they're in good shape as well.

If I were to cut the floor of my wagon, I would smooth out the shape of the opening. I would also put a set of connectors where I could disconnect the sender unit at the opening. The wiring is trapped between the tank and body so you would not have to fish it through.

Dropping the tanks isn't all that bad, and it does give you the opportunity to clean and inspect some stuff.