Through a long and convoluted series of events I acquired a miata that's been sitting for years. It was essentially free, and low mileage, and I've owned a bunch of miatas before, so I jumped on it. I already picked up some daisies with star specs, and I'll paint it when I get it running:



Anyway, point of the story is, it won't crank. No fuel condition, no pressure at the rail. No problem, I ordered a Walbro and when it arrived, I pulled the stock pump:



Tasty!

Naturally, the tank looks just as bad:



I ordered a fuel tank repair kit from Eastwood that comes with a strong *** cleaner, then a primer, then a sealer:



In order to use it, I'm gonna have to drop the tank. I'm guessing it's gonna involve dropping the PPF and the exhaust, disconnecting the brakes, then disconnecting the shocks and driveshaft and removing the rear end and axles.

Has anyone ever done this before? It's kinda hard to find much on it since the pump is accessed via the rear deck. Most people never have a reason to remove the tank. Is there anything I should know before I start as opposed to finding out when I'm under the car covered in rust?

 

Yes, its pretty straightforward. You can drop the whole rear in one piece

 

Just pull the brake lines, disconnect the driveshaft, and unbolt the bottom shock mounts?

 

Yep, reference this picture:

 

Awesome, that's very helpful, I was going to make it a lot harder for myself.

 

As an FYI, dropping the tank gives you no additional access to anything. The filler hoses are accessible via the trunk, the fuel pump through the maintenance panel under the softtop, and the drain plug is accessible under the car without removing much of anything AFAIK. The only reason to drop the tank would be to completely replace it, I would think.

 

If funds allow it buy a new or nice cleaned used tank. I have tried those coatings in motorcycle tanks over the years with marginal results. I do beleive that one is a 2 part epoxy if I'm not mistaken. If u are going through all the trouble of dropping the tank just replace it with a nice one. Just my opinion.

 

I'm starting to feel that way too. The process of using the tank repair kit will also have my lift tied up for a day or so, I could just replace it in a few hours. I'm looking around for a tank now.