Fuel Tank Change (Brakes and Fuel Line Issues)

[Syd146]

I have a 2005 Legacy GT Limited with a fuel leak. The garage said it was likely the fuel tank qouldnt quote a price saying a minimum of 12 hours.

 

I decided to dive in and do the work myself after watching allot of videos and reading the service manual.

 

So far the service manual has been hit or miss. I've even found two versions of the fuel tank change for the 4 cyl DOHC TC. The first version didnt mention removing the trunk trim to diconnect the vent line.

 

I have managed to remove the fuel tank shield, drain the gas, remove the exhaust (cat back), heat shield, and propeller shaft.

 

Now for my 3 big problems so far.

 

1. The manual says to hang the caliper from the frame but my model has a hard line on the hub with soft lines to the caliper and another soft line to the brake line on the frame. I am guessingIwill havetodiconnect the brakes even though the service manual says it isn't required. Where is the best place to disconnect the brakes. Any issues with this and how would you plug the brake lines?

 

2. It says to remove the ebrake but has absolutely no explanation how to remove the cable from the hub. There isnt a single video out there thata I can find showing my setup. It is pretty rested and after chipping though the rust I have found a bracket that looks like its on the hub, but can't find a clip. Has anyone replaces an emergency brake cable and have photos or tips?

 

3. The vent line in the trunk is extremely rusted and agin the manual does a horrible job explaining how to remove it. I bought a fuel line disconnect but the line still won't budge. I have used penetrating oil and tried to scrape out any rust from the link using a pick tool. Anyone deal with this line as I'm about to cut it and deal with replacing it once the tank it out?

 

Appreciate any help from someone thats done a tank replacement on this model of Legacy.

[ElanS2]

Hello Syd, I recently did the same job after similar researches on youtube etc. My car 2007, Legacy, Gt Ltd, Turbo, Wagon, 200,000 kms , 120,000miles lots of rust, Canadian roads. I was inspired by the youtuber that works smarter and faster than Subi. His trick was to leave the trailing arms connected  and swinging the sub frame down after having removed its 4 attachment bolts. He supported the sub frame on a transmission jack while lowering it. This was t allow suficien t space to remove the tank.

I was doing the job in my driveway on my back under the car and do not have a transmission jack. His approach inspired me however to come up with an adaptation.

I obtained 4 very tall jack stands and 4 threaded rods about 50 cms long and nuts with the same thread as the 4 bolts retaining the sub frame to the body. With the car on the stands I had good access to the underbody. 0ne at a time the 4 major bolts were replaced by a threaded rod and a nut. I then was able to lower the entire sub frame by turning the nuts and not the threaded rod. The trailing arms are attached to the body by brakets having three bolts each. I removed all of them so that the trailing arm bushings would not be over rotated and stressed.  This was a slow operation and I was able to observe what else required detachement before over stressing it. The brake lines and the ABS lines were detached as well as the shocks. A total of 12 major bolts were removed to allow the entire sub frame to drop staight down. I did not plug the brake lines. Some fluid did leak out and was caught in a plastic sandwich bag hung over the end of the brake line and held in place by a rubber band. The nose of the car was slightly down  due to the slope of the driveway so very little fluid was lost. I eventually had to bleed the brakes. That was no problem as the car was nicely in the air. I did not detach the hand brake line/cable as it was slack enough due to the way it is held in place.

I replaced the filler pipe and the steel vent lines that came with it. They were very rusted in the horizontal section under the car, over the sub frame. With the sub frame dropped as mentioned it was easy to access the rubber connections to the various pipes and tubes.

The old tank came out very easy with the help of a floor jack to control it's descent. I replaced the straps too after having painted the new ones and recycling/reusing the old rubber sleeves.  All of the rubber pads on the old tank were reused on the new tank.

The new tank went in very easy once I managed to get it under the car and onto the floor jack. I had plenty of space to work and excellent visibility with the sub frame about 8 " down from the body. Raising it into place and installing the straps was easy.

I had to fabricate two brackets to replace the rusted ones that support tubes at each of rhe rear "corners" of the tank .

Raising the sub frame was easy too. The threaded rod trick worked very well and was safe too.  I am extremely satisfied with how things worked out.

Fortunately for me I am retired and have the time to undertake such a job.

 

Sorry I do not have any photos.  Tank, straps, filler neck, threaed rod and various new nuts and bolts all cost me +/- $1600Can. The jack stands cost me $75 Can each but I now have them for future use.

[Syd146]

So the adventure continues. With the limited space I have I dropped the entire subframe.

Managed to get almost everything moved to the new tank (turns out the fuel pump was also cracked on top of a rotted tank). It arrives Thurs but I can get access from the top in the back seat.

I just put the propeller shaft back but there just enough space to us a wench. How do you torque them to spec?

Also I have a plastic guard an no clue where it’s from. It says RH but no part number. Hopefully it’s no up on the tank or inaccessible now that the subframe is back in. I’ve attached a picture of anyone has any ideas.

 

 

 

[ElanS2]

That is an air deflector flap found at the bottom of the wheel arch where the running board ends just in front of the tire. They do not last very long when exposed to snow and can be broken off when backing up. I gave up trying to keep one in place.

Part of the Subi underbody air flow management effort.

The top attaches with a plastic rivet/pin and the bottom hooks over the bottom of the running board.

The smooth side faces the tire. The side in the photo is not the smooth side.

 

 

[ElanS2]

0pps I got the front and back mixed up. The side with the printing faces the tire.

[Syd146]

Thank you. I was getting concerned it belonged up above the subframe and missed it.

I must have already lost the other side as I was looking for an equivalent part on LH and couldn’t find anything.

Just finished assembling the parking brake hardware. That was crazy. You basically need 3 hands lol.

Now I need to bend new hard lines now as I needed to cut both small sections over the wheel hub? Has anyone else done this? I noticed the old ones have a fairly thick plastic coating. I bought a 12” section of nickel/copper line that already has the fittings. Checked the routing and I don’t think I need the exact bends, just clearance between the two brackets with around the strut.