I have a 74 Maverick that I have only owned for a couple of months. The previous owner replaced the gas tank at some point, looks fairly new. I know that the 74 had a 17 gallon tank and 76 on had the larger 19 gallon tank. Auto Krafters only carries the 19 and they say it will work in the 74 if you use the longer straps. I assume that mine is a 17 g but I suppose there is a chance that they put in a 19 g. The reason I need to know which one I have is I need to replace the sending unit and want to make sure I buy the correct one. I really don't want to drain out the tank and refill to find out capacity, then drain again to change the sending unit. So my question is, is there an easy way to tell 17 vs 19 gallon while the tank is still on the car? Maybe by measuring the outside dimensions? Thanks.
I just realized, it looks like the sending unit can be replaced without even needing to drop the gas tank.
I have a drain plug in my tank now. before I would jack up the driver side tire and that puts most of the gas on the other side from the sending unit. of course that want work with a full tank...
Thats a good idea, this keeps getting easier sounding. For some reason I initially thought I would need to drop the tank but now I see everything looks accesable from below.
You can try it without dropping the tank. I tried that 2 or 3 times on my Falcon and the sender unit leaked. I ended up removing the tank to get the 0-ring centered. I even used a little axle grease to hold the 0-ring in place but that didn't work either.
Seems as the picture you originally had disappeared. Any chance you still have it on file somewhere? I have the same issue, except my tank is rusted so bad I cant go two months without my carburetor gunking up and keeping me from even starting the thing.
What all did you need to replace your tank? Did you just need the longer straps, or did you also need to do something different for the sender unit and filler neck?
When I bought the tank the sending unit came with tank. I used my straps but used 1" longer bolts I got from the hardware store. I also bought the later vapor valve https://www.parts123.com/parts123/dyndetail.pta?acclink=0001018oAAAKW and grommet https://www.parts123.com/parts123/dyndetail.pta?acclink=0001018oAAAKX
Thanks so much! Hopefully I can toss that old junk out of my Merc get some clean, happy fuel through the lines soon.