[TXalfa]

Okay, I'm stuck. trying to remove the fuel tank from 88 graduate; i have drained as much of the fuel as possible; only slight puddle left. I have unhooked all the hoses and unscrewed the screws mounting it to the body, but the tank won't budge. i even tried using a jack with a piece of plywood to slowly try to raise the tank and give some upward pressure, but i still don't see any movement. It almost seems as though the rubber seal that it sits on has melted and acted as an adhesive between the tank and body. Has anyone else had this kind of problem? Any potential solutions out there?

 

[ghnl]

It sounds to me like you are doing everything right. I agree that the sealing gasket can become more like an adhesive.

Try this: see if there is an edge where you can slip a piece of wood up alongside the tank so it bears against (or close to) the tank's lip - alongside the mounting flange. Put the jack under that piece of wood and see if applying a LITTLE bit of force along one edge can start it loosening up.

There are some photos of tank removal/clean up from our '84 Spider here.

I'll bet that once you can get it to start moving it'll come out.

 

[TXalfa]

thanks ghnl, trying it from one side first worked. I got it to raise up on the fender side and then used a razor blade to trim the rubber seal at the edge of the tank's lip all the way around. That removed enough tension that i could start moving the tank side to side with a pry bar to work the rest of the seal loose. I ended up with the part of the seal sticking to the tank in areas and sticking to the trunk in others. Glad to finally have it out. Now on to the rest of the car.