How to: 1st Gen Gas Tank Fuel Pump Access Panel

Looks like I'll be doing this today....

Complete Truck runs again, and next time it's a 10 min fix

It actually has been one of my favorite mods. Saved me some good time lol

did this mod this week and took about 30 mins with a air shears and a air hammer. Got the bronze container half fixed to get me by till tomorrow with some black tape. i know it not good but didnt have solder and its been done like this for about 3 hours and it still reads so im happy. hopefully i get it done right tomorrow tho .

got this done from the comfort of the inside of the X while the snow fell. i'll upload pictures soon to give those with a 98 Sport X and similar an idea of where to cut (and where special precautions need to be taken)

the photos of the other 98 sport were great but i found out some essential hand room was lacking from the initial cut. ( towards the front of the car - for the smaller fuel line/mounting bolts, and the passenger side - for the mounting bolts)

did this the other day. saved me so much time. remember to replace the fuel filter when changing the pump.

On a 1994 Where do i disconnect the wires going to the sender? and Whats the trick to getting the fuel lines off?

Just had to replace the fuel pump in my 98 XLT. Tried to be a smart guy and use this thread to create my own access panel instead of going through the process of dropping the tank. In my truck when i cut the panel there where a few problems with supports being in the way,so the panel ended up being about a inch to far to the right of the pump.(I will try and post pictures so you can see the supports I avoided cutting)
So without cutting through supports and possibly taking the risk of compromising the integrity of the frame (think of the safety of your passengers) it was not possible to pull the pump through this opening.Still had to drop the tank down and then I had room to use the panel for all the disconnects and was able to pull the pump out and replace it.
In conclusion,while the panel made it so i did not have to do as much work on my back,in this particular year/model/etc. there is no way to cut a hole directly above the pump unless you do not care what you cut through. I strongly recommend just taking the 1-2 hours to drop the tank. I have never dropped a tank i my life and it couldn't be any simpler.

ExploringNC said:

Completed this mod last night, heres a few pics, turned out real good and clean.

Click to expand...

so, is this on your '91 EB? i need to switch the fuel pump on mine, and this would be an awesome guide if it's the bauer.

Thanks to your thread, I completed this mod yesterday. I figured I'd post pictures because I did it a bit differently.

I used a dremel tool with a metal cutting disc to carefully make incisions. Then I used a Milwaukee Sawzall to make the longer and deeper cuts.

My gas tank was half full. The dremel makes some small sparks but nothing to worry about. Using a sawzall works FANTASTIC... just make sure you're not a tard and keep the blade only tip deep on the cut so you don't nick those fuel lines.

As you can see, I cut a larger hole than most of you guys did. I figured I might need a bit more room down there and couldn't find any reason not to give myself a bigger hole besides having to cut through two layers of metal in a few places.



I have a donor truck (green 94 limited) that I used for a transmission swap into my white 94 limited. I cut a larger hole out of it's floor to use as a panel over the hole in the running one.



I used a hammer and chisel to break off the 2nd layer of metal along a couple of the edges. Then used some JB weld to fill in the holes from the spot welds. Then painted it with Duplicolor white wheel paint which is what I had on the shelf.



Added some weather stripping stuff around the edge.



Used some of those two-part push rivets that I tore off of somewhere on the donor truck. lol They hold the panel down rather tightly.

fyi..instead of cutting a square out and putting a new piece of metal over the hole, just cut out a horseshoe shape and bend the metal back towards the rear of the truck...
when ur done just bend/hammer it back down being careful not to bash anything underneath....i then added a light layer of foam pad for insulation and installed the plastic spacer and seat....my procedure only took a lil over an hour, and i didnt have to fabricate any kind of replacement panel...thx to whoever came up with this idea..it was great! ..zimmy

heres what i did... used a grinder with a cutting wheel (had a fire extinguisher handy) and carefully cut a hole... and uses some sheet metal and bent it with my hands and a hammer and used silicone to seal and hold it on... i used the car battery to hold it in place until it cured... heres what it looks like now...



kind of a crude but effective way...

bein under the seat , i wasnt too worried about how pretty it is....
and even with a dull chisel and hammer, i cut the hole in about 10
minutes or so ...

Jeez. I am in the same boat as Phalp. I cut the access, and there is a heavy cross member that goes from side to side that is not going to let me pull the pump from inside. Waaaaah.

Here's my 94 Sport result. I drilled a few pilot holes and cut it out using tin snips, leaving the 'flap' attached to bend back in place. Not a very stylish job compared to some of the others in this thread, but worth the effort for sure! Thanks for the great idea...

Fuel Pump Change 1996 Explorer XLT V6 4.0 4-Door

Thanks to this thread I just successfully changed my pump. Dremel to make the pilot, Sawzall to cut through the double steel. Not pretty, but I will make an access panel to seal it.

The 1996 XLT pump plate diameter is pretty large compared to the other years and it is more towards the middle of the vehicle, so you will need to come very close to the seat belt stud when making your cuts. As stated before, keep very close to the metal as the hoses are no more than 2" under the floor.

The post about following the harness wires to detach the old pump was right on. Thanks for that

Thanks to all the previous contributers, as my truck is back on the road!

Another thread alerted me to this treasure chest of info on removing the fuel pump. I have a 92 Navajo so this should be and easy mod. I was wondering about using Wiss sheet metal snips to cut the hole a double layer of sheet metal was mentioned and I was wondering if this would be too heavy for snips and if there would be an advantage to using a Sawsall.
While I doubt anyone has done this same mod twice, I am interested in the easy AND safe method which means no Dremel tools, sparks or other potential life ending adventures.
So will the double layer of steel stop the Wiss snips or do I need to be more agressive?

NavajoAficionad said:

So will the double layer of steel stop the Wiss snips or do I need to be more agressive?

Click to expand...

Having used the Weiss snips on the single layer steel, I would say that it's worth a shot if you have very good forearm strength, but judging from the experience of everybody else here, it seems the air chisel is far and away the safest and easiest method. Good luck!

I also used a hand chisel and hammer using drilled holes. Thought about tin snips but didn't have any at the time. This was a wonderful considering all 4 tires were blown and there was barely any room to crawl up underneath! (2wd 2-door, access under black plastic box, which I'm guessing is a sound dampener)

I can't wait to do this! I got a leak up top...when I top it off, about a quarter to half a gallon goes spilling all over the ground...hope no one from the EPA is around : anyway needs to be fixed...duh. And I'm not dropping the damn tank again