MTFCA Forum

1911 Touring...Gas tank needs to come out for cleaning or replacement.

There are screw heads not easily seen in this picture all over the seat area.

I'm hoping that I can remove some of them and this will make room for the tank to come straight out.

If this is possible, please let me know which screws need to come out.

Thx.

I'm pretty sure you have to lift the body.
Engineering never planned for tank removal.
Good luck

I have removed the tank on a 14 Touring for a local museum without lifting the body.
I am told that it can’t be done on earlier cars, it certainly is very very tight. Listing the body is not all thats difficult especially if you have Lee Pierces sky hook.
In earlier days I have removed the body off cars ranging from the 24 coupe to the 09 Touring, it just takes a little planning and determination. Actually to clear the tank it should be possible to remove the firewall and front four bolts and loosen the rear body bolts. Then just lift the front, which is fairly light until you clear the tank. The worse part is replacing the cotter pins in the five bolts hold the tank

I removed the tank from my '10 Touring without lifting the body years ago. As I recall it seemed impossible but with enough jiggling there was just one spot where it could be done with a little brute force. Not so lucky with my Chalmers-Detroit.

Ford (and Chalmers Detroit) was not alone in this. Many (oh so long ago!) years ago, I helped a good friend change the gasoline tank in his 1912 Buick touring car. We lifted the front of the body.
With Ford, it likely varies from body builder to body builder, as well as different production runs and year to year. This has been discussed before, and many people were able to make the change without lifting bodies. Many others had to lift the body. One past discussion, one regular here said it was worth it to put two minor quarter inch notches for the corner seams to squeeze through.
With so many variations in the Ford bodies those years, you likely cannot get a simple definitive answer. Ask a good friend, look things over carefully, and give it a try.
Let us know how it goes.

I just went through that with my `13 touring. The body had to be lifted. It was not an easy or fun job.