re: swapping gas tanks

["Gary G. Erickson" <erickson@teleport.com>]

Andrew Duane USG/PE wrote:

> It is not as trivial as unbolting one and bolting in another one.
> The shapes are different to accomodate the rear-end driveshaft and
> the rear suspension differences.
> 
> Also, I thought the Q was *smaller* by a gallon or so because of
> the driveshaft?

Andrew,

According to my Bentley, (and this holds when filling my GT vs. my
father's 4Kq) the GT (and I think the other 4cyl 4K's) have a 15.9
gallon tank, while the 4Kq gets an 18.1 tank.

The driveshaft doesn't make any difference since in both cases the tank
is mounted vertically behind the back seat.  You do lose some of the
trunk space in the 4Kq however.  My GT with the fastback has ~13.5 ft^2
of cargo volume, while the 4Kq is somewhere in the high 11 ft^2 range if
I remember properly.  This is due to the fact that they raised the floor
of the trunk in the 4Kq to accomodate the rear diff and assorted
components.

I had just been musing that with a ~100 mile commute on a daily basis,
even the additional 50-70 miles of range that I would get by swapping a
4Kq tank into my GT would allow me to go one more day between fillups. 
Stopping at the gas station every three days and being on a first name
basis with _all_ of the attendants can be kind of depressing when you
think about it.

Gary
-- 
'85 Coupe GT
Welches, OR, USA

---------------------------------------------------
Gary G. Erickson
Business Solution Integrators, Inc.
503-702-5789       e-mail: erickson@teleport.com