I got my fuel tank out and am going to replace all rubber fuel lines.

I've not seen this addressed anywhere, but there's a rats nest of hoses and not sure if this can be simplified? All the various connections seem overkill possibly mandated by comifornia epa rules? Mainly there's 2 white plastic blocks that have lines in and out that don't seem to actually do anything.

I looked in my Haynes manual and none of it's even talked about. I can try and get some pictures if needed. I'll try looking it up on the online manual, but have to wait till I can hit up a friend with a pc. Virtually impossible to read things on my phone.

On the plus side, the inside of the tank is pristine, the outside looks like it came over on the titanic, but I'm going to wire brush and coat it with Por 15.
Thanks

 

This valve is designed so that if it's inverted, it will block the flow of fuel such that if the vehicle was rolled, even if he fuel pump were still running, no fuel supply would be allowed through to an engine fire. It's a safety feature, and should be left in there - I've NEVER heard of one failing, and it's cheap insurance.

There's another vent connection under there that is just a metal cup with the rubber vent line going into a hole in the side of it. This is supposed to capture any gas fumes in a sponge type thing which has long since disintegrated. That metal cup probably helps prevent sparks and debris from getting to the vent tube.

Feed Line, Return Line,... other than these I can't think of much else that's under there.

 

Thanks, that makes sense, similar to the inertia switch on newer cars.

This is the other one, upper left corner. I did check the other and it moves free up and down.

Hopefully the picture comes through.

 

That's about where the metal can thing is on my 84SE. Maybe it serves the same function to control Vent Line purge, but is specific to the CA smog system...?

 

LD is correct, thats a safety on the vent tubing to prevent gas seepage on a rollover. You can bypass or keep your choice. Mine sits up under the car with no hoses as its bypassed.

 

Thanks everyone, for the info.

Day 2 wasn't that much fun, I had to drill and tap all but 2 of the screws for the pickup and sending unit. Since they are so shallow, i had to grind off some of the tip from the tap so I could get a good number of threads.

Also went to town on the exterior of the tank with various wire wheels. I didn't go too aggressive since the metal is so thin. Por 15 showed up today, so after a few days drying, I'll start to paint. A friend of mine works for the local Line-x shop and offered to spray it for 20 bucks. Not sure if I'll do it or not.

Hopefully no more questions for a while.

Gonna do the rear brakes and all suspension stuff the next few days.

 

Well I fought the Rotary Gods and finally prevailed! I was able to finally get every damn nut, bolt and screw off without cutting any off.

I was also able to get all the rubber bushings out of the Watts links and upper and lower links. They mostly turned to dust when I started drilling them out. I hope the new ones really tighten things up. I don't foresee aggressive driving where I live, but it should be much better.

A question on brakes. Are factory shoes a good option? My car came with 3 extra sets of Mazda new in box when I bought it years ago
Thanks

 

I would use those shoes,consider replacing wheel cylinders while apart,along with new hardware.

 

Thanks, yes, everything is going to be new, springs, drums, soft line and wheel cylinders.

 

Thanks to everyone's input and help, she breathed back to life this morning!

I wimped out on the balance of the projects for now, I couldn't stand to not drive again. I did get to new rear brakes, refurbished fuel system and the entire rear suspension. Sure is nice having a fuel gauge again.

I'll tackle the front in a couple months, suspension, intake leak and clutch.

 

That’s a fair amount of work you crossed off the list.
It’ll be a little cooler when you resume work on it.
Have fun driving it!