Hole for sender removal

I want to replace the fuel sender in my '75, by cutting an access hole in the fiberglass floor. Does any one have a suggestion on how large the hole should be? I can't remember if the sender just fits in the (stock) tank vertically, or if it has to be inserted at an angle which would require a larger hole in the floor for clearance.
Yes I know I can keep cutting till it fits, but I just want to cut it once, and use that piece as the cover plate.

 

The arm has a bend to it. How big is a guess.

 

Why not drop the tank?
Be my luck I'd cut into the tank.

 

JERRY,
Why not drop the tank? I'm trying to do this without spending a lot of time and energy on it. Dropping the tank would take a lot more time and effort than just cutting a hole, and replacing the sender... I plan on using a dremmel with a router type bit to just cut the fiberglass floor and not the tank.

 

Some later model fullsized Jeeps (Wagoneers, etc) had a factory access door in the floor pan so you wouldn't have to drop the tank to replace the sender. It doesn't need to be terribly large as I recall, around 3 or 4" in diameter. You might poke around over at the fullsized Jeep club (IFSJA) and search their forums to see if you can find any pics that might be helpful.

www.ifsja.org

 

It's not fun to tap out the retainer ring with the tank completely out, and reinstall it with a fresh O ring. To do it in situ will cost the same time as a tank drop in my opinion. Plus it allows refreshing the vent hoses, fuel hose from tank and the rubber screw isolators.

dropping the tank isn't much fun but I did my 74 in less than an hour, even with it 1/3 full.

 

I put an access cover in my fiberglass tub. IMO, well worth the time and effort, the way these fuel issues always need fussing with.

I cut a 6" hole, but you could actually get away with a 4" hole ( I wanted to MAKE SURE I had enough room to work).

I took the cut piece to make the cover, as you mentioned. Then I made a mounting flange out of a piece of 3/16" thick aluminum plate, and used 10-32 stainless flathead screws (with anit-seize...very important, IMO) to fasten it down.

Here are some pics...





Someday, I'll replace the screws with shorter ones, but I used what I had at the time.

Rich

 

Thanks Rich, but again, for some reason I can not open the pics,,, I'll start with a 5 inch hole,,,, I see you are from RI,,, we spent many fun weekends driving the beaches down there back in the late 70's,,, no crazy stuff, just nice to get away from the crowds...