Trouble Refitting Fuel Tank In Spi Options

[colinb]

I've got a '96 SPi, and I previously removed the fuel tank to access the upper mount for the LH damper. Now, I'm having an awful time trying to re-fit the tank, and I feel as though I'm missing something. I'm starting to get frustrated, so I figured I'd better get some opinions on what's wrong:

When I position the tank as far left as I can (so that the filler neck is through the grommet in the body), then the hole at the bottom doesn't line up with the hole in the bracket:
(IMG:http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7268/minifueltankfitissue0.jpg)

I can't really rotate the tank forward when it's in this position -- it seems that the front edge of the tank is interfering with the damper stud. After messing with the fit for a while, I removed to tank to find that the damper stud had, indeed, scratched a bunch of paint off along this edge (not at the corner, where the tank is a little dented, but along the edge):
(IMG:http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/7504/minifueltankfitissue3.jpg)

I then thought that maybe the studs on my new Spax dampers are longer than on the original Konis, so I even put a spacer in there to lower the damper relative to the car's body. The spacer is the white nylon ring here:
(IMG:http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/2645/minifueltankfitissue1.jpg)

Here's the new height of the stud in the trunk (as you can see, there's no "wasted" thread that makes it higher than is necessary.) At this point, I'm quite sure that the stud isn't any higher than it was with the old Koni damper -- and the fuel tank fit then, so I must be doing something wrong.
(IMG:http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/2324/minifueltankfitissue2.jpg)

Any ideas?

--Colin

[cooperdan]

I was having same kind of problem as you...

But some how i managed to wiggle it just right to get it in took an hour...

[lrostoke]

The hole in the tank doesn't line up with the fixing bracket, Thats how they are. Unless I've fitted the tank wrong in 4 minis (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Once the filler neck is through the body and tank pushed into place and the strap fits on thats all that is needed

This post has been edited by lrostoke: Mar 10 2010, 09:50 AM

[jameswhiles]

Ive just refitted mine and that hole doesn't line up. How you have got it positioned is (as far as I know) correct. As long as the filler neck is in the right place and you can get the strap round it then thats it!