I feel your pain. Last year I was strictly warned the brake pipes would be a failure this year. So I went to take the tank off, but the jubilee clips on the filler pipe are rusted to buggery.
Okay, so I'll drop the tank with the filler pipe still attached. That means removing the rear suspension arms, which I discovered are impossible to remove. So I'm now looking at new bushes, bolts and everything else which could only be removed destructively. Exhaust too, that fell to bits spectacularly.
With the tank off, it's perfectly obvious this rusty cylinder (which might at one time have been a fuel filter) was likely the original. Now I could get proper access to the brake pipes, it became obvious the fuel pipes are in the same condition. So they need replacing too.
With practically everything off the back end of the car, and back seats out for access to the handbrake cable, my living-room full of volvo interior, scrap metal all over the drive ... kinda wish I'd never started. So I might as well paint it under there, having come this far. Where to stop?
The moral is: If it ain't broke, leave it alone! Route your brake pipes alternatively, don't drop the tank unless you've got a lot of time on your hands. And money.
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