plastic fuel tank help

[steve shea]

When changing to new 7+9mm fuel filters one came out no problem the other is welded to the female fitting molded with the tank. The whole unit turns but of course won't back out. I've tried to get a purchase on the fitting while unscrewing the filter but don't want to go too far and chew up the plastic; I did this after marinating the whole thing, in and out in in lacquer thinner for quite a while. Still no luck. I'm just afraid of chewing up the tank and screwing the whole thing. I don't know the thickness of the tank in that area or if the plastic has enough memory to handle the pressure necessary to do the job. Need advice badly, I'm so close to getting 73S 0310 back on the road. Has anyone run into this or is there a shop I could send it out to for the fix???? Thanks, Steve

[steve shea]

I was wrong on the tank construction. The threads are molded plastic, there is no female threaded fitting molded with the tank like a helicoil or whatever. The threads were just discolored from age etc. to a brass metallic look. So a flat hose clamp did the trick and got enough pressure equally around the full circumference of the inlet to allow the threads on the filter to catch and back out. Big success, I'm psyched. Anyway if it happens to other plastic tank owners there's the fix