My tank didn't have a drain. It ran for a month or so after I purchased it before I noticed a problem. Changing the fuel filter I noticed a brown sludge coming out of it. After inspecting the tank from under the back seat I found my tank was severely rusted.
Do a search on the forum. I forget now but I believe there is one company on eBay that has a reasonably priced new lifetime warranty tank. It is exact in shape and dimensions. The only thing it's missing from OEM is a mount strap for a rollover vent solenoid. That thing is easily hung with a cable tie. Make sure it's upright and all is well. Other that all hose fittings are correct.
I undercoated the new tank while it was still clean.
Spend a little extra and buy a quality pump. I think I got mine off Amazon that was made in China. It was a fit but was missing the upper connection parts like the short hose and clamps. Some others include that stuff. Again not positive but I think it was an Airtex brand. Be careful with the pump sock filter too. You'll see long and short ones. You want the short one as the pump assembly sits at an angle. Observe your old setup when you inspect the tank. This fuel pump on this car does not cycle a couple seconds in the key on position. It only runs in the start and while engine running mode. There is a test plug on the passenger firewall. I think it's the green plug. Jump the two connectors to run the fuel pump.
A couple other tips... make sure your electric radiator fan works properly. Check all your coolant hoses as they are bad to dry rot. There is a metal pipe running on the driver's side with a few coolant hoses coming off it. The little one under the distributor on mine broke and cost me a warped head repair. We had another member with the same problem. So inspect them hoses good. The head warps easy if overheated. All hoses are readily available. There's a couple you have to improvise with similar shapes like on the IAC. The only difficult hose to find is the lower radiator hose but many impossible to find parts can be found at Roo-sport.com.
Plenty of good info on this forum. If you can't find a thread then post and someone will help.
Another tip is this car is bad about the under hood harness connections are prone to moisture and corrosion. The same with the ground straps. Make it a project to clean your grounds and connectors. A dab of dielectric grease will keep future moisture out.
Headlight motors are easily repaired. The brushes are usually still good. They just need a good cleaning and regressed. So don't run out and buy one if you don't have to. Plenty of how to posts on the forum.
The water pump is behind the timing belt so you might as well change both when the time comes. If the car is near 100,000 then I would consider that project if you don't know the history.
The car is easy and fun to work on. A little different engineering but some members are very knowledgeable and helped me a bunch. I've built many Ford's and Chevys over the years but this car is a wee bit different coming from down under.
I found the manual helpful at TechCapri. Its an almost complete Ford shop manual. Its missing a few chapters but most what you need is there. I have it all downloaded on my phone. It makes it easy to view at the car.
