Tanked

So the truck seems to be running pretty well, but needs gas. I start filling the tank, and almost immediately start smelling strong gasoline fumes. Yep, my next repair. I had anticipated this because the previous owner had replaced a very rusty original tank with a VW tank and made it work… for a while. I was fortunate enough to purchase an original tank when I bought Cornelius, but it needs work.

First step is to clean it good, and the inside looks great. Then I drop it off at a body shop near me to have some dents removed and to have it painted. It came back looking fabulous! I replaced the original rusty attachment bolts with some new stainless bolts, nuts and washers from Fastenal.

Next, I needed to find an original fuel filler tube, and came across one in decent condition on eBay. Some sanding to remove the rust and a coating of Rust Bullet, and it looks as good as new. After measuring the fuel inlet tube and the hole in the rear passenger side fender to accommodate it, I managed to find a Ford gasket, that with the proper amount of struggle and cursing, fit quite snugly in both the fender and around the filler tube.

Now the hard part – the sending unit. From discussions on various forums, I was able to determine that some folks had success utilizing a Ford sending unit from the same year. I purchased a sending unit through Mac’s Auto Parts and it bolted right in.

The lines could use replacement at some point, but antsy to get the truck back on the road, I just verified for now that there were no leaks from the tank to the pump.

UPDATE: After completely filling the tank a couple weeks later, I noted a strong fuel smell back at the tank and some leaking. Apparently the filler tube was removed from the tank to facilitate repair of the dents. When it was welded back in, there remained one pinhole (all I can see) that was missed. As opposed to removing everything again, I will use some JB Weld (putty form) to repair the pinhole.