Bob's Component Resto, Part 5: The Gas Tank

[cruiser]

Good evening and welcome to my latest component resto article. Tonight's bedtime reading features the replacement of the gas tank in my 1974 Gold Duster which I've owned since April of 2019. The tank that came with the car was the factory original and was installed in October of 1973. According to the maintenance records that came with the car, the tank was repaired years ago. It had been cut open and welded shut, why I don't know. At that time the fuel pickup assembly was replaced as well. When I got the car, it was obvious that it needed a new tank. There are many nice nickel plated galvanized tanks available for the Duster, so a replacement was easy to find. I got mine on E-bay. In any case, step one was to remove the filler neck. When the previous owner repaired the tank, he incorrectly reinstalled the filler neck. All three screws that attach the filler neck to the left quarter panel were missing, and the flange at the top of the neck was incorrectly installed from the inside, instead of from the outside. There was also an inexplicable segment of plastic cabinet trim attached to the bottom of the neck in the trunk. The entire mess was being held together with a giant glob of white silicone bathtub caulk (see photos - yuck!). Once I removed the aforementioned caulk glob and plastic trim, I removed the filler neck from the trunk and then removed the tank from the underside of the car. A closer inspection of the tank revealed that it had been punched in at some point - perhaps by rolling over a boulder or hitting a curb. There was also a circular hole repair in one corner, and the welded repair to the top (visible in the third photo). The tank pad was shot as well. Once everything was disassembled, I began by reconditioning the filler neck. The Space Pak Dusters with the folding rear seat use a unique downward curving filler neck to provide extra cargo space in the trunk. I used lacquer thinner to remove the worn original black paint, being careful not to sand off any of the rust resistant galvanized finish. Once the filler neck was clean inside and out, I painted it in two coats of gray metal primer and three coats of Krylon Flat Black paint. Next, I installed the fuel tank sending unit into the new tank, replacing the faulty float with a new brass one. I also replaced the intake tube filter which was missing. The sending unit went in with a new rubber gasket and lock ring, then the tank was mounted to the trunk floor using a new insulator pad and the original straps. I cleaned up and reused the grounding strap, which had become detached from the metal fuel line. I then installed a new 5/16" rubber fuel line from the sending unit, using new screw clamps similar to the originals. The original rubber vent line was in good enough shape to re-use, but I had to replace both of the missing clamps on this segment. Next to go in was the reconditioned filler neck, correctly installed from the outside this time, using three new stainless steel screws of the proper size. All three of the filler neck gaskets - the foam gasket at the quarter panel, the rubber trunk floor gasket, and the fuel tank filler neck donut - were replaced with new gaskets. The filler cap underside was quite corroded, so I replaced it with a really nice used one, but retained the original outer cover which is painted in the car's color (JY9 Tahitian Gold Metallic). Finally, I acquired a NOS MOPAR locking gas cap, p/n 3583547, to use for the occasions when I might need it. My original Duster that I'm trying to recreate had one of these. It's all back together now and works great. Please see the accompanying photos.
That's all for now. I hope tonight's reading has made you nice and sleepy. Stay tuned for further installments. Now go to bed.