Which way does the gas tank go in?

[crvc]

Does it matter which way the gas tank goes in? I'm still hard at work on my '67 project. The photos show where I'm at now. I didn't measure before cutting the front clip off. Mainly because the old clip was so riddled with cracks I didn't think the measurements would be valid. So I 'eyeballed it'. I cut it off leaving a wide margin then spent the rest of the day trimming quarter-inch strips of metal til I could hold the new clip up and see whether they were coming together. Then I thought if I put the gas tank back in I'd be able to judge how close I was to getting it ready for welding. The tank seems to fit better in the direction the photo shows. Does it matter?

TIA,

Kevin

[BUILDER]

When I am replacing sheet metal like a qtr panel or structure, what i do is use vise grips to hold the panel, get it lined up in your case use the trunk lid making sure your gaps are correct. Put a couple bolts in the fenders to make sure they fit properly. Take the fenders off and use some of those small hex head self tapping screws to attach the front clip to the car.( this is just to hold it in place while you final fit everything and weld) After you put those screws in it fit the fenders back on it and make sure everything still lines up perfectly then weld it, take out the screws and weld the holes up. The screws i use have a 5/16 head. You can even put seals and or latches in to make sure they line up and work. It seems like a lot of work but your body panel alignment is more critical than the gas tank alignment. If everything is aligned properly the tank will fit. I usually spend twice as long fitting and aligning than i do doing all the rest of the work. Good luck!! hope this helps.

[crvc]

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't thought about using the fenders. I'll probably make some tabs that I can attach with screws to help hold things together when I'm ready to weld. If this works, more photos to follow.

Kevin

[MNAirHead]

Another trick is to only do 1/2 the clip at once.. meaning do one side.. then the other

Your gas tank is headed the correct direction.

[crvc]

Thanks. I did a fair job starting on the left. On the right side, not so good. Photos below tell the tale. Further work will have to wait til my hand heals: Cheap gloves won't stop a hand grinder.

[MNAirHead]

Ouch..

I feel your pain... with all the safety in the world periodically we get hurt.

T.

[crvc]

Thanks. With some pharmacologic assistance (tylenol-3) I was able to finish welding the left side today over my lunch hour. There's between a quarter and 1/8th inch step-down where the welded parts meet at the top. I'll have to figure a way of smoothing that out so that eventually the rubber seal can go in.

[crvc]

Not sure if this will work but these photos hopefully show the problem. I cut off the old front clip and tried to mount the new clip. I worked off the shelf that the gastank mounts to. You can see on one photo that I cut a bit too much off the front. I expect it will work to grind a bit off the gastank lip. The problem is the where the new and old meets at the top there's a quarter inch drop. No way a seal will fit here or do its job sealing. I thought about filling the gap with bondo. But maybe a better idea is to cut the old seal surface off and weld over the existing seal surface. I hope this makes sense. Any suggestions what to do about the drop?

TIA,

Kevin

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[crvc]

I put the new front clip in and found the new piece didn't match well with the existing frame. The new piece was a half inch lower where the seal would go. No advice when I posted about that. Ended up dripping weld onto the new piece to build it up then wended the seal surface to it. Then filled in the gap with more weld. Hopefully that makes sense. So now I'm 90% done with major welding. Next will be fixing the fenders, which all have cracks. It would be easier to buy more fenders but more fun to fix the old ones.

Kevin

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j47/k ... CN3599.jpg

[MNAirHead]

Chances are if your OEM fenders are repairable - they'll be better.. they normally need the most work around the bolt flange.

T.