Don't light a match!

What happens when you take a 45 year old gas tank, get a pin-hole, and then fill it up with gasoline?

Answer: a gasoline leak.

For months I was trying to understand why the Old Girl always had a gasoline fragrance to her.  Was it because her age, uses an old carburetor, so the fuel mixture is kind of "open" to the air all the time?  I lived with it, figuring this must be "normal" for car of her age.  Then the pin-hole became a real hole...

Did I mention the gas tank is under the driver's seat -- INSIDE THE CAB?

So one day I get in and there is gas sloshing about my feet.  YIKES!  I immediately get it all cleaned up and then start trying to find the leak.  You know, a full tank leaking into the car is just going to keep leaking, so I decided to drain it and start troubleshooting with an empty tank instead of a full one.  Only took a few minutes to figure that one out...



After draining it and a good inspection I realized there were a couple of holes where the drain plug is, which is accessible via a hole in the bottom of the tub.  Obviously some salt and moisture got up through that hole onto the tank, and it was around the drain plug that the gas was leaking from.

Choices:

1. Fix the tank.  Requires a bit of welding, have to get ALL THE GASOLINE out of the tank for safety.  Not expensive, but not cheap either.
2. Replace the tank.  Not expensive; can replace with either a steel or plastic tank.
3. Move the tank and replace it at the same time.  This gets expensive as it requires getting a later CJ tank that fits between the rear wheels under the bed.  Also have to remove some draw bar structure from the frame and need to cut some new holes either on the side or on the rear of the tub.  Lots of new tubing, hoses and other things to make it all work. 

I chose #2 and decided on a plastic tank.  Why?  I don't have to worry about rust and it looks original.

Only took an afternoon and works a treat.  As seen below, I've since added a double grounding; one to the body and one back to a grounding strap on the firewall.  More about that later...

I still have a bit of a gasoline smell, but it's nowhere near as bad.  Given it's a pressurized system I suspect it's not sealing perfectly around the gauge sender.  I've got a double seal there now, but may try something better in the future.  For now it works and I feel safe...with the window open of course.

Thanks for looking...

Gas Cap and o-ring

12 September, 2012

I ordered new seats and few other bits and bobs that are just cosmetic.  Since I know I want to replace these items I just did it.

While I'm awaiting those things I'm doing a bit of troubleshooting to find my fuel leak, or whatever is creating that gas smell.  The gas cap doesn't appear to be making a good seal, and when I checked the fuel sender on the tank (had the seats out anyway) the existing o-ring is the wrong size and appears ineffective.

So I went to my local parts place and got replacements.  No leaks at all and that gasoline smell is gone.  Plus the engine runs just a tad smoother, probably because there is pressure in the tank and not suction from the fuel pump.

I think I've figured out  why there is no air coming out of the heater.  The switches (off vs heat vs defrost) work off vacuum.  I found what appears to be a vacuum hose not connected to anything under the hood.  Another future project...

The engine seems to run a bit hot.  After yesterday's short ride (15 minutes) I moved the license plate from the grille to the front bumber and the heat coming off the hood / grille was almost unbearable.  It was a cool day here yesterday, high only 78.  The coolant is circulating because the radiator and hoses are hot.  Probably okay until next Spring, but something to look into.  The temp gauge doesn't work, always says COLD, but that should be an easy fix once I figure out the wires.  The hot engine may explain why it feels so hot behind the firewall.

In the meantime...she's running and she's on the road.

Thanks for looking...