Some nice weather in mid March and there was a great opportunity to finish off the fuel tank with some more black Hammerite I had left over from previous jobs. All was going great, paint looking nice and drying well in the sunshine, and then I looked inside. The sealant I put in the previous week had begun to peel! Damn! ****! I was well aware that the inside of the tank needed to be ‘bone’ dry, but did I get it dry enough last time?… Obviously not!
So, it was a bit of a think for a week and to cool off. I then scrapped and pulled out what I could of the sealant, then soaked the exposed metal in some old petrol (leaded). There didn’t seem too many flakes or bits in there and the fuel didn’t come out any more dirty than when it went in so I may have got away with it. I also bought a filter to go on the end of the sender unit (eBay – £8) and also a new rubber seal directly from Ford (part no.608 5380) that only cost me £1.81. The new seal made for a snug fit for the sender unit to the tank and has given me the confidence that I did the right thing and I should not get any leaks.
The next post will reveal why the fuel tank hadn’t been re-fitted to the car at this point.