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TR4/4A Found this odd long bolt in my fuel tank... Does anyone know what it is?

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Popeye

Popeye

Obi Wan
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Hi all,

In refurbishing my fuel tank, I found this long bolt rattling around inside it. Does anyone recognize it? It is painted beige, similar in color to the top frame.

Thoughts?

(Also, I used the POR-15 fuel tank system to coat the internals of the tank. After reading many mixed reviews, I hope I did the right thing!! I followed instructions as best I could, primarily focusing on making the tank DRY. The outside of the tank is gloss black Rustoleum spray.)

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My guess would be someone was using it as a dip stick when the fuel gauge didn't work and thought it wouldn't fall completely inside the tank. But it did.

I used one of those kits (don't remember if it was Eastwood or POR15) but found the process very time consuming and required intense chemicals with no hope of properly disposing of the used chemicals. After a couple years and countless fill-ups in over 20k miles, my tank has not been an issue. -I hope I didn't just jinx myself.
 
I have no idea what that is, but removing it should get rid of that mystery rattle in the rear end.. :encouragement:
 
Would seem a good argument in favor of installing a locking gas cap for those that don't have one already...otherwise too easy for any creep to use the tank as a trash can.
 
Looks like a leather wiper/gasket would fit around the spring, the spring would keep the leather in contact with an outside tube, so .... bicycle pump internals would be my guess
 
Thanks! Great ideas - dipstick and some sort of pressure creating device (pump or suction) make a lot of sense.

Re the POR-15 kit, I did not think the chemicals were too intense - but the paint itself was! I was most worried about the old gas / varnish / who knows what in the tank going down the drain, vs. the claimed biodegradable degreaser (Marine Clean) and the etching acid. I poured the degreaser into a shallow pan and let it evaporate, but poured the acid down the drain with a lot of water.

(Note, the acid also removes concrete sealer, so I have a new job to do... :smile:)

My main complaint about the kit was the paint never seemed to completely mix. I mixed for a good 20 minutes (by hand), but the paint never became a uniform color. All the heavy solids form the bottom of the can were well distributed, but the paint still had black / silver streaks. Ask me in five (+) years how it went - it has cured really well to a hard uniform coating. I am tempted to put some gasoline into it, just to make sure nothing dissolves - but figure it is easy enough to remove the tank from the car should peeling paint become a problem. The drain plug on my tank came off without too much effort, so it will be fairly straightforward to drain the tank.
 
So, that's where it is! I've been looking everywhere and just couldn't find it, sigh..................................................................
 
I have no idea regarding the mystery part.

I have coated a few tanks. I have used Kreem, generic Kreem from Eastwood, POR, and Red Kote. I used Kreem and the generic Kreem on the first tanks I coated. Then I learned that Kreem had mixed reviews so I tried POR on the next tank. So far... only the POR has failed. I was driving along one day... and suddenly the car died. Pieces of the POR sluffed off and plugged the pickup tube in the tank.

Getting POR OFF a gas tank is much harder then applying it. Once I got the POR off the tank I resealed it with Red Kote. So far my Kreem coated tanks have lasted 15+ years. The POR made it about 5. It's only been two years on the Red Kote. Kreem is the material that uses nasty solvents. Red Kote is only marginally better. Both are thinned with and use MEK for their solvent. POR was the chemically friendliest.
 
Thanks Doug. Out of curiosity, how did you remove the POR-15 from inside the tank? Chemically, I presume, given the complete lack of access?
 
Removing the POR was a major pain in the rear.

First I researched online and found that what you need is a strong paint stripper with high levels of methylene chloride. I forget which brand I found but it was expensive and I had to mail order it from Summit Racing. Once I had the paint stripper (1 gallon) I mounted my car's tank (using ratchet tie downs) on an MDF (wooden) plate which in turn was bolted to a flange on a large SLOW motor I had. I filled the tank with the gallon of stripper and many handfuls of decking screws and tons of old nuts and bolts. I turned on the motor and ran the "tumbler" at low speed for days. Every now and then I would remove the tank, peak inside, then mount the tank back in a different position. I kept that up for at least a week until the flange on the motor shaft failed from fatigue. When I emptied the tank and rinsed it out 90+ percent of the POR coating was gone. I figured anything still stuck in place was NOT coming loose no matter what. I used the Red Kote sealer on top of that.

As a footnote, all those nuts, bolts, and decking screws came out looking polished and squeaky clean.
 
Thanks - I'm scared now!! If my coating fails, I will either go with an outfit that "dips" tanks, split the tank in two and sand-blast, or simply buy a replacement tank... let's hope I followed directions correctly and don't need to do any of that!
 
I have seen that rod before. My thoughts are part of a suction gun. Has the seal and spring, metal backing washers, shaft with threads on the end for a handle once you insert it into the housing.
Didn't just fall out of the gun.
My guess is kids...rug rats...playing around in PO's garage with his car.
 
dklawson said:
Removing the POR was a major pain in the rear.

First I researched online and found that what you need is a strong paint stripper with high levels of methylene chloride. I forget which brand I found but it was expensive and I had to mail order it from Summit Racing. Once I had the paint stripper (1 gallon) I mounted my car's tank (using ratchet tie downs) on an MDF (wooden) plate which in turn was bolted to a flange on a large SLOW motor I had. I filled the tank with the gallon of stripper and many handfuls of decking screws and tons of old nuts and bolts. I turned on the motor and ran the "tumbler" at low speed for days. Every now and then I would remove the tank, peak inside, then mount the tank back in a different position. I kept that up for at least a week until the flange on the motor shaft failed from fatigue. When I emptied the tank and rinsed it out 90+ percent of the POR coating was gone. I figured anything still stuck in place was NOT coming loose no matter what. I used the Red Kote sealer on top of that.

As a footnote, all those nuts, bolts, and decking screws came out looking polished and squeaky clean.
Click to expand...

FWIW, my 3rd generation radiator man worked on my 1959 TR3A gas tank. He lead soldered the pinhole leaks then cleaned sealed it with red kote (which he recommended).

Still in the restoration process so I can't comment on performance.

mgf
 
Red Kote came highly recommended to me by an Austin America owner friend of mine. He has been using Red Kote without issue since he was a teenager. He says in over 30 years he has never had a failure. My fingers are crossed.
 
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