Hi all, I haven't been on here for about a month or so. But I have been doing some things on my truck.
The drivers side, front bed bolt had been torn loose from the bed (I think this happened when the original PO {Previous Owner} had the tailgate down and backed into something rather solid). But to get to said bolt, I had to remove the mid-ship (AUX) fuel tank. And to get to the tank, of course I had to remove the tank shield. Noe as far as I could tell none of these items had been off before. So I made up a qt. of 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone. I sprayed all the nuts and bolts and my glasses a couple of times.
After drinking a coke I crawled under and tried to break the shield bolts loose. I was amazed at how well it went. I used a boxed end wrench first, and I did have to pull fairly hard, but they all broke loose. I used a socket and ratchet to finish them off. The shield had about 10 lbs. of muck packed on the inner side. On to the tank. I had already taken off the fill and vent hoses from the side of the fender ( and the shield that sits inside of the bed). I sprayed the retaining strap nuts, took a break for a sandwich, then went to work with a deep well socket. I disconnected the 5/16th fuel line and the sending unit wires. The tank came off fairly easy

 

Now I had all intentions of cleaning the old tank out and coating it with some KBS tank sealer. When I removed the sending unit I found out why I wasn't getting any gas from the tank, even though the tank was so full gas ran out when I parked it with the drivers side slightly downhill. The entire inside of the tank looked like someone had crushed charcoal and then glued it to the sides. The nylon sock on the end of the sending unit was gone and the metal pick-up tube was filled solid. I power washed the inside of the tank, but you can't get to very much of it. I broke enough charcoal loose to fill a gallon milk jug after an hour of washing. So I went to Walmart and bought some chemicals to clean the inside out real good. (If it has a skull and cross-bones on the can, it has to be the good stuff!) So after spending $85 I returned home. About that time it was raining again, so I called it a day. I went to the internet and found that Spectrum Premium (from Canada) sold a new replacement tank for $119 through Amazon and free shipping. I hadn't bought the sealer yet and I was already at $85. I spoke to the CFO about this and she said go ahead and order it. I slipped in a new sending unit ($22 I think) and a Transpak shift kit for the C6 transmission too. I took the stuff back to Walmart the next day. I got the tank and other goodies in 3 days from a wharehouse in IN.

 

The tank is a F25A, and like all the replacement tanks it's 22.5 gal instead of the original 25 gal. Other than that the only difference is that the vent hose nipple is angled different. #ad

 

Tank and sending unit pics: #ad

 

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So I cleaned the new tank (exterior) with acetone and applied some self-etching primer then after 24hrs I started painting the tank:

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I haven't finished painting the tank shield yet, but that is next. Next project: I needed to replace both of my inner fenders. So I found a guy that was parting out a truck and I removed them. I cleaned then applied rust restorer to both sides of the new-to-me fenders. The drivers side is in mint condition, the passenger side like most had some bad spots in it near the battery mounting area. Instead of welding the spots I decided to make a battery tray patch from galvinized 14ga steel. Here is what I got when done: #ad

 

It still needs to be trimmed a little. Here is a birds eye view:
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I also made one for the drivers side too. (it was in the first pic next to the pass side patch). Because I'll be installing a second battery and I just wanted to protect the inner fenders. I've primered and painted the passenger side patch. The color is "cast", as in cast iron.
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I almost forgot to post the pic of the patch I did for the bed mount bolt. Opps, I need to take the pic first. I'll post it next time.

 

While the Mid-ship tank was out I replace all of the rubber fuel lines at the 3-way valve, and installed a water fuel seperater on the frame rail. This will filter the gas and protect the carb from water contamination.
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You may have noticed the double hose clamps. When I worked on yachts, that was the required way to do all fuel lines( with this type of clamp). I never had a line come off or leak yet.

 

D1AZ-9A011-A .. Plastic Meshed Filter Screen (sock) 3/8" I.D. / Obsolete - Available NOS & from auto parts stores.

Introduced in 1971, could be retrofitted to all 1957/70 sending units (except 1970 Maverick/Comet; trucks with in-cab tank).

After being introduced, it came with all 'service part replacement' sending units.

1970/77 Maverick/Comet; 1971/80 Pinto/Bobcat used a different sock: D1FZ-9A011-A .. 5/16" I.D.