New tires!

Today the car gets its Dunlops replaced with Pirelli P4's.  It's a driver, and the Dunlops were done.

Test drive with new fuel pump

Today I finally had a little free time to get it running and go for a drive.  After installing the fuel pump and tank, it wouldn't start and the plugs were fowled with gas.  I decided to move the ignition coil closer to the distributor, to make the trigger wires reach without a pigtail extension.  I also removed the distributor cap and found some carbon dust covering the rotor.  It seemed like I might have left the rotor a little too high on the shaft, but I'm not sure.

Installed fuel pump and tank

This morning I got an early start, and was able to install the new fuel pump and tank before lunch.  I made a new pigtail harness for the pump, reusing the old grommet which was still relatively soft.  I also reused the big donut grommet for the filler pipe.  I purchased the butyl putty at Home Depot and used a little more than half of the roll.

A clone of a Bosch 044 fuel pump; when I replace the tank she'll get the real-deal.

The fuel lines looked clean on the inside.

Butyl putty applied

Tank installed with new wiring.

After adding 2 gallons of gas, the gauge needle went to the reserve mark.

Fuel tank paint

Since it had been too cold to spray paint anything outside, I asked a friend who has a spray booth to paint my gas tank.  I gave it to him ready for paint and he gave it back to me a few days later painted black.  He had me get Rustoleum etching primer in rattle cans, and a quart of black Rustoleum paint for his spray gun.  Looks nice, thank you, Jim!

Fuel tank bore-scope footage, after cleaning

LED lighting

Today, I replaced the incandescent taillight bulbs with cheap LED bulbs from eBay.  The driver's side brake / running light socket needs to be replaced because the new lamp connection is a little loose.  I will also need to install a new flasher unit that is compatible with LED bulbs.

The red LED bulbs look a little pink w/o the lense

Still looks pink in this picture, but not in real life

Picked up the refurbished fuel tank

Today, timing was on my side.  I received the new sending unit in the mail, and a phone call from Rex informing me that the tank was ready.

I now have to figure out how to paint it very soon (it's too cold to do it outside).  I talked to Don Thibault about replacing the fuel lines and he told me that he doesn't sell fuel lines.  He also indicated that a lot of times they're just fine.

The bolt pattern is perfect!

I took this picture for Don Thibault; he was curious about the fitment

It will require a 20 or 30 ohm resistor, but should work fine...

Dropped - off gas tank at Rex

Today before work, I dropped off the gas tank at Rex Radiator in East Dundee, IL.  Should be bare-metal and ready on Tuesday next week.  I chose not to have it lined and plan to keep it full, especially while the car is in storage.

Fuel sending unit inspection

Thankfully, the gas tank should be serviceable; not so much for the fuel sending unit.  The fuel gauge had been working somewhat, but never quite made it to full position.  I found two problems:  the float had some liquid in it and the contact arm was worn-through.

Prior to disassebly, full position read 44 ohms, and empty (at the stop) 233.  The book specs 16-22 ohms at full and around 250 at empty (from memory).  I tried to cut off and bend the contact arm and then it was totally ruined.  Shopping for a replacement!

I will use the mounting flange from this one, to hold the rebar / insulator to the tank during cleaning.

Full

Empty

Lots of fillups over the years!

Normal wear, I guess

Removed fuel tank

This morning, I removed the fuel sending unit and gas tank.  The Philips head screws were filled with dirt; I used a 1/16" drill bit to clean the sending unit's screws and a 5/64" bit on the tank mounting screws.  After that, all fasteners were easily removed.  

It took very little effort, pushing up from below, to free the tank from the butyl putty covered flange.  This was not a job that I had been looking forward to, but it wasn't bad at all. 

A 1/16" drill bit cleaned the screw heads nicely

The float had a lttle liquid inside it

The rubber was still reasonably soft, which really helped

Tipping it out

A solid tank, ready for refurbishing