It's a Tank!

Gas tank that is.

I have finished with the welding on the interior of the car, and am moving to the trunk. It is somewhat common to have rust in the corners on the trunk--and I have a very small amount around one of the places where it bolts to the frame at the very back. While the body man who looked at my car wasn't terribly worried about it, I've decided to go ahead and weld in clean, fresh metal.

Safety first, however. I need to get the gas tank out of the way.

Today was a beautiful day, so after a trip to the salvage yard this morning to get a tail light and a rear view mirror for my poor old truck, I spent the morning pulling the metal at the rear of the bed into rough enough shape to be able to put the tail light in place. Of course, I didn't make it look pretty--that would just be time away from working on the Studebaker!

This afternoon was nice and warm, so I rolled the Stude out of the garage and put the rear end on jack stands so I could fit my 5-gallon gas can underneath and drain out the gas. My lawn mower will be happy.

To think, just 2 days ago there was about 8 inches of snow on my drive. . .

 After disconnecting the fuel line, and the filler neck (there's a hose that clamps on like a radiator hose), it was simply a matter of resting the tank on another jack stand and unbolting 4 bolts (3 on the left, one on the right--which has a spring: you can see it  in the picture above) and then lowering it to the ground.

There was a small surprise--the top of my gas tank used to be someone's home:

Fortunately, the occupants were long gone.

The tank looks very good inside--but the cork float was saturated in gas which could explain why the fuel gauge always read empty. I'll probably still have it boiled out and then coat it with a sealant just to be safe. It is easy enough to do and cheap insurance to make sure my carburetor stays clean.