Kevin bc Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Dodge Bros I am having a problem. After searching the world for 10 yrs or so I was lucky enough for a friend in the US to find me a bent gas tank filler neck for my 1930 DC Phaeton. Bent fillers are only used on the coupes ,roadsters, and phaetons of this model that have Dodge luggage carriers on them. If the standard straight filler is used it fouls the carrier mount, and you cant get the fuel in. . I have the tank finished so I mounted it all up, with rubber strapping and packing against the mount. bolted up the straps, and the tank looked good and ready to test fit the tank cover. The tank cover has a elongated hole in it for the filler, as it bends towards the outside of the cover, as opposed to a round hole on a standard tank. I thought just drop the cover on the chassis,and it will sit down on the chassis and I will be able to check that the filler clears the edges of the elongated hole. Wrong!!!!. You cant get the cover over the filler because you cant get the side of the gas tank cover over and down the side of the chassis,when you are holding the cover at 45 degrees to get the hole over the filler. It pushes the cover out a couple of inches away from the chassis. the only thing I can think of is to extend the filler pipe with a piece of tube over it and perhaps slide the cover down over it and slightly distort the cover sides to pop it over the chassis,but the cover is not very flexible around the knuckle area Have any members come across this before , and is there a simple answer. I have dropped the other end of the tank, so the filler is more vertical, and then tried to push it up, but then the tank fouls the inside of the chassis, and you cannot push the tank far enough over to pop the neck up through the cutout in the chassis. Kevin BC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin bc Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 Kevin BC here again Some photos of my dilema, The cover is flat on the chassis at the filler end, and raised at the other end I cant push the tank up any further, because the end of the tank has hit the chassis. I need to get the cover over the neck then the cover can move back the other way, and everything will fall into place. This filler came off a roadster, but one would think that the gas tank covers and filler should be the same, as the carriers fit all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 6 hours ago, Kevin bc said: Kevin BC here again Some photos of my dilema, The cover is flat on the chassis at the filler end, and raised at the other end I cant push the tank up any further, because the end of the tank has hit the chassis. I need to get the cover over the neck then the cover can move back the other way, and everything will fall into place. This filler came off a roadster, but one would think that the gas tank covers and filler should be the same, as the carriers fit all. Sounds to me like you may have to install the gas tank cover prior to installing the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCargar Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 On my 1930 DC8 Coupe convertible I had to install the cover first then tip the tank so the filler pipe went through the hole first then maneuver the tank into place. Wayne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCargar Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 I forgot to mention you should paint the cover before installing as 2/3 of it is under the body after the body goes on so impossible to paint afterwards. Wayne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullfrog_eng Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 Gee, that brings back some memories. The Nissan Patrol was mine and that's me standing on the trailer behind the gantry. Was a great trip except for my hand slipping off the high lift jack, which clouted me between they eyes and broke my nose! A lesson learned. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin bc Posted July 9, 2022 Author Share Posted July 9, 2022 McCargar, your right about painting the cover first, thats why I'm playing with it at this time, E116 had sent me the filler,which I fitted up , and I thought I had better fit it in the chassis and check that the filler cleared all parts of the the elongated hole in the cover, its obvious its not missing by much clearance, I have the chassis on stands about 3 ft off the floor so can drop the tank to about 45deg, but it just won't clear the edge of the cover, I have one more trick to try, and that is to pull the rubber packing back that I have on top of the chassis which may just drop the cover enough for that bottom edge to drop through. the other thing that could be fouling the whole operation is that there is a little distortion in the ovalness of the tank. Sounds like when fitting the final fit there is a lot of scope to loose paint off the cover, might have to use a lot of masking tape. Dropping the tank at a angle is a balancing act too as the more you drop it the further the filler is pushed away from the cutout in the rear chassis panel as the edge of the petrol tank hits on the chassis. The cutout for the filler in the rear chassis panel below the cover cutout does not have a lot of clearance around the neck, so another option may be to enlarge the U shaped cutout in the chassis, so the filler has a bit more room to move around while on the angle. All thoughts gratefully accepted David H thanks for resurrecting the old photos, it reminds me how much work there has been to get it back to its present position - that is - ready to put some paint on, and it reminds John of putting his nose in the path of a fast moving jack handle Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin bc Posted July 9, 2022 Author Share Posted July 9, 2022 Guys Removed the rubber strip I have running along the chassis, and have managed to get the filler in place, still a bit tight on the front edge, will remove the rubber between the top of the tank and the chassis, and replace with some thinner rubber probaly 2mm, I think i have used 4mm rubber which I thought was similar to the orig woven material, but appears to be too thick. Also used 4mm on the chassis rail so probaly should reduce that too. The cover is sitting down on the top of the knuckle at the moment so 2 mm rubber should just lift it off. I may have to elongate the tank cover hole a little more I think, it was badly damaged in that area probaly from the tank being ripped out before I got the car, so may need to reshape it a little more to get reasonable clearance in that area. If anyone has a cover off at the moment could you give me a measurement of the length of the elongated diameter. Just adding to Davids comments and photos, that car was found in a clay pan near a railway siding on the old Ghan Railway at Curdamurka ,about 600miles north of Adelaide in the vicinty of Lake Eyre, and was about 4 Miles from the nearest road, so were very lucky to locate it as only had a hand drawn map on a piece of paper, more than 10 yrs old. There were only 134 of these phaetons built by dodge in the US, and we have only found 4 of these Australian built ones all wood of course 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now