Waiting on some fittings for the
oil cooler, that will not arrive until Wednesday, so spent my time working on some small projects.
Hooked up the linkage for the carb, still need to add one more retaining bolt to the linkage, will pick that up tomorrow.
Then I moved on to address a concern regarding the gas cap. Being that the car is a vintage race car, I did not have the fuel tank installed as the race groups require a fuel cell. So, I have an opening cut out for the gas cap and an open area over the differential where the fuel tank would go.
I thought that the gas cap would have a gasket that would fit underneath it and I could just seal the cap to the bodywork. However, when I went to fit the gas cap I realized that the cap fit inside the hole in the bodywork and rested on top of the nonexistent gas tank for it's support
Now what do I do?
The solutions that I was finding were to install a rubber plug, but that was not going to work and I was not happy with the look. I could adhere some aluminum from the underside to fill the hole, but that did not seem to be what I wanted to do either.
I really wanted to have the vintage look of the Monza gas cap, even though it wold not be functional. Eventually I came upon a decision that seemed to be workable. I took some measurements and then fabricated some spare sheet metal and a piece of aluminum to cover the hole and provide support from the frame. I then marked and drilled holes for the screws that mount the gas cap and then painted the sheet metal red in case some of it showed.
I then fitted the contraption into place and secured the gas cap and voila!
Hopefully it will work!
This coming week I am going to do a leak test of the fuel system and then hopefully by weeks end do an initial start-up. Will also be installing the passenger seat and the inner body panels.
Jim