Fuel Tanks

[Running Board]

Here's an interesting one:

When Chugga had removed his Augusta fuel tank, I had the unenviable task of trying to remove the fuel gauge sender (they're Mazak and swell/crack).  Anyway, it came out in two pieces and can probably be restored, but that's another story. 

When I checked the well in which the fuel gauge float resides, there was a good half inch of thick rusty silt at the bottom and when this was scraped out, holes resulted.  I filled the tank with water, inverted it over a drain, then soft soldered a patch which seems to have cured the problem. 

When I thought about this afterwards, the potentially hazardous nature of this ancient construction came to mind.  With the tank in its normal position on the bulkhead, the fuel gauge well represents the lowest point - where water will have gathered for the past 75 years.  There is no way of emptying this well without inverting the tank (the drain plug is higher up).  I wonder how many Augustas are running around with perilously thin fuel tanks in the area immediately above the passenger's footwell?  I think I ought to check mine! 

When we were in Italy in 1996 (Lancia 90th), one Augusta suffered a petrol fire and suffice it to say that there was very little of it left afterwards.