As I'm not using the original fuel tank, I need to relocate it to a new position. My plan is to make an alloy or stainless steel tank and shape it to take advantage of the space behind the seats. The filler will be located on the left rear quarter panel behind a homemade flip up door. I'm using the hammer form technique to make the door and surrounding metal to fit into the panel. I bought a suitable filler pipe and cap from a small Mazda car and will modify it to fit the Ford.

 

In a similar fashion, actual hinged door is also hammer formed. A hinge removed from the old Mazda door will be fitted to the new door using the raised side pieces visible on the left of the new door. The door and surround will be massaged to follow the contour of the quarter panel.

 

Here is the hammer formed opening, welded into the rear quarter panel. It will need a little lead wiping to finish it off.
The hinge from a Mazda, fitted to my home made door.

Below is the housing and filler pipe to be fitted under the door. A drain will be added for water removal.

 

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April 2003, updated Updated August 13, 2010

Jan 2002

The gas cap and tube (pic above) needs to be fitted into the opening in the fender. An open topped "box" is to be formed in metal and fitted under the fender and welded to the lip that has been formed into the opening (see Pic upper right)

A wooden pattern was made and the metal hammer formed over it, to make a shape the same as the opening in the fender. The corners were "encouraged" with a little heat to form the shape. The lip is about 10mm all around. The large hole was also cut for the filler pipe.

The pic on the right shows the bottom of the "box", upside down. A strip of metal was folded and then fitted all round the edges, to form the sides of the 'box". The corners were cut out, to make fitting easier. They will be filled in later.

The idea is to make this "box" for the gas filler, removable, as I figured a deep box might be very difficult to paint, later on. A similar edge piece will be made and welded to the fender, with the lip on the bottom. Then the "box" will be screwed from underneath, to it, so forming a complete gas filler recess. A drain hole will also be made to drain off water and fuel spillage.

Here's the "box" almost finished. The edge piece was MIG welded to the base and the corners filled in. It needs a cleanup though with a file on the inside corners. When cleaned up, it will be primed.

The top mating section has yet to be made but will be made in a similar fashion to the edge already completed. It will be made to fit up to the opening in the fender. A rubber gasket will be made to fit in between the two pieces which will be fastened with self tapping screws from the bottom.

The filler tube mounts with two screws and has a gasket fitted already to it.

still working on this. More a bit later!

 

The picture shows the new surrounding panel being hammer formed through the master hole cut into hi density fibreboard. The top piece is made slightly bigger, to hold the steel in place and reduce distortion whilst hammering. The metal to be hammered down over the edge is reduced in the corners to make forming around the curve easier.