Fuel tank spark arrestor

Is the spark arrestor even needed with modern service station nozzles? Aren't they are designed not to spark?
 
If Henry put it there ....
There’s a reason...
I put them back. It does restrict adding gas just go slower,,, doesn’t hold much anyway
 
The originals worked fine with gas pumps but the repops are too fine meshed and cause gas to burp out.
 
nkaminar said:
Is the spark arrestor even needed with modern service station nozzles? Aren't they are designed not to spark?
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No. Modern cars have a specific size restrictor hole for the nozzle with a metal flap that the nozzle pushes open. That permits the nozzle to discharge any accumulated static charge before pushing that flap open and exposing any vapor path large enough to sustain ignition.

When you bring a gas can to fill, if you look, at any fuel pump in the US there is a posted sign to place all fuel containers on the ground when filling.

Unless you drive around with a ground strap dragging the earth your vehicle is sitting on four donut shaped, air filled insulators. Even if the fuel hose and nozzle have internal or attached ground (earth) paths that does not mean the static charge on the vehicle itself is a zero match for the earth.

If you drive Diesel trucks you should have been instructed to touch nozzles to the tank before removing the cap. Aircraft also have very specific grounding protocols for fueling.

Of course, plenty of model A guys drive sans spark arrestor. Plenty also mix paint and thinner while smoking. Hey, they lived, so what's the big deal??? Fake News, ha ha???
 
The 'spark arrestor' was a result of Fords on going legal issues involving the cowl mounted fuel tank.. a fair amount of accident victims were burned to death. Even back then lawyers named strainers 'spark arrestors' to mitigate the potential damage.
 
Bos, I would not bother to install it. It is not needed today vs 100 years ago.

I had them and removed them for better gas flow and some nozzles don't like them.
 
If you are worried about a static spark when filling the tank, wouldn't it be more to the point to simply touch the metal gas nozzle to the headlight housing or other chassis bare metal before filling the tank? This should negate any voltage difference. The tank should be grounded to the frame, engine, etc. by way of the fuel lines and tank bolt connections.


Edit: You can check for the tank being well-grounded to the frame with an ohmmeter, if not, run a bonding wire.
 
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The arrestors don’t always simply drop in thus the instructions they come with to bend the float rod to one side so the gas gauge doesn’t hang up on it. On my pickup “drop in” worked. On the Coupe while I was pushing the float rod over with a plastic rod it knocked the float loose. Next step was to go partially drain the tank, remove the gauge, find the float, reattach and replace the gauge. Then the gauge seeped so a new gasket was ordered and the previous procedure repeated!
 
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