1929 flame arrestor

Chris Haynes

Chris Haynes

Well-known member
My flame arrestor is laying in the bottom of the tank. How is the best way to retrieve it and get it where it belongs?
 
Got a fishing pole!

That is a new one Chris.

I wonder how the heck it got there in the first place?

Is it the one with the threads or the tabs?

The tabby ones might be easier to remove than the threaded ones.

Just have to fish it out or cut the tank which I do not think you will do.

Pluck
 
Chris, getting that out is kinda like putting toothpaste back into the tube!! :D

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Without cutting the tank open to retrieve it, your only hope is to be able to pick it up and align it where you can then "thread" it out of the tank. I don't know what the odds of that all coming together for you would be but I would imagine it is similar to choosing the winning lottery numbers for the next jackpot!!

If it is rattling around and you cannot justify opening the tank at the moment, maybe a fairly strong magnet placed on the outside of the tank's bottom would hold it in position??


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Not alot of fun to remove them, but by taking the gas gauge out and the top off it is possible to fish them out. Works best with 2 people. Used several different tools, but found 2 pieces of #9 wire worked best to lift it from the gauge hole, then the other person can try to grab it in the filler hole with some long needle nose pliers or something simular. Only had to do this one and it took a couple of hours before we finally got it. Rod
 
Thats gonna be a job. Makes me think if I want to put the threaded arrester I just bought at a swap meet in my tank or not.
 
I would start with a hook on some welding wire, try to catch the bottom, pull it out the filler neck bottom up, screw it into the tank and hope it will screw it's way out..
 
My tank was the same way. I'd guess some previous owner let the gas nozzle rest against the screen and it finally broke away from the thin threaded portion, and fell to the bottom. I removed the threaded part, then I used a mechanical fingers to pull the screen up where I could put a couple fingers inside and pull it out. Hopefully you can do the same even if the threaded portion is still attached. If your fingers don't work as I described, then bend a coat hanger into a V with a little bit of wire sticking out of each tip of the V. Turn the V wire upside down and squeeze the wire together enough to isert it into the screen and let it spread back apart to grab the screen. Then you can use the top of the upside down V to spin the screen.
 
Pluck, No, I removed the threaded part of the screen, which had been seperated probably due to side pressure from a gas nozzle. The spot welds were broken.
 
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