installing fuel tank

[oldspert]

I am almost ready to install my gas tank back in my 29 coupe. Do I work the welting in after the tank is installed, push it in as the tank is being aligned, or put the welting in place and then install the tank? I thought about glueing the welting to the lower windshield cowl before the tank goes in but not sure. Searched but did not get any good info for 29.

 

[ModelAMitch]

I used strips of tape to hold the welting onto the top of the tank. I slid it in place, and moved the welting around with a small flathead screwdriver through the holes in the windshield frame. Got it lined up pretty good that way. When your done you can cut off whatever tape is exposed on the bottom side of the tank.. If that makes any sense

 

[Will N]

I'm going to have to deal with this at some point too, as I'm restoring my 29 Roadster. Doesn't the welting run all the way from one splash apron, up between the coupe pillar and cowl panel, across the gas tank and then back down to the splash apron on the other side? I believe (I may be wrong) that the welting is one long continuous piece. I've been thinking about how to approach this, and it seems to me that it would be best to glue or tape the welting to the windshield frame rather than to the tank, as it has to continue down to the splash apron.

 

[ModelAMitch]

Your correct. I did not install it in one continuous piece. I cut it and installed it in three pieces. One between tank and windshield frame. And one on either side where the tank meets the cowl. After installing in three pieces and still having a difficult time with lots of cursing during the process, I couldn’t imagine installing all the welting in one continuous piece. Maybe if you had a couple extra pair of hands?
Update the thread when and if you try it and let us know how it goes!

 

[Randy in ca]

Won't help you a whole lot, but around the 16 minute mark of this old video is shown (quickly and roughly) how Ford employees did it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clYNiITQ-PA


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[Will N]

Thanks for the video! Interesting that they installed the tank, firewall and cowl panels as a built up sub assembly! That makes aligning all those parts so much simpler than installing them piece by piece. It may make riveting the parts to the sub rail harder to get at though. But at the key point in the video where they might have shown how the installer lined up the welting, they just did a fade out to the completed installation. Argh!