Before I can install the fuel tank for good, I also needed to wrap up the trunk aluminum. I had previously drilled the upper trunk floor, but I never did the same for the lower trunk floor. I started by removing the tank (hopefully for the last time before the final reassembly). I needed to do this so that I could mark the chassis tubes on the underside of this sheet. After laying out all of the holes, I drilled the sheet to the chassis tubes. You can also see that there is a row of rivet holes tying the upper trunk floor to the lower trunk floor.
With the lower trunk floor in place, I cut and bent a piece of scrap aluminum to make the access panel cover for the fuel sender and fuel return and vent fittings.
I drilled this to the floor with a #30 bit for now. I’ll open these up for the right size screw before installing nutplates.
I also cut out and drilled an access panel cover for the fuel pump and supply fittings.
The fuel tank is narrower than the cavity in the chassis that it fits within, but I don’t want the fuel tank to be able to slide from side to side. To prevent this, I drilled a 1/4″ hole in the lower diagonal tube on the inside face and welded on a 1/4-20 nut.
I threaded a leveling foot with threaded stud into the nut. I had previously bonded a piece of the same reinforced rubber sheeting onto the foot where it will contact the tank.
You can see on the other side that there is a run nut threaded onto the shaft as well. Once the tank is installed, I can tighten the foot against the tank and lock it into position with the jam nut.
Before reinstalling the tank, I wanted to wrap up the rear brakes. I started by adding a brake line clamp on the right diagonal tubing. Unfortunately, when I was trying to wrap up the other end of this piece of tubing, I botched the flare. I don’t think the tubing is salvageable, so I’ll probably have to fabricate a new piece.
