Thru the hood fillers & tankzzz

There have been some posts regarding thru the hood filler necks and such of late. I think JPS was going to be working on an offering.
Someone mentioned Dario's filler caps, BUT

Are any for sale or is everyone still wrestlin' with gettin' all the components in the same place AND making a profit?

The Medicine Man wants a bigger gas tank and a cool looking filler neck thru the hood...wallet's out, where am I headed? Who do I call, what's the part number

Same,same for a vintage-looking single, driver's side roll bar.
The wallet is out.
MM

You should pardon the expression, but, Triumphs have a flip open fuel filler, looks similar to the through the hood pics I've seen. They connect to a short hose that goes to the tank. Would seem this could be readily adapted to a filler where the fuel gauge sender is on Speedsters. 'course I'm not sure what you do with the sender.
Bill

All of the 550 Beck & Vintage Spyders have Vw tanks with hood feeds, this is nothing new. Vintage and Beck sell stock tanks with a racer-style flip cap plus the rubber collar to keep water out of your trunk. Ain't no big thing to cut the proper hole in your trunk lid for the cap, then you fiberglass around the edge of the hole to finish it off.

John Steele is preparing an over-sized tank for me now. He got the cap and neck from Vintage Spyder, is deciding how and where to mount the gas sending unit. Everyone says our front ends are too light, the extra six gallons of fuel (50 + lbs. counting extra weigh of tank) can only help, plus I will enjoy the extra range. Guess I am saying is if you want a replacement tank they are in stock complete with the extended neck and cap; if you want a large capacity tank buy one and then order the neck, cap and collar.

Dario makes an exact reproduction of the 550 aluminum racing gas cap, however, like anything else of quality, you pay for it. It is quite a bit more expensive than the Vintage cap. For the current car I am using the cap Vintage Spyders supplied, for the next car I will use Dario's plus his GT mirrors, etc.

The flip-up tank lids used on some MG's, Triumphs, etc., look (and are) super cheap-o. If you surf the web you'll find several different British and Italian sources for really nice 1950s style racing aluminum pop-up gas tank caps with 2 1/2" to 3" throat diameters similar to those used on competition C type Jaguars, Maseratis, and Ferraris. Some have provisions for a small padlock.

I'll hunt and peck
my way to Beck...I bought a couple cool looking filler caps on eBay, one locks, one doesn't but hadn't really wanted to have a big 'ol neck connected to that little bitty gas tank.
Thanks guys

Here's an idea. Maybe check out a Jaguar sedan filler. They were through the body, high quality and may be easily modified to fit our cars??? Just a thought. A used one should not be that high either. I'd think you could pick one up for $50 to 80 bucks.

Does anyone know the correct cap to get, vented or non-vented? I have a strong fuel smell when the tank is at least 3/4 or above full. The over flow seems to vent off the fuel but don't know if it is sloshing up to the neck of the tank or is it due to the gas cap creating some type of suction on the tank.

thanks

Re the gas smell, I had John Steele put in the 13 gallon tank and the first time I put gas in the car, not all the way to the top of the filler neck, and got home I also smelled gas. I checked it out and it was coming from the sending unit on top of the tank. I drove the car around enough to use up enough gas to get it below that level. I let it dry out good and then bought some sealer to seal that area. I thought I had it done but this week, same thing happened as I filled it up getting ready for a long drive. I have repeated the sealent dose, thicker this time. Worse thing about it was the gas took off the black paint on the tank and ran thru the trunk area onto the garage floor. I'll respray the tank and clean up the black paint in the trunk and hope the last dose of sealent works because if it doesn't I am afraid the sending unit will have to come out and a seal put in, maybe no seal was installed in the first place, don't know.

Bruce

I don't have that gas smell around the sender?? Just near the filler and overflow hose attached to the filler. I won't fill the car above the 3/4 thinking it may be the sloshing of the fuel but would still like to know what the correct type of gas cap to use.

Bruce

Does it matter if the weather is hot outside re fumes?

Since you have an overflow tube check first to make sure it isn't clogged and the rubber tube is in good shape. Shoot, replace it just to be sure, should cost less than a buck and take a jiffy.

It should be easy to look for any signs of wettness about the sender fitting or where gas splashes up under the cap and might drip down the neck.

Could your gas tank have a slow leak? Tanks do go bad when rusted through.

I have heard of old vented caps due to age they stop venting, which under high fuel need situations (drag racing) causes the carbs to run lean.

Guess after checking the bottom of the tank and overflow tube I would just buy a new vented cap for a few bucks. Fill-up your car with gas. If you get the fumes return the cap and exchange it for a new nonvented cap.

When I installed my center filler modified tank, I created an overflow problem. I had welded shut the normal overflow port on the corner of the tank where the normal filler was and was using a smaller return(?) tap one on the opposite side of the tank as the vent/overflow. I had to route the overflow tubing line up to a higher point than any other point in the tank and run it completely out the bottom of the car. The tank will (when filled full) drain itself slightly out the overflow due to the slant in the tank when installed or when driving agressive.

Mike

Hose is fine but has the fuel smell permanently in it. Will get a new one. The tank does not leak. I have tried both kinds of caps now and I think the vented seems to work a bit better, but still have that smell...I do think that aggressive right turn is the culprit when the tank is full, or maybe its the left..... Don't think it matters but I am sure having fun..I I will try to plug up the overflow hole and see the results. I just don't want to create a vacuum, but with the vented cap it shouldn't ( I don't think anyway)..

Bruce G.- Buy the unvented gas cap, and put a check valve in the overflow line (with the directional arrow pointed towards the tank). Your "sloshing" problem should go away.

Bruce W.- I had the same problem. If you talk to John, he'll send you a cork sending unit gasket (to replace the rubber one) and some teflon washers to put under the screw heads that hold down the sending unit. When you change the gasket, you'll likely find some pretty nasty burrs on the tank cutting into the stock rubber gasket- file 'em flat and reassemble the whole deal with the cork gaskets. Take the serrated lock washers off the screws and put the teflon washers between the sender and the screwheads. That should take care of the problem. "It worked for me!"

Hey thanks Stan that was going to be my next move. The check valve will let the air in but will keep the fluid out of the line..In the morning I will try it.

You could also try taking a candle and dripping wax over the burrs, maybe use a lighter to look into the tank while you have the sender out....at least that would be my advice to Ron O....

Stan,

Thanks, glad for this group of enthusiats to share your knowledge. Maybe John will start using the cork gaskets and teflon washers as a
rule. I'll try filling the tank up again, maybe my sealent will work this time then on to the next page,(your solution)if it doesn't. Bruce W.