Solution to a Baffling Problem

OK, the problem above wasn’t so baffling; it just shows the JB Weld applied to the tank pickup, which was loose. Once in place on the car the pickup is held in place by the line leading to it, so the JB Weld is mainly providing a seal rather than structural strength. That said, I admire JB as a statement of hope; it’s often deployed as a last-ditch effort to fix something; fingers get crossed, everyone relaxes, congratulates each other and thinks “thank goodness”.

And then it fails. In my experience. Let’s hope this is different!

Above is my solution for the loose baffles. Once they’re upright, they do not need support from the top, bottom, front or back; what they need is support from the sides so they cannot tip over. (I’m not even convinced the baffles originally provided any contribution to keeping the tank from ballooning, as they were only held in by a blob of solder at each corner, and none along the length of the flanges. I am also not concerned about fuel being able to get through the hole, I suspect the small gaps in each corner can flow far more fuel than the car can gobble, or the pump at a gas station can dispense.)

My Rube-Goldbergian construction is designed to attach to each baffle individually, and then be joined together so that the two turned-up ends are resting against the ends of the tank. The pieces that touch the tank ends fit through the the center hole in each baffle. There is a riv-nut at the top with a bolt in it, holding it to the matching piece in the center of the tank.

This allows the assembly to be fed in through the sending-unit hole whilst still attached to each other. It can then, in only a few minutes hours be tightened around the lower part of the baffle. Once each baffle is held in place, the two assemblies can be joined to each other using the bolt in the center piece; the bolt head is under a turned-up length of the center connector so it doesn’t actually put any stress on the bottom of the tank.

Tools involved include curses, blood, a magnet on a stick and various devices to prod and push. Be sure to drink enough water to replace the moisture lost through the tears you’ll cry. In other words, experts only, please.

(It seems to work, as nothing rattles, the baffles are upright, and the tank can be put back into service. Still not sure about the JB weld. And if you liked this, you’ll love the next post about making new tank mounts!)