Minger Defined

From urbandictionary.com: (I'll spare you the link lest some definitions offend)

minger - Now often used by chavs all over Britain to define anything remotely disgusting.
or from Wikipedia:
UK (slang) uncomplimentary description of an unattractive person, usually female.

Yes its true. The GT interior is a real minger. It looks disgusting. It smells bad. Its generally nasty. Check out the "carpet" behind the seats. It pulled away easily leaving little but dust. It was well on its way back to nature.Some wasps were building a nest on on the driver's side rear wheel well.
Most enticing of all was the mouse nest found under the body panel over the rear wheel well. I had a run-in with the previous tenants a few weeks ago and all six (adults) were dispatched to the great block of cheese in sky. That's the nest in white, with mouse-urine drenched insulation near the back. Fantastic.
With the vermin and disgusting carpet removed perhaps it will at least start to smell a little better?

GT Fuel System : Mounting the new tank

I had planned on a full weekend of working on the car, but I decided to run a full virus can on my home PC on Friday after work. Virus scan found a virus, removed it, and at the same time corrupted the operating system beyond repair. Many, many hours later I'm back in business, having only lost a few email and the time I had hoped to invest in the GT.

Back to the fuel system! First step was to etch prime and then paint the mounting hardware with acrylic paint. Then bake it in the oven for 20 minutes at 200F to harden the paint. Mmmmm - Just like mom used to make! I scrimped on the prep work so it did not adhere as well as I had hoped. Never skimp on the prep, kids.
The new tank previously coated with truck bed liner was ready for the install. Although you can't see it in this photo, the black isolation rubber strips were run along the tops of the ridges on the tank. Traditional install is to run the strips front to back but they tend to trap dirt and moisture and start to rust the top of the tank. Some spray-on adhesive kept them in place until the tank was raised with the jack to help hold it while it was bolted on. The original isolation piece around the vent and the filler were reused.
The tarp is in place to catch drips from underneath where Penetrol was applied on some rusted areas that were easier to access while the tank was off. Penetrol is a paint conditioner that helps prevent rust by adhering to it and forming a film when it dries. It is often used by owners on the MBG Experience for rust prevention in the sills. Will it help here? Who knows? Its better than doing nothing and I'm not doing a proper restoration at this point. Here it is, all tucked up and bolted in. Now that's some nice GT badonkadonk!
Fuel lines were detached and blown out with compressed air (the carb is out for a rebuild). Some nasty, rusty gas came through the lines. Rubber lines were replaced in the rear area as a precaution. The metal lines will be left alone for now.The original tank had a fuel pickup line built in. The new tank does not and uses a pickup line integral to the gauge. Minor adjustments were needed to the metal lines. Sure, its not pretty and definitely not original, but it gets the job done!Carb rebuild is the next item for the fuel system - a good rainy day job. Body work on the replacement wing is coming soon too.

My Favourite Stripper is not named "Lola"

OR: GT Fuel System (Sort of, but not really)

I thought it would be a good idea to assess the rust damage in the spare tire area prior to replacing the bolts for installation of the new tank. NOTE: This kind of "while you are at it" behaviour is never a good idea when the goal is to get the car on the road. I just could not help myself and need to constantly remind myself of the 80 LE that is sitting in bits in my garage. But, I needed a physical task to burn off some stress, so I took into it. First step is removal of the cover.
Then a closer look at what lurks beneath. It appears not too bad in this picture but there is a lot of deep rust on the "shelf" near the front, in the corners, and near the rear of the car (not in photo).
I cleaned it up a little and used low-odour "Aircraft stripper" to remove the paint. The low odour stuff does not work as well as the regular but is hopefully less toxic. Paint stripper generates a lot less dust than using a wire-wheel to take it off. A wire wheel was used for final cleanup. "Stripper" and "take it off" in the same paragraph and I can't think of anything witty to say. I must be tired!

Here's why they say to put this stuff in a metal or glass container. The stripper was in this cup for about 2 minutes and no, I was not holding the cup at the time. Always do what the instructions tell you, kids! All the paint in this photo was removed before the next steps.After stripping I cleaned the surfaces with Marine Clean, flushed with water, dried, primed with Metal Ready, flushed with water, dried, applied two coats of POR-15, all per the directions. Here it is after one coat. That's a little nicer.
I still have to paint the tank mounting hardware but that's an easy job. What's next? Going to bed! One of my Great Danes had me up most of last night because of thunder storms and I took the other one urban hiking today. I'm bushed!

GT Fuel System (Part 2 - New Fuel Tank)

A new fuel tank was obtained from the local Advance Auto Parts just up the road. The tank is manufactured in Canada, is not baffled and does not have an integral fuel pick up line. No worries - a pick up line will be installed with the fuel gauge. The first step was to strip off the oily coating on the exterior then sand lightly to ensure a good starting surface.This next step is not really necessary, but I felt that a good coat of etch primer would give an excellent base for the next layers. Ah! There's nothing like a freshly primed surface!
Truck bed liner was applied using a brush. A roller would give a smoother surface but the tank is barely visible so appearance is not a concern. Bed liner will help prevent chipping and is a very robust coating. Duplicolor from the local Advance Auto Parts was used. Any cheap brush-on liner would do nicely and you could brush this on directly to properly prepared metal.
With the bed liner flowing it was a good time to do my LE's tank as well. This tank was painted with POR-15 rust paint and required a good scuffing with sand paper followed by a cleaning with mineral spirits before applying the bed liner.Why put bed liner on the top of the tank?? I will be pulling the tank when welding, and much of my work will be accomplished as a rolling restoration - not a full stripping of the car all at once. This approach will require the tanks to come off several times. Coating the top of the tank will prevent any scratching during installation, removal, and storage. Any little scratch is a prime entry point for the tin worm.
Here are both tanks complete after two coats of bed liner. I'm very happy with the result. If I were to do this in a more visible area (like wheel wells) I would try the roller method to get a smoother surface. The key to brush application is to lay it on in a single smooth motion, not back-and-forth brushing like you would with paint.
Next up: Rebuilding the carburetor...or removing the front wing. Whatever weather and time allows!