Well, my refurb has been progressing and the new dash is in (after finding out all about the dangers of auto-electrics!) and the engine and carb tarting up is almost complete (for now).

However, when I put some new fuel in at the weekend I noticed a couple of ominous drips from the bottom of the tank. My guess is that water has got into the tank and I have some pin holes which have now presented themselves. While I could do a temporary repair, I was wondering if anyone who actually has full build experience can tell me how the tank is fitted so I can investigate whether I can fit a new one (Mini van from memory?).

Thanks in advance.

Dave

Hi Dave

Mini Van tank is for a Fury - Stylus is MG Midget - If you're thinking off the shelf STEEL - Moss, etc do them.

I have a drawing for an aluminium larger capacity version, as fitted to my car.
Would only fit a live axle chassis, not the de-dion.

And... if you're thinking of fuel injecting the car sometime... now's the time to fit a tank with a fuel return inlet & bottom cup type outlet.

Assuming you've drained the tank, disconnected filler neck, fuel outlet hose, & the sender electrics.....
The tank is possibly hung off 4 lengths of studding, 2 through each rail which the boot floor GRP lays on.
The studding was long to also support the undertank SSC silencer if your car ever had one.
Undo the nuts (or cut stud) & the tank falls out.
Getting the studding out is then a real pain, if you're lucky its got short nuts & bolts !

To actually remove the tank I had to disconnect & remove the handbrake actuating rod.
Possibly the the upper supension arms too so that the axle can move forward.
Its then a case of squeezing it between the rear body work & the axle casing.
The GRP will bend a lot more than you think without damaging the paint !

Matt

Dave,

There'll be a tank coming off my car at some point - depends what sort of a timescale you are working to?
It has been modded to be an injection tank, and has had a surge pot welded to the bottom of it - beyond that, I don't know much about it's condition until I pull it out. But I am just down the road from you... there again, so is the MGOC spares shop!

As an aside, I passed through Llanidloes a few times at the weekend, but didn't see any Stylus...

Dave

Hi, can confirm that the tank does come out with a lot of bending of the body work. Luckily, I didn't need to undo the suspension.

If the tank was supplied by Peter Powell when he was selling the kits the tank will have a 'swan neck' extension welded to the fuel filler hole. I think it's unnecessarily long, making it difficult if not impossible to reinstall the tank. I reused the very bottom section and used a flexible fuel hose to the filler flange on the body work.

When ordering from Moss make certain that you get the correct tank for the sender you have. Either the bolt on sender that came with my kit or the bayonet type sender.

Mike

Matt, did you make the tank up yourself or have it made? Wondering if you could give advise on cost?
Pete..

Around £200 from memory , aye Matt

Thanks for the info guys. As far as I'm aware my car is a modified fury chassis with a Stylus body so I probably won't know which tank it is until I get it out! Sounds like a job for Sunday morning before the GP!

Dave

Edit: Looking at the pictures on the web it's definitely a midget tank. Matt - Would it be possible for you to send me your tank drawings? I can deal with most CAD formats if that's how they're drawn.

Hi Dave

Yes, no problem, have sent it to several forum guys already
The drawing is in AutoCAD, and is a good start point for most Stylus's.
Just pm me you email address.

Rgds
Matt.

PS - Any feedback from those who've had my drawing already ?
What tweaks have been made ??

Well, while I get the cash together to get a Matt Special(TM) tank made up, I thought I'd do a quick repair job on my existing tank. So I whipped it out this afternoon (despite the resistance put up by a couple of bolts!). So this is what the tank looks like:


Taking a wire brush to the area that was leaking has shown up the holes (see if you can spot them all!):


But when I was moving the tank around it sounded like like something was rattling around so I tipped it up into a bowl:


It looks like I've been out prospecting and hit rusty gold! No wonder the carbs were full of orange gunk! Oh well, I'll just have to save up a bit quicker!

That looks as though someone's poured something in the tank to seal the leaks ---- not just rust flakes

There's even some kind of gasket in there as well! I'm going to measure it up today and then I'll be tweaking Matt's design at work on Monday to see if I can maximise the volume and still get the tank in without having to shift the rear axle.

Oh well another job to add to the list, along with the wires that I found disconnected in the boot! I will get the old girl back on the road this year, honest!

Dropped the tank off my Midget today - it didn't look great at first...



And it had this rattling around inside it...



Eventually I figured out it is the end off a fuel filler cap that must have broken and fallen down into the tank years and years ago.

After a while scrubbing with the wire brush, it looks a bit better, though the seam on the filler side is a bit ropey...



I've a feeling the one on my Stylus may become a donor!

DH2