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MG TD TF 1500 - Whats in your Gas Tank?

Are any of the crown jewels missing?

Needed to drain out old gas from my TD. That was easy, plug came out without much effort.

Figured I would inspect the tank with my flexible camera. We had cleaned and coated the tank in 1974, so I was interested to see how she looked.

The tank looks fantastic, no rust I could see. No junk at the bottom.

But when I entered the second compartment of the tank, Here is what I found.

There appears to be a bag in the middle compartment of my TD. Looks like burlap. I can't believe this has not dissolved over the 41 years that I have owned the car.

Maybe it is acting as a giant filter and that is why the tank is so clean.

Any thoughts?

I am sure I can snag it, but not all that sure I can pull it through the small hole in the baffle.

Guess if its been in there for potentially 65 years, it can stay there, but I am way to curious to see what it is.

(ignore the picture date. Forgot to reset the camera)

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

I have one of those expandable claws but its only 24" long. I guess you need one that is 36 or 48" long. You are welcome to borrow it.

The other option is one of those garden claws. Or perhaps a coat hanger might do it.
Christopher Couper

Wow!

Get a long wooden dowel and attach a fish hook to the end of it.



Frank Cronin

How would that get in there?? Why is the tank sealant not on it? If it has been there for that long, why remove it??
David
D. Sander

Has to have gone in after the tank was sealed. The insides look terrific! This is one great advertisement for the sealer you used. What was the brand Bruce? (I keep putting sealing the tank off & it will be the very last job on the car as I've seen a couple of botched jobs which has made me really leary of the process). Seems like you've proved gas is a great preserver of hessian! I agree you wouldn't be able to fish it out through the small baffle hole & you'd probably get it stuck if you tried. So it looks like a sleeping dog.. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter. That was done in 1974, so I don't remember the brand. I think it was a Moss product.

I do agree that it should have been coated when the tank was sealed. Only thing I can think is that the prep solution used to clean the tank kept it from coating the material. In other pictures, there is some white on the material.

For the life of me, I can't figure how it got in the middle section. The holes at the bottom of the baffle are only 2" or so inches.

I am going to look up through the plug hole tomorrow and see if I can get a better idea of what it is.

Chris. I am going to see if I can find a 36" grabber. I think a bent coat hanger would also work. I can direct it with the camera.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

It looks like hessian or some kind of sacking material. It would have been used as insulation or cushioning to deter scratching, etc., during manufacture. if soaked in some kind of coating polymer, it is probably going to be too stiff to be removed easily. Would not removing the fuel low level float assembly give better access?
Dave H
Dave Hill

You will have better luck by removing the fuel sender, Tha will give you access to the middle portion of tank.
Sandy
SANDY

my guess would be that someone stuffed it in the fuel sending unit hole to keep debris out the take while it working in that area and the material accidentally slipped into the tank then someone either forgot or neglected to fish it out....
R Brown

well that was poorly written, must have been still asleep, but I think what I meant to say is clear.
R Brown

Yep, was not planning on taking the tank off, but the sending unit hole is probably the best way to get to this. Will let you know what I find (or maybe not if there is something of value in the bag)
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

I found Jimmy Hoffa in a gas tank once.

'74 Dodge.

Or.... maybe the trunk.

....
MAndrus

Hmmmm.....I don't remember you crossing the border in to Mexico with it.....and lets see...you didn't slip into Colorado when you moved..... You were close to the Canadian border...wonder what you would smuggle across up there?
MG LaVerne

Oh Crikey LaVerne,
Now the TSA/FBI will be reading all his emails.
Now you have dropped the Buss work "Smuggle"

Thank god you did no say Al-Qaeda or ISIS

:)
R. D. Jones

Coulda been worse...I coulda said "Al-Gore"...:-)
MG LaVerne

AH you mean the inventor of the first Burlap bag.
Good call

:)
R. D. Jones

I have seen peanuts in the exhaust system, corn in the heads and birds nests and mice nests under the dash but damned if I have ever heard of burlap in the gas tank, wonder of wonders, congrats Bruce you win the prize IMHO.
TRM Maine

Once found a shop rag in a manual transmission.
Christopher Couper

In the old days the more shady mechanics would put walnut shells in gearboxes to quiet them down... at least it worked until they sold the car....
Kevin McLemore

Strange Kevin,
I had heard it was banana skins and it did not last too long.
However, I did check the Gearbox dipstick before I bought my first TD :) Just incase.
Rod
R. D. Jones

Thought I would give an update.

Got the tank off, figuring I could pull the fuel float and fish out the rag. Well, there are actually 4 sections in the TD gas tank. Fuel float is in #3. Rag is in #2. (same one where the fuel drain is located.

Looks like the tank sealer we used in 74, penetrated the material and stuck it to the wall of the tank.

So first observation. This has to have been put in at the factory. There is too much material for it to have gone in through the drain or through the holes in the baffles, and the tank has never been opened as far as we know.

I cannot remove the entire rag from the tank without figuring out how to shred the material. Only way in is the small drain plug.

I was able to get some of the material out. From the pieces I was able to recover, it is not burlap. It is a woven thin material.

Will just have to keep checking the tank filter to assure it is not getting plugged.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

This thread was discussed between 16/05/2015 and 20/07/2015

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