[Mick O'Malley]

Yesterday, after a wet morning, I decided to press on with the Mini fuel tank. First job was to find a way to sit it upright in the inverted body. I considered wedging it with wood off-cuts but, as both surfaces are curved, I discarded that idea. I took off the number plate and threaded a loop of para cord through the holes. With the filler neck in its hole I then knotted and re-knotted the ends until the tank sat nicely.



I laid a straight edge along the bottom flange and marked the inside edges of the body. I put the floor back in place and transferred the marks to its edges, then cut an oblong of ply against which the rear face of the flange will locate. I stuck it to the floor temporarily with four small blobs from my Machine Mart hot glue gun and offered it up. I could see that my idea would work. As the base of the tank is curved, further ply will have to be fixed to support it across its width. I'll probably use Sikaflex and short countersunk wood screws for final assembly.





A matching but removable ply locating plate will sandwich the front of the flange. I'm unsure how I'll locate the top of the tank but there's a handy mounting hole and I can fabricate a removable neck escutcheon, once the odd angle at which it protrudes has been sorted by cutting a V and welding.



That was it for the day.

Regards, Mick