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RE: [oletrucks] There Is A Smart Way And Then There Is a Dumb

To: Terry Stellman <STELLMAN@noex.com>,
Subject: RE: [oletrucks] There Is A Smart Way And Then There Is a Dumb
From: jvanho01@tir.com
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 21:13:08 -0400
The other thing to use would be a product called "Goo Gone", you can get it
at most hardware stores.

Jim V.

At 02:57 PM 7/1/99 Thursday -0500, Terry Stellman wrote:
>
>Somebody else jump in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you can clean
>off the sealer stuff with mineral spirits after it dries.  The mineral
>spirits shouldn't hurt the paint either.
>
>
>Terry Stellman
>1949 3600
>Missouri City, Texas
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:        Hudson29@aol.com [SMTP:Hudson29@aol.com]
>> Sent:        Thursday, July 01, 1999 2:28 PM
>> To:  oletrucks@autox.team.net
>> Subject:     [oletrucks] There Is A Smart Way And Then There Is a Dumb
>> Way . . .
>> 
>>      Because I am basically a lazy bastard, it is not unusual for me,
>> when 
>> ramping up to do a job, to read all the shop manuals, then get all the
>> parts 
>> and do a run through in my mind or with the actual parts where possible. I
>> 
>> try to get the proper tools lined up ahead of time, and most jobs go 
>> reasonably smoothly, barring the "Unforeseen."
>>      One recent job was to fix the rusty old gas tank and replace all the
>> 
>> related rubber bits in the fuel system. As anyone who has ever done this
>> to 
>> an AD truck can tell you, the job is not too tough, and this one proceeded
>> 
>> just about as expected until I got to the final finishing touch.
>>      The fuel filler pipe on the AD truck sticks out of the side of the 
>> cab with a big rubber donut around it sealing it to the cab sheetmetal. My
>> 
>> original donut came off in one piece, but I bought a nice quality repop
>> and 
>> wanted to install it on the freshly powdercoated filler neck.
>>      In eyeballing the job, an assembly sequence seemed to me to make 
>> sense, and all parts were trial fitted to ensure easy assembly. To make
>> sure 
>> of a good waterproof seal, a fresh tube of black silicone seal was readied
>> 
>> and the neck was slipped into the fresh rubber hoses and secured with the 
>> original factory clips, still in surprisingly good condition.
>>      I am always a little uncomfortable working with silicone seal. The 
>> stuff is difficult to wipe off cleanly and once it begins to set, there is
>> no 
>> working with it at all. For that reason, I decided to smear the filler
>> tube 
>> with the sealer just back where it would fit into the donut, fully
>> believing 
>> that the easiest mess to clean up is the one that doesn't get made to
>> start 
>> with. For the donut-to-cab seal, there was just no clean way to make this 
>> joint without oozing somewhat. I would have to rely on speed of assembly
>> to 
>> allow me plenty of time to clean up the inevitable mess before the
>> silicone 
>> seal became intransigent.
>>      As you might have guessed from the title of this story, all did not 
>> go well. The problem presented itself when I tried to squeeze the rubber 
>> doughnut into place. The filler neck poked through the hole as
>> anticipated, 
>> but with the neck in place, there was no longer room to scootch the rubber
>> 
>> doughnut enough to get the donut into place. Being a sharp cleaver lad, I 
>> thought I would just FORCE it into place and picked up a very large 
>> screwdriver already laid out within easy reach.
>>      The top two-thirds of the donut responded to force rather well, and 
>> for a while I thought I might just pull this off, but it was not to be.
>> Now I 
>> am a big fellow, well known for having a strong back (and perhaps a weak 
>> mind) and in 40 minutes or so of life and death struggle, I couldn't make
>> a 
>> go of it. I was frustrated, tired and I had made a huge mess with drying 
>> black silicone goo all over my skin, clothes, tools and worst of all, all 
>> over the truck.
>>      At this point, I stopped to reassess the situation. The original 
>> reason for the particular assembly procedure had been to avoid making a
>> mess. 
>> In this, I had clearly failed. Now, I might just as well do it the easy
>> but 
>> somewhat messier way, after all, I couldn't possibly make the mess any
>> worse! 
>> First, I pulled the rubber donut and fuel filler pipe back off. Next, a
>> new 
>> bead of the sealer was applied to the donut and it was easily popped into 
>> place.
>>      The fuel filler had to go into the donut from the inside of the cab 
>> and I was worried that it would push the donut back out of the hole in the
>> 
>> cab so the neck too got a liberal coating of the slippery silicone goo.
>> The 
>> filler pipe twisted into place easily! Retightening the hose clips
>> finished 
>> the job.
>>      As to the mess, I'm afraid very little could be done. The more I 
>> tried to wipe it off, the worse the mess got. There is black sealer all
>> over 
>> the paint and rubber donut, and although some of it rubbed off the next
>> day, 
>> some remains still. Does anybody have any good way of cleaning this stuff
>> off?
>>      If you are going to do this job, remember that the rubber donut goes
>> 
>> into the cab first, then the filler neck goes in. It's the smart way.
>> 
>> Paul O'Neil, Hudson29@aol.com
>> 1951 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup Project, See it at:
>> The Poor Man's Advanced Design Tech Tips Page
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~conntest47/
>> Fullerton, California USA
>> AEROMARK - Need Rubber Stamps or Signs? See:
>> http://hometown.aol.com/hudson29/myhomepage/index.html
>> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
>oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959

oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959

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