>Anyway, the question that I had was about the gas restrictor that you
>*removed*. I was curious if it looked like a 5" or so upside down cone.
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No, that inverted cone is in fact the "leaded fuel" nozzle restriction. It
was installed in response to the switchover (sometime in 1973) to unleaded
at a time when LEADED fuel was still available. The nozzles at the gas
station tanks of unleaded fuel were purposely made smaller, and fuel tank
access openings in vehicles were also made smaller so that one could not
accidently put the wrong nozzle in one's gas tank opening, filling with
leaded fuel and eventually ruining the catalyst. The larger, leaded fuel
nozzles wouldn't fit in the opening of the vehicles designed for unleaded
fuel. That restriction, was BL's answer to the new legislation requiring
this (probably allowing them to use up the old tanks and not tooling up for
a new cap). After leaded fuel was phased out it became a mute point.
As for what I "removed", during the great emission legislation period,
part of the new requirement was for containing vapors evaporating from the
fuel tank itself. In the design for later, more closed systems, part of
the requirement in this (Spitfire's) design was for a space for the fuel to
expand into, without sloshing into the recovery, or purge tank (that little
cylindrical item just above and between the tank itself and the body). To
accomplish that feat, the tank design was "modified" by simply extending
the filler that is neck brazed into the top of the tank, down into the
tank itself about two inches. Whereas before this simple tube (that the
rubber hose slips over and connects to the filler cap assy) ended at the
top of the tank, it now extended down into the tank, not allowing you to
completely fill the tank and creating an air space above it. Of course,
this diminished the capacity by about a gallon or slightly more.
To remove it I just used my reciprocating saw with a LONG blade on it and
simply cut the extension off (through the opening, at an angle), recovering
the lost capacity. I then squashed the cutoff piece that fell into the
tank in half, and extracted it out the opening. I wasn't worried about
metal shavings because I was going to have the whole finished tank cleaned
anyway. Since I have an earlier venting scheme, I didn't need the later
style, reduced capacity tank, and with only a little less than ten gallons
with the "big" tank, feeding a six cylinder, I need all the capacity I can
get :-)
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
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