Thanks guys, many years ago (1989) I had a magnificent 1971 Ford XY Futura with 4V 351C, C6 Trans, 9 inch diff etc, which I loved more than any car I've owned prior, or since. Only problem was it used fuel @ an alarming rate, so when the Army told me I was being posted to Brisbane, 1000 miles away, I sold it and bought a 1972 Ford Fairmont with a stock 302C, C4 slushbox, etc.
It had belonged to an old Italian guy, and was in pretty tired condition, but was cheap. My first job was to fit 4 matching tyres as it had 4 tyres that didn't match, 2 of which weren't even the right size! The next task was to clean all the bark out of the boot, (trunk) seems he used to cut his own firewood, so he'd just drive out into the bush, chop up some deadfall, and fill up his trunk.
Next job was the tow bar, which was wonky, looked slightly bent, and as it turned out, was held in place with self tapping sheet metal screws! Fark! I took it to a shop and had a new one installed, as I was towing a trailer to our new digs.
The big day came, day one of the three day journey, so we loaded the kids and the cat into the car, hooked up the trailer, said goodbye to our neighbors and our old Army house, and set off. We stopped at a Shell gas station, and back in the day when you could do so, I inserted the pump nozzle and set it to fill, then went to check the oil and water etc.
with my head under the bonnet, I thought I could smell raw fuel, but everything looked OK, so I wandered around the back and to my horror, there was a fine stream of fuel jetting out of a hairline crack at the rear of the tank, where the old tow bar's tongue must have been rubbing against it! FCUK!
I asked the gas station attendant if he had anything to plug the leak and the best he could do was some silicon sealant, so I slathered that on, but 200 miles up the road it was leaking again, so I slathered some more on (after putting another 16 gallons of gas in the tank) and so on and so forth until we reached our first overnight stop in West Wyalong. I parked the car out in the street that night, and of course the next morning the whole street smelled like gas, so we drove to another Shell station to fill up.
Once again I asked the guy if he had anything to seal the leak, and he sold me some "Radiator and Fuel Tank Repair", which was the same as that stuff I put on my bitsa carbs, and wow, it just stopped the leak straight away! The outside if the tank was pretty clean with all the gas that had poured out of it in the last 24 hours so I just wiped it with paper towel, kneaded the two part "bubblegum" into a playdough-like consistency and pushed it into the damaged area, and it stayed there until I replaced the tank a year later.
Over the years I've used it on leaking radiators too, and even on one leaking motorcycle gas tank, and each time it's held up fine. I'm hoping it'll still be on these carbs in years to come! Cheers, Terry.
