To paint or not to paint....fuel tank

HarrysToy

"Get off my lawn!"
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So my new fuel tank is being delivered next week.
Should it be painted or left in the galvanized look?

Thanks
 
Where is the car parked and stored?

When do you drive it, what weather conditions?
 
Its a garage queen and never sees bad weather or rain. Just wondered how it came stock from factory. She is nowhete near show perfect just looking to do the correct way.
 
Agree, get the new pad for good measure. As for originality, Chrysler never did paint the fuel tanks, BUT on some years, the tanks did get a coat of undercoat on them, by observation.

I started looking at these things as I was seeking to discover the relationship of fuel tank color and hot fuel handling, waaay back in about 1968 or so. As if the fuel in the tank might be pushing fuel into the carb as the car sat on a parking lot in July? As this was back then, there was not a huge amount of readily-available information on the subject. Especially as it did not relate to a more powerful engine or such! BUT the "knowledge of the day" pointed toward basic fluid expansion/contraction as the ambient temperatures changed. Plus that the temperature of the roadway (which would radiate up to the car's undersides) could easily get past 150 degrees F on a July day in TX when the ambient temp was only 95 degrees F. In these conditions, IF you might be concerned about "wasting money", you didn't fill the tank to the gas cap unless you were going to be driving the car on the highway reather than soon parking it on an open parking lot (or a fuel spill could result!). Just common knowledge back then, especially on rear license plate filler neck locations.

At this point in time, many decades later, the default mode might be the clear paint mentioned above, or a similar bright silver paint (which would scream to those who might know what they were looking at "LOOK! I painted my fuel tank!") or for the "stealth mode", a coat of black spray undercoat on the underside. In the later case, just remember to NOT fill the tank completely full at night, when it might be cooler than at High Noon the next day.

Just some thoughts and observations,
CBODY67
 
From the factree they did not paint them.
Besides, during production nobody thought our cars would still be on the road half a century later.
But I did paint mine...
BoaB november 2017 003.JPG
 
I'm going to be the odd man out here and suggest painting a new gas tank would be pretty low on my list of priorities especially for a car that is garage kept. Keep it clean and dry and it will always look both good and original. My .02.
 
I'm going to be the odd man out here and suggest painting a new gas tank would be pretty low on my list of priorities especially for a car that is garage kept. Keep it clean and dry and it will always look both good and original. My .02.

I want my cars to represent how they came from the factory and be virtually all original in every way that is possible 50 years later. Mine are parked in garages and are not driven all that much since I have so many of them, so I just mainly want garage queens. I leave them plain as from the factory like @Fratzog .
 
I'd say if you're not going to paint it and it's going to stay clean and dry in a garage...maybe coat it with some oil to protect from flash rust? Just a suggestion.
 
I painted my new tank with some stainless paint. Pretty much looks like the galvanized coating.
 
1970 Fury Convertible original tank after cleaning with wire wheels, rags, etc.
· POR 15 45308, 1 pint, silver rust preventative coating $34.22


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That's similar to what I did on my 65 Belvedere wagon. The only issue was I had to ground the sending unit to get it to work.
The steel ground strap extends from the sending unit fuel exit port to the fuel line at the body. Paint on the tank shouldn't affect ground. See Below. In the past, when the strap rusted beyond use, I used a wire and an aircraft clamp at the same location on the sending unit, then ran the wire into the trunk thru the sending unit's trunk grommet and grounded with a ring connector in the trunk.
PXL_20201114_193106847.jpg
 
The steel ground strap extends from the sending unit fuel exit port to the fuel line at the body. Paint on the tank shouldn't affect ground. See Below. In the past, when the strap rusted beyond use, I used a wire and an aircraft clamp at the same location on the sending unit, then ran the wire into the trunk thru the sending unit's trunk grommet and grounded with a ring connector in the trunk.
View attachment 504042
Ah yes. When I replaced the fuel lines also my ground strap was rotted away. I attached a ground wire from the tank to a bolt on the tank shield.
 
For me to keep the original work on a new tank I would paint it with matte clear with hardener in it. Also paint the straps and Hardware with matte silver. Should give it a more original OEM look.
 
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