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I pulled the sending unit from my Custom 8 and discovered that the float was full of fuel. I see that there is a hairline crack on the float. What is the approved method of preparing this. I hesitate to solder since the float is so thin.

Ron

Hello Ron:

You should have no problem using solder to fix it. That is what I did when my carb float became porous and started to fill with fuel.

Drain all the fuel from the float and use a hairdryer to add some heat to the float and get all the fuel to evaporate.

I did not use a torch, but rather a 25w soldering iron to "tin" the porous area of the float. That was 12 years ago and the car has run perfectly ever since.

A gas tank float is much less affected by the weight of the solder when compared to a carb float.

New floats are available on ebay and several other mfg vendor sites. I believe the diameter of the 49 is around 1 3/8" with the groove the arm fits into around 1 1/4". If so I think it is the same as some Ford floats. If the size is off a small amount the wire can usually be reconfigured to conform to the difference.

There are also replacement cork floats on ebay for anyone that might need them.

Put me in the solder repair camp.

? Chemically clean the area with acetone, or lacquer thinner.
? Mechanically clean with fine sandpaper or a ScotchBrite.
? Chemically re-clean.
? Pre-heat soldering iron until solder melts as soon as it touches the iron.
? Apply flux to cracked area of float . . . something to do while the iron takes forever to heat.
? Shake off excess solder on iron and heat cracked area of float with soldering iron.
? Once the flux has melted inspect to insure that contaminates have not entered target zone.
? Touch solder to iron, and develop slight 'puddle' on tip.
? Touch 'puddle' on to cracked area of float.
? Remove iron as soon as solder flows beyond tip. Slight amount of 'painting' or 'scraping' of the cracked area with the iron tip will help. You will find that the solder will seem to jump onto the brass and either fill the crack, bridge-over the crack, or ideally both.

Since gas tanks were at one time plated, perhaps dipped, with a lead based alloy I suspect the repair should last a good long time. After letting the gas to drain-out the advice about heating is well founded. I would use a hair drier versus the industrial grade units for paint removal or shrink tubing. Here gasoline having a low boiling point is a good thing . . . not so much when fighting vapor lock. I would also use 50/50 or perhaps 60/40 solder. I know the home centers have non-lead solder for potable water pipe sweating, but I would run fast, run very fast away from that product for this application.

dp

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I haven't soldered anything in a long time and and I don't want to ruin the float since the sending unit itself tests fine. Thanks for all the other comments also.

Ron