Gas tank restoration

[R68GTO]

Tank straps are painted black, not sure if 30 or 60% gloss. Photo of my strap below, original black paint evident where the strap was tight to the tank.
As far as the steel manufacturer's mark on the tank. Those are stencils that were applied to the strip after it was cold rolled to the final gauge at the mill. I do not know if there was a required or standard spacing of that stencil when it was applied, but there would have definitely been a space between stencils. If the spacing was close enough, you could potentially have it appear on every tank made from the steel coil shipped to the tank manufacturer, but you can be fairly sure it would not "land" in the same place on every tank.
Our business slits millions of tons of steel every year for all the domestic steel mills and apply stencils to some of that metal. These days the stencil requirements are everything from continuous through the entire coil to just marking different areas of the coil. The requirements are generally driven by traceability for quality purposes.

[Burd]

I saw an OG rubber hose still on my tank looking at it. It’s full of cracks too, spring job. Also I wan to replace all the hoses again and put the rite color pinch clamps back on.

[cook_dw]

FYI I ended up doing a little paint in my gas tank of my old 67. If this is something that interests you can shoot me over a text and I can give some tips on how I did mine. But honestly I’d just polish the bare metal areas and roll with it.

[70post]

Originally Posted by Burd

While we’re on this topic, what are the 2 straps to be pained or what? (GM)

Now you got me going on this, I’m going to clean a spot with something to see what it looks like. I remember seeing blue steel,company names on the tanks, i don’t want to remove that. Do all tanks have this mark?

Depends on the GM division and/or the plant.....Oldsmobiles are galvanized steel straps with no paint. Looking at the Fisher Body video showing a Monte Carlo it looks like those were black as mentioned by someone else. Could have also changed depending on model year I guess. I've dealt with a massive number of Oldsmobiles and they're always galvanized/no paint so there is some variation. Same thing on the Buicks I've dealt with and seen (at least '70-72)...galvanized w/no paint.

I've also had plenty of clean original tanks with no evidence of the large ink/paint stamp.....must have been fairly widely disbursed on those rolls of steel back then.

[Burd]

Might as well talk is there insulators under the straps? I see them on eBay, but not sure all the Gm straps got them?

[70post]

Again, on Olds and Buick I have never seen any insulators b/n the straps and tank on originals I've dealt with. Maybe some divisions used something but I can't tell you 100%. There's no need for anything....there isn't any movement once the tank straps are snugged up tightly.

There is a bit of "revisionist history/marketing" done by some of the repro parts places to sell stuff that was never used.....they are in the business of "selling" after all.

[Burd]

I guess drop the tank and see if their there. I saw them on eBay so that figures. Lol
Like the wheel well rubber skirt PCs, my car doesn’t have yet they sell them.

[BCreekDave]

I'm inclined on the insulator-strap issue to fit something plastic-rubber-non metal that is hidden, possibly in the bead to keep the metal strap from contacting the metal tank directly. Seems like even if it doesn't move much, it would still eventually wear the galvanization off to start rust spot.