Mystery Parts...

[z boy mn]

So......I was parting out the Z yesterday and when I took the gas cap off I dropped one of the screws into the gas tank. Oops. :embarrass:

It took a while to get it out (once I got the tank off), but as I was shaking the ****ens out of it these two pieces also fell out. There's another small one in there, too...it's square, flat, and about the size of a pencil erasure and maybe 1/8" thick. Looks like it's the same kind of material. Any idea what I broke (see attached)?

I'd appreciate any help possible...hoping I didn't ruin the tank!

[cbuczesk]

I don't recognize it. What year is your Z? Let's see a pic from another angle and put a dime or something in the pic for a size reference.

Chuck

[240260280z]

Maybe a PO or shop put it in (along with other metal stuff) as an abrasive when cleaning the inside of the tank years ago. It could have hung up when they removed the abrasive years ago thus its reappearance now.

Or maybe the PO's 5year old son/neighbour's son did it. (I stogged a potato in an exhaust pipe at 5.)

Edited May 22, 2012 by Blue

[Arne]

Not familiar to me, either.

[beermanpete]

Parts from a locking fuel cap that broke and fell in?

[cbuczesk]

Parts from a locking fuel cap that broke and fell in?

I bet that's it!

Chuck

[gnosez]

Fuel gauge sender assembly bits?

[z boy mn]

Hmmmm.....I like the key idea as there's not a locking gas cap on it now (so maybe the keyed one fell apart). The pieces are about 1.5" long...so they're also about the size of a key. Hmmm. Thanks for your help with the mystery...it sounds like it's not too serious.

[ZCurves]

It could be magnet holders for those Fuel Miser dodads..

[dhp123166]

That's f'in strange. Two weeks ago I dropped my tank off of my '76 and had the same two pieces in my tank as well.

[z boy mn]

Hmmm.....sounds like we have a pattern, then. Could they be some kind of anti-corrosion thing? Was your tank working before you pulled it? Strange!

[cbuczesk]

I really think it's part of a locking gas cap. Probably something cheap from the '70s or '80s that easily broke and parts fell in. I'll see if I have any old locking gas caps around with similar parts.

Chuck