Rebuild Saga - MGW Gas Cap install complete

[Bonkers]

First I'd like to thank Chuck Tator and JonB for helping me to make this one happen. Managed to get the parts I needed and still have some time to breathe before ZR.

Okay. Anyone who has been keeping up with Mistress's story knows that she got caught in a gas station fire when the nozzle did not shut off and poured fuel down the side of the car. The damage that occurred singed the inside of the actual gas intake tube causing an air leak. This in turn caused a sporadic check engine light to appear. In DE you can be sent back to the inspection lane for a Check light so I decided that I didn’t want to press my luck any farther. In grand automotive tradition I figured an "upgrade" was in order.

Ironically a fellow member posted the install of his MGW cap the same day I started researching. A call went into JonB. When the new cap arrived I only then realized that the damaged portion of the tube wasn't attached to the new cap. With the ZR breathing down my neck I put in my first call to the ViperWiz.

Here is the before pic of the original, slightly melted cap: (please forgive the poor quality. I took these at 1am in VERY bad light)

Now for my repair I needed to take off the rim and wheel well liner, and actually removed the old tube from the tank. It took less than two hours for the whole project to be completed except cleanup. For anyone changing the filler tube be very ginger with the run-off tube - it tends to crimp very easily.

Here is the new cap:

Now 30 minutes later here are my critiques:
- I love the smoother, more flush look of the MGW. Somehow the car looks that much better.
- The blacker, more "cast iron" look of the new piece seems to work well with the car itself.
- The MGW seems a little loose around the filler mouth. First attempt caused the pipe to pop back into the body causing me to start over. I do have a slight fear of pooping it back through during the next fill up.
- I loathe the spring latch of the MGW. You have to push it down to open AND to close. This part alone will be a focal point in the future.
- The chrome finish smears almost by looking at it. Definite car show polish point.
- The chrome finish is radiant when not smeared. Definite show car quality.

The job was easy - 3 out of 10 and I think anyone who acknowledges the fact they are dealing with live gas vapors should have little trouble doing this themselves.
The part is a positive 8 out of 10. I have to see how well that shine holds up to the real world, but that latch easily killed the perfect ten.

I'd be glad to answer any questions or comments...

 

[ViperJoe]

OUCH, my sympathy on the damage, hope no one was seriously hurt.

Is there any way that the GTS style cap can be used on a roadster?

Thanks

 

[joe117]

I like the old cap better than the flashy new one.
I've seen RTs with a GTS cap. It didn't look right.

 

[Dixter]

To open the new one....

Push down the knob and pull from the back of the cap. You never touch the front.

To close the new one....

Again from the back of the cap, pull it over and it will lay on the knob. Now
push the knob and the cap will fall in place. You never touch the front.

 

[Gerald]

I loved doing mine, I was so lightheaded!

 

[Bonkers]

OUCH, my sympathy on the damage, hope no one was seriously hurt.

Joe, this has been an ongoing thing for some time (hence why I name threads refering to my cars as "rebuild saga.") If you can get the search engine to work look up "Mistress" (the name of my car) and my username in the author field and you can read about the whole story.

The other Joe - I liked the standard cap too, but for some reason didn't seem to go with the car. I saw one a long, long time ago that was a standard cap with a sneaky pete ENGRAVED into it. Never saw it again. I will admit this cap looks so much more fitting for a supercar, very sleek and very professional cut.

PS - drove it through the rain all day today. even with the road grime it still looked good.

 

[dansauto]

looks like you need to buff that qtr panel

 

[MGWLTD]

quoted by bonkers...

"- I loathe the spring latch of the MGW. You have to push it down to open AND to close. This part alone will be a focal point in the future. "


I know this latch is ALOT more of a pain than the factory latch but here are the reasons i designed it this way....

1. alot of my customers have complained of coming out to their car after stopping somewhere to find someone has popped open the gas cap messing around and did not latch it back properly. or worse yet did not notice it closed and it clangs around when you take off driving you nuts wandering what the noise is.
the factory cap latch BEGS to be opened. i decided by putting it in the back base it would be less obvious how to open it.

2. the main problem with the factory cap is the damage the latch rollers do to the face of the cap. i.e corrosion of clear coat and scratches. i did not want ANYTHING coming in contact with the chrome when latching the cap. this makes sure the cap stays as perfect as possible.

i know this does not help the annoyance factor of opening it but i hope it at least gives some credence to its purpose.

regards
george

 

[Janni]

George - as usual - well thought out and expertly executed.