So I bought this '60 Ford Sunliner and discovered that the fuel tank is leaking at the sending unit. No biggy, buy a new lock ring/gasket and I'm good to go, right? WRONG!!! So I order the lockring/gasket, Dorman part # 579-042. I pull the sending unit (which was hard to get out by the way) and find my lockring is bigger, about 3/16" inside diameter. The gasket is correspondingly larger too. So I'm assuming that somebody substituted a newer '61-64 tank as '60 is the cut-off for mine. Now try as I might, I can't find a listing online for the gasket/lockring for those years to even verify if that's what it is. The ID on the lockring is about 2 1/8", and the sealing flange on the sending unit is 2 3/4" OD. Can anybody help me with identifying this, and do you know a source for the gasket? Thanks!
Will this work? https://eclassics.com/eclassics-1963-ford-300-fuel-sending-unit-retaining-lock-ring/ https://eclassics.com/eclassics-1963-ford-300-fuel-sending-unit-o-ring-gasket/
Don't know... No physical size is given and I'm finding some places that say '60-64 are all the same and others that show '60 by itself. I'm guessing that it's a '61-64 tank actually installed but don't know that for sure.
I happen to have a couple on the shelf so I measured them up, one from my 62 Galaxie and the other from my 60 Country Sedan. Both are 2 3/4” at the flange so it appears 60-64 should be the same.
THANK YOU! And I think I solved the mystery. That sending unit matches mine. But when I went to order one, I checked on a '60 Ford Sunliner (which is what it is) and got the part number that didn't fit. But when I checked further after seeing your pic, only the '60 Sunliner used that part so it had a unique, one-year-only fuel tank/sending unit with a smaller diameter mounting flange. Which makes sense, as it was a PITA to get the sending unit out because of it's diameter; there's a structural reinforcement partially blocking access to it. For a minute I thought I would have to drop the tank to get it out. So I have a '60-64 Ford fuel tank/sending unit, it's just not a '60 Sunliner tank...
The curse of the '60 Ford parts strikes again. The '59 has a lot of oddball parts, but the '60 takes the cake.
If your tank is a 61 - 64 as you suspect the locking ring and seal would be part # LO-03 from Spectra Premium. I was unable to find an actual parts listing for this but I searched the part number (I had a package on the shelf) and it shows fitting Ford from 1960 up to somewhere in the 90's, among other brands. The ID on the locking ring is 2 1/8 inch and the seal is a square cut o-ring approx 2 1/2 inches accross.
Well, my travails with the tank weren't over... I got the sending unit sealed, I'm good to go or so I thought. My project for today was to flip the shackles back to stock and put on the Cragar SS wheels I got. So I'm under there and I notice that the tank drain is seeping slightly, so I get a wrench and figure I'll snug it up.... Well crap.... As soon as the wrench touches it, it starts leaking more. No matter which way I turn it, it gets worse. I think that if I remove it, maybe I can do something. Won't come out, just turns. Take a real close look, the damn thing is soldered in?! I broke the (faulty) solder joint and that was that. New tank is now on the way... I did manage to save about 15 gallons of the 19 gallons I'd just put in the tank (at $4 per) at least. And a shout-out to @40FORDPU who came over and helped me flip the shackles. I don't remember it being that hard 50 years ago.... LOL
Yeah, touching a Galaxie tank drain has never ended well for me. If you even look at them wrong they’ll start leaking.
New tank , has you fixed up . All is well I suppose . I think if that is or was the only leak , I would have drained , removed it , cleaned resoldered the joint , or cleaned the threads and Teflon taped ( or other sealer ) on a new plug . Last but not lease sealed the complete tank and been good to go . You went the route that worked best for you , and all ends well . Don’t toss the tank if it’s not a leaker , you may need one later on, if your like me .
I took the tank out of my '59 soon after I got it. I removed the sender and the brass float crumbled to dust. I drop kicked the whole thing to the curb and bought a new tank and sender from Rock Auto.
My tank is a Spectra, I did a search under the Ford part number and came up with Rock Auto as the best price. Second best was Amazon. I believe it was US made, the workmanship was great, no leaks in 5 years.
The Jalopy Journal
