[Steve]

The shop has been busy doing insurance work so not much has progressed since last visit, but this time I did some work myself. This was a great opportunity to remove the fuel tank and see what was inside. 4 bolts, disconnect the hoses and wiring and it was out. No problem. I've attached two photos of the tank, one as it came out, and the second with everything removed.

I was very surprised, the gas that we emptied out was clean and so was the inside of the tank. Almost no sediment, no varnish, no crud. Don't need to do anything to the inside.

There is some rust on the outside. Not bad, and certainly no danger of rusting through. But I'd like to clean the outside, remove the rust, and then do something to protect it for the future. I wonder if there was any sort of treatment done to the metal to keep it from rusting, and perhaps it wore out in just the few places? If I wire brush, steel wool, or sand that rust off, I'll likely have to protect the metal or it likely will rust again. Should i just sandblast the whole thing and apply a coating or paint? I hesitate to paint it because even though it is not visible in service that is not the way it was stock.

The other thing I did was take the ignition key (original Ford key) and the door and trunk lid locks. I'm going to see if a locksmith can modify the door and trunk locks to work with the ignition key, as was original.

Soon, I am told, the body (sans doors, trunk and hood, rear pillar glass and trim) will be painted black, then the white parts painted over that. Those pics will be much more interesting to post here.