cudak888
Well-Known Member
I'm posting this as a future reference for members and B-body owners Googling for this topic. It is also a good read for owners unaware of this issue (heck, your tank may be leaking and you don't know it). Photos are at the bottom of the writeup:
Most repop B-body senders that are commonly available (Dorman or Spectra) are bottom-of-the-barrel Chinese repops. They are what they are. Unfortunately, these senders also have new lockrings packaged with them. Many of you know not to use these lockrings that are included with repop senders. They are much thinner than the originals and will not put enough pressure on the sender gasket to seal properly. You will have a leak at the bottom of the sender which will become a bit alarming after a while; fuel will pool at the fused lip and forward center edge of the tank.
Most anyone with a bit of auto repair experience, given both an original and a repop in their hands during a project, will take one look at the repop and throw it away in favor of the original. However, some of us also end up acquiring half-finished project cars, and these half-finished cars often come with bad repairs - such as a new sender installed with one of these lockrings.
This was the case with my car, which was slowly dripping fuel out the sender gasket. Being my first B-body, I wanted to get visual confirmation that I had the "wrong" lockring, because - apparently - the aftermarket also sells a correctly reproduced lockring with the factory thickness and build quality. How should I tell the two apart if I've never seen what the crappy one looks like vs. a good quality reproduction?
Well, you don't. But thanks to a tip in a thread by forum member themechanic, I bought a new repop lockring said to be of the proper thickness of the original. This alternate repop came from Bill Rolik Enterprises, and even he wasn't aware that there was a bad repop out there - hence, it's not even noted as being the "correct" lockring on his website.
And so, today, I finally dropped my way-too-full (isn't it always when you have a job like this?) fuel tank to compare and swap lockrings. And when doing so, I had the chance to photograph the stark difference between these two lockrings.
So, without further ado, here are two closeup comparisons between the way-too-thin "packaged with sender" replacement lockring, and the properly reproduced part I bought from Bill Rolik Enterprises:
Crappy Chinese Spectra/Dorman lockring at left, Bill's repop at right. The quality difference should be obvious:
Crap on top, good one on the bottom:
A few additional photos. Note that you never loop those two vents on the gas tank - I did this only to prevent getting a face full of fuel when dropping the tank.
-Kurt
Most repop B-body senders that are commonly available (Dorman or Spectra) are bottom-of-the-barrel Chinese repops. They are what they are. Unfortunately, these senders also have new lockrings packaged with them. Many of you know not to use these lockrings that are included with repop senders. They are much thinner than the originals and will not put enough pressure on the sender gasket to seal properly. You will have a leak at the bottom of the sender which will become a bit alarming after a while; fuel will pool at the fused lip and forward center edge of the tank.
Most anyone with a bit of auto repair experience, given both an original and a repop in their hands during a project, will take one look at the repop and throw it away in favor of the original. However, some of us also end up acquiring half-finished project cars, and these half-finished cars often come with bad repairs - such as a new sender installed with one of these lockrings.
This was the case with my car, which was slowly dripping fuel out the sender gasket. Being my first B-body, I wanted to get visual confirmation that I had the "wrong" lockring, because - apparently - the aftermarket also sells a correctly reproduced lockring with the factory thickness and build quality. How should I tell the two apart if I've never seen what the crappy one looks like vs. a good quality reproduction?
Well, you don't. But thanks to a tip in a thread by forum member themechanic, I bought a new repop lockring said to be of the proper thickness of the original. This alternate repop came from Bill Rolik Enterprises, and even he wasn't aware that there was a bad repop out there - hence, it's not even noted as being the "correct" lockring on his website.
And so, today, I finally dropped my way-too-full (isn't it always when you have a job like this?) fuel tank to compare and swap lockrings. And when doing so, I had the chance to photograph the stark difference between these two lockrings.
So, without further ado, here are two closeup comparisons between the way-too-thin "packaged with sender" replacement lockring, and the properly reproduced part I bought from Bill Rolik Enterprises:
Crappy Chinese Spectra/Dorman lockring at left, Bill's repop at right. The quality difference should be obvious:
Crap on top, good one on the bottom:
A few additional photos. Note that you never loop those two vents on the gas tank - I did this only to prevent getting a face full of fuel when dropping the tank.
-Kurt
