Gas Tank

[sperold]

Do the electrical components in the gas tank have their own ground in the wiring, or do they rely on the straps to ground the tank?
I am thinking of painting my tank before I install it.... is there a down side?

 

[frosho]

Go ahead and paint it. I painted the one in my last SHO. Relying on the straps to ground the tank would be pretty foolish on Ford's part.

 

[jonheese]

+1. A design like that is asking for sparks where you least want them.

 

[sperold]

Thanks guys, I figured as much but I was wary of painting the tank in case it did something I didn't know about.

 

[Shoaz]

It's not a bad idea to have the tank well grounded to the chassis. IIRC some of the tank electrical does return through the tank shell, but another reason is that static electricity discharges and fuel vapors are a bad combination. If the tank gets to a different potential than the chassis due to static accumulation things can go badly under the right conditions. If it was me I wouldn't even start to create an opportunity for that.

 

[sperold]

Now I am troubled.
I notice a little structure on the tank (on the pass. side) that is about an inch wide and 3/4" long - standoff. Could that have a strap put on it and the other end fastened to the body metal?
My other alternative is to not paint the bottom and let the metal straps do the grounding activity.
In my area, it is the top of the tank that rots out usually. The bottom doesn't leak until the straps pull out and you drag the tank on the road for awhile (lol).

 

[frosho]

If it were me, I'd go the paint + ground wire route. No sense in leaving a couple spots of bare metal - that kind of defeats the purpose of painting the tank in the first place.

 

[AREA 91]

I have painted several fuel tanks. There is no down side.

 

[sperold]

Painted the gas tank and it looks like a million bucks.
There is a ****** that goes all the way around the tank at the half way mark, and on the passenger side (front) there is a hole through this ******. I can put a grounding strap at that location with a nut-bolt-washer if the spirit moves me when I install it.
Thanks to everyone for their input.