gas tank filler neck bushing

[Andy Gelston]

Hi all!  The filler neck on my gas tank has a closed cell, foam rubber bushing around it.  It measures about 3-3/8" OD x 2-5/8" ID x 3/4" tall, and it tapers on the top half from the OD to the ID.  It fills the gap between the filler neck and the cowl opening, so if you spill gas while refueling, it will stay on the outside of the cowl instead of pouring down in, on top of the tank and inside the cockpit.  Does anybody know of a source for these, so I won't have to wrap some more electrical tape around my old, checked one?  Thanks, and get your skinny birds flying...safely!

[Perry M Chappano]

Hi Andy,

I've never seen that set-up but if you don't  locate one I have an extra fuel tank.  If you want it I'll dig out the receipt to see what I paid for it and you can have it for that and shipping.  Let me know.

Best,

Perry

[Andy Gelston]

Thanks, Perry, but my fuel tank is in good shape.  It's a stock tank, but it has a foam rubber bushing around the filler neck, that fills the gap between the filler neck and its opening in the boot cowl.  Oddly, there's no similar bushing around the neck for the fuel gauge neck.  So much for consistency...

Soft landings,  Andy & 41Vermont

[Andy Gelston]

Okay, I couldn't find one of these boogers anywhere, so I sprayed it with several coats of Performix brand Plasti Dip Black Rubber Coating Spray.  You can get it at most hardware stores and the big box Chinese outlets, like HD and WM.  It filled in the cracks and left a smooth coating all around it, top and bottom.  After curing, it stretched over the filler neck without tearing, and it seems impervious to gas.  Not sure what the ethanol that the scammers are putting in our car gas will do to it, but 41Vermont's not into alcoholic beverages, and I found some reliable sources of non-alcoholic car gas, online at triple w dot pure-gas dot org. 

This somehow reminds me of the joke about how to keep a Baptist from drinking all your beer when you're out fishing with him.  You bring along another Baptist.  Up here in Vermont, birthplace of Joseph Smith (the Mormon prophet), we say Mormon in place of Baptist.  Some of the more cynical, quit-witted Yankees here follow that up with: if you bring a Mormon and a Baptist fishing, they'll drink your beer up twice as fast and then convince you to go get more.  Now I'm not making fun of all Mormons and Baptists, just the ones who don't always practice what their preached, especially when unobserved by their preachers.

[Andy Gelston]

Over at Joe's Aeronca website, they posted this for what they're using on Champs:

John Deere part # R82873 @ $13.75

The grommet is very nice and fits great. It is embossed with the word FUEL 3 times around its circumference. I highly recommend it.

[Andy Gelston]

They use them on Luscombe's, too!  They also come in red, if that would match your paint scheme better...