Vendor for brown fibrous strips between the gastank and cab?

[robroy]

Hello!

When I removed my gas tank I noticed that the vertical, indented sections of the tank had rectangular fiber strips glued in. It seems that these strips may have been there to avoid vibrations that could develop between the gas tank and the rear cab wall, or perhaps to keep debris from dropping down behind the gas tank as easily.

I removed these strips to bead blast the exterior of the tank, and now I'm looking for replacements.

Does anybody know where to get this fibrous, brown padding material?

This is one of those situations where a photo would describe what I'm getting at very easily. I neglected to take any before removing the strips! Nevertheless, here's a photo that shows the grooves in the gas tank where the padded strips originally lived:



Thank you!
-Robroy

[fordman]

i think its called jute . its a backing material for some carpets back in the day. if your truck has carpet in it now and you are going to replace it. you could probably just take a good couple of strips off of the back of your old carpet. if not youll have to look around. i dont think a carpet stroe would have any. they have all went to a polystyrene padding for carpet now days.

[mrtleavitt]

I used some of that shiny insulation that is laid down under the carpet to help keep out heat and noise. I had some extra laying around and it worked great! Also used some headliner spray adhesive to get it to stick on the back of the gas tank.

[robroy]

Hey Fordman and MrTleavitt, thanks for your replies!

Jute, that sounds familiar!

MrTleavitt, I like your solution of using that flying saucer wrap instead of the original gorilla hair cake slices. I'm certainly not building a factory fresh restoration, so the original material isn't too important to me. I just want to fulfill the same function that the original supplied so I won't have any unwanted vibrations or other funkiness in the cab.

Isn't the silver sheeting much thinner than the grooves in the tank? Did you use multiple layers of it, or fold it to double/triple it?

Thanks again!
-Robroy

[robroy]

Hey, I finally found the photo I took that shows the fibrous strips:



So do you guys know what the purpose of these strips was? Were they installed there in order to:

1. Keep junk from falling down those slots?

2. Reduce vibration noise that could develop between the tank and the cab?

Also, do you guys happen to know whether or not the strips actually come in contact with the corresponding raised areas on the cab wall or not?

Thanks!
-Robroy

[fordman]

i would think it woudl be a noise and rubbing barrier both. if it wasnt one the other wouldnt do anything either. i mean if it didnt touch then there would be no reason for it to deaden sound.

[robroy]

Hey Fordman, thanks for your reply! I see your point. I'll just have to make sure that whatever material I put in there is thick enough to smash up against the cab wall a little when installed.

Thanks!
-Robroy

[robroy]

Job complete! I wound up using that silvery noise/heat material.

Here's the tank with rust bullet on the exterior:



The material I picked up at Winchester Auto for $40:



The tank with the material installed. It wasn't easy to cut the material and have it look pretty, since I just had a hand knife with a short blade. I put it on in double layers to make sure it stuck out far enough to make contact with the back of the cab.




The tank all installed, at last!






Thanks!
-Robroy

[Joe Kriston]

Nice job Robroy...I wonder if that jute stuff was just to keep the sloshing noise down when you went over bumps or around corners with a half a tank of gas...Of course, if you drive around like me, ...with two bucks worth of gas and an erratic gas guage, that sloshing sound keeps you from panicking and needlessly overpaying for gasoline....

[robroy]

Thanks Joe!

The purpose of those jute strips is indeed a mystery, but my #1 guess is that without them, vibrations can develop between the tank and the back of the cab. On the back of the cab there are raised areas in the metal that correspond to these dips on the tank, like it was made to fit in there.

Or maybe it keeps that side of the tank from flexing too much, which could also cause noises.

I plan on ripping it all apart again for a body restoration on the cab in the next ten years, so I'll post again then. Before year 2019.

-Robroy