I just finished painting my 68 bird.I was installing the fuel door,and when you close the
door,it does not sit flush with the rest of the back panel.Are there grommets for that door or
do I have another problem.Any help would be great.
Thanks a bunch.Mike

Mike,

No grommets. If it doesn't close with "authority", and is somewhat wimpy then it's likely the gas door spring. You can try to bend it, as some have with success... or use magnets. But a new spring at about $25.. yes I said $25(!) will likely do the trick. Mine snaps shut quite nicely now.

Best luck, Kevin

Classic Industries has a gas tank door spring for 68's for $4.95. I just saw it in the catalog today and I have it on my list of needed parts.

Magnets and velcro don't work well at all!

Do you have a part number for that $4.95 part? (I've only seen it for $25).

oh gezz,

if you are wondering about the door reaction and how well it says shut you don't need to go out and "buy" anything. save that $25 and put it in your gas tank. I did an easy fix on mine because the door would hang open, and that doesn't look good going down the road, but as you can't see in the pictures behind the clip on the right side there is the bendable piece of metal, and what you need to do is pry it back a little and add some metal for it to stand on.., what i used was those square pin nails that you load into a small nail gun and stacked them on top of each other, then i JB welded them to the metal clip and never had a problem since, shuts and closes real stiff.

don't forget to thank the admins for letting us post Pictures here

Now that's my idea of the best way to fix the problem. Fishin' out of the trash can--my whole car as built out of the trash can--has much more personal rewards than bolting on new stuff.

Sorry Smitty2K, had a error on that $4.95 part, I was thinking of some other piece, it is a "Fuel Filler Door Tension Spring," Part. No. C709991, cost is $26.95, page 390 of the 2005 Classic Industries catalog. I musta had one too many beers!

Session101.
Great pics... I attempted to do the same as you've shown, but alas my spring was beyond shimming.. as it had begun to form a sweet crack right where it bends... Believe me, $25 for a new spring was a last resort...

Mine broke at the bend where the little tab sticks out for
the slot. There was just enough left to put back in the
slot. Now it snaps shut with authority. It broke because
I kept trying to bend tesion back into it.

There was someone on the PY forum who was having
a heck of a time putting a new spring on. I think he said
he kept screwing up the fuel door trying to get the old
one off, but he had a couple extra doors. I have never
tried removing one. I think he might have decided on
using a magnet.

looks like a rubber grommet/spacer/plug in the pic...
i thought i remembered there being one.

yeah i wish i could focus up close, but it is a picture to point at. never the less i believe that the holes on the car were ovals that let me adjust the position of the fuel door.