Filler Gasket Removal & Sander Recommendations

[randroid]

Gents,

As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm prepping to get ready to paint PIGIRON, my '48 P-15. I'll be pulling the fenders one by each and that brings me to wonder if there's any graceful method of removing the rubber from the gas tank filler. I have a new one in my hand so I could easily just cut the old one out but as soon as I do that I'll find somebody on this forum who needs one regardless of condition. I suppose it might be easiest to pull the fender up and off but I'm doing this by myself and I'll worry that the unwieldy fender might bend the pipe, or some such nonsense. Any ideas?

I'm also looking to buy a sander\polisher. Bosch makes a sweet 4.5" v\s unit that's pretty much what I want but it'll set me back $100 and I'd rather not go quite that high. I found a Wen 7" in my price range, but I'm not sure I could do much fine work with the larger tool, not to mention that at almost nine pounds it might wear me out.

I welcome any and all opinions and suggestions.

-Randy

[JerseyHarold]

I've pulled rear fenders with the gas filler grommet still on, then pushed them out from the inside. You might want to consider an air-powered sander if you already have a compressor. Much lighter than electrics....less tiring.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Randroid...I highly recommend stripping as much paint from the car with stripper ...taking individual panels off even makes removing with chemical even easier..odds are if you car still has the original paint and or at minimum the original primer..this may not come off easy with the stripper..it will however strip to that level fairly easily and quick..remember if the stripper say safe, non-flamable--its not worth buying...

After that I would not use a standard grinder to sand with...the DA is the best..use 80 grit and never see a spark..you see sparks while sanding..you taking off more than paint and that is not good...air is best...but am sure there are some nice DA sanders out there in electric...

Most air powered DA can be had from Harbor Freight for 30 bucks..Ihave had mine for many years from them and still going strong...straight line sander..(air file) is a must for large panel work is using any filler at all...

[james curl]

I used a Porter Cable oscilating sander to do my pick up and a 51 Plymouth business coupe, works like the DA that Tim mentioned but mine cost me $110.00 at Lowes and they do not stock them anymore. You have to go on line to the Porter Cable site and you will find them there about $140.00 now.

[Norm's Coupe]

Randy,

I have the Wen Electric 7" sander too. Got mine on sale back in the 90's for only around $29 or $30. It is big, but being bigger means it also sands faster. It does have a handle you screw into the side to control it and better handle. It's not that heavy when using it. I also have an air sander. I much prefer the electric Wen over the air sander. The air sander may be lighter, but.........after dragging the air hose around for all that time, the electric sander becomes much easier and lighter.

After removing the clamp from the filler tube, the tube is supposed to slide up and out. However, mine was stuck to the grommet and the filler hose I ended up cutting both off to get the tube out of the fender. That grommet is probably shot so bad anyway, so I'd just go ahead and cut it to remove it. Why make life harder than it already is just to save an old piece of dried up rubber.

My Wen sander will switch from a orbital sander to just a regular sander.