I wrestled the gas tank out of the 330GT restoration I’m doing at the shop this week.

Externally it’s in pretty good shape with hardly any dents. It’s always disappointing to find a big dent right at the center of the gas tank where the drain plug sits from someone jacking the car up from the gas tank! Straightening out that damage is not so easy. Luckily, this tank is perfect.

Since this gas tank probably hasn’t been out of the car since it was new, I wanted to show something a lot of shops miss when putting the gas tank back in the car. I know a lot of people use this website for reference when restoring a Vintage Ferrari whether they admit it or not, but I’m happy to share information so small mistakes don’t keep being made. This tip is about the spacer that usually rots away and isn’t replaced.

Ferrari used a soft bushing material that crumbled away with age that spaced the gas tank several millimeters on both sides of the mounting tabs. This isolated the tank away from the chassis of the car, but I often find no spacers installed on restored cars. I use Delrin, or polyurethane spacers that will last a lot longer.

Because of these spacers, it’s important to remember that the gas tank could have a bad ground affecting the fuel sender. Adding an extra wire to the tank for a good ground will help.

With pictures and the addition of videos I’ve been doing lately, I still can’t convey the smell of old gasoline to the viewers. Consider yourself lucky!