Fuel tank removal

We are assiduous in our service regime; you look at the kit of service parts, do you see a fuel filter with the oil, oil & air filters, plugs etc. I don’t recall see one recently however I haven’t done an exhaustive search, but I have put one on my list of things to change, when everything is attended to in spring. (Roll on spring).
M

Fits Rover MGF 1.6,1.8 Petrol 95-02 Oil,Fuel & Air Filter Service Kit Buy It Now

https://www.mgocspares.co.uk/product/MGFSK3/full-service-kit-mgf-up-to-2001-inc-plugs-air-filters-fuel-filter?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvpy5BhDTARIsAHSilymqnh4ElYlBFOt2eQQncULjwU3RIgMQVZicZU6drimWX6rWkl8lsI4aAluSEALw_wcB

Cobber,  what I have done with old fuel is mix it with some fresh and used it in our lawn mower, it smells really bad and the mower doesn't like it much but it's being used. 

We’ll it’s a good job someone’s on the ball. I have to say that the little pile of bits illustrated on one advertisement I looked, to recap didn’t have the fuel filter, the other two did, so I was 33.3% correct, which is probably a pass these days, instead of the “requires significant improvement” when I was worrying about exam results.
M

R40MGF wrote:

Cobber,  what I have done with old fuel is mix it with some fresh and used it in our lawn mower, it smells really bad and the mower doesn't like it much but it's being used. 
 

I pay a bloke to mow the lawns, I got better things to do than chase a bloody lawn mower around the yard let alone maintain the horrid things.....I despise small engines they are backward and poorly designed rubbish built to the lowest possible cost

I couldnt get away with that with my petrol lawn mower. The damn thing is really fussy on fuel, equally hates E10 petrol and amything that has been standing for a few months so I always have to run it on fresh E5. Any dirty petrol tends to get mixed with a bit of diesel or chip fat and used to start bonfires.

Well the fuel tank has shrunk, it slid back in as easy as a wayward sneaky finger in a bum!

That must be a relief. It could have proved difficult finding a replacement over there!

Good to hear the tank is back in. However, it is a bit concerning that the tank reacts to fuel by expanding.
Is that as a consequence of lead in the petrol or the introduction of ethanol, or the gasoline itself (or other additives).

Edit I suspect primarily the Gasoline and probably “all of the above”.

“All of the above” & stuff we have no idea about
I doubt there’s much lead in it now, unless the delivery driver dropped his pencil in the tank.
M

Plastic tanks have been around for a long time now, Ford Australia first started mucking about with them in the late 70's and Ford US were using them in the mid 70's.
The phenomemon of them expanding once fuel was put in them was known about over 20 years before MG-Rover started using them. and there have been no other ill effects from this expansion other than making the tank difficult to remover from a confined space. Something that some idiot at MG-Rover overlooked when designing the tank!
Plastic tanks are fine so long as they're properly designed and constructed, indeed they offer some advantages such as light weight, rust free, good impact resistance, cost etc.
There are some disadvantages too, but these should be accounted for in both the design and manufacturing processes, obviously the expansion can be a problem as can the problem of some owners complaints of fuel smell in the car, this I believe is due to a lack of a critical additive SoarnoL in the molding of the tank.
This additive help the HDPE plastic achieve an impenetrable barrier to fuel fumes, if not enough is used or it is left out then fuel fumes can bleed through the HDPE plastic.
I suspect the manufacturing process was on the odd occasion a bit slack in this regard.
During the manufacturing process samples should be taken and tested in the lab before releasing every batch for delivery, this sometimes doesn't get done by unscrupulous suppliers out to cut corners and save a buck or lazy and stupid staff.