S series petrol tank sump plug

[GreenV8S]

I've taken the tank off to de-rust and seal the insides. This involved taking the sump plug off the bottom so I could remove the strainer. I was surprised to find it was sealed using some sort of brittle filler instead of a rubber gasket. I was even more surprised to find there's a neat triangular notch out of the sealing plate that is almost as deep as the sealing face in the tank. It was sealed OK though.

I'm trying to guess why this was done, and I'm coming up blank. Anyone else seen anything similar?

By the way, the bottom of the tank was thick with rust, the sump was half full of rusty flakes and the strainer had lumps of rust inside it, so it was obviously overdue for maintenance.

[phillpot]

No idea why that plate has a notch out of it but some owners have ditched the in tank filter in favour of an inline filter between tank and pump. Less hassle to access in future. Getting that bottom plate ( and the sender) to seal can be a pain.

[GreenV8S]

phillpot said:

some owners have ditched the in tank filter in favour of an inline filter between tank and pump

I think that's the way to go. As luck would have it, this stack of parts comes out exactly the right length. With a hundred micron filter element, I think it'll flow quite a bit better than the original strainer too.