VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Leftover part from gas tank wiring?

I'm putting in a new wiring harness in my '40 Chevy. I lowered the gas tank and replaced the wire for the gas tank sending unit. After the job was complete, I found the two small metal sleeves pictured below on the floor (slid together but are pictured here separated). I have no idea where they came from and don't think they have anything to do with the gas tank, but there they were. I'm hoping that someone can tell me where they might have originated! Thanks-

Joe Hightower

Weird. They look like roll pins and not very weathered so not as old as your car. Similar to what would hold the gear onto a distributor shaft for example. Common for them to "mate" together like you describe.

Those look like what are sometimes called spring pins or roll pins or lock pins. They are sometimes used in 2 different sizes so they can be "nested" to provide an even stronger pin. Typical uses are to connect rotating parts with hubs (sprockets & pulleys) to a shaft.

I am not aware of any relation between them and the gas tank.

Thanks for the information! I dropped a wrench on top of the gas tank and reached in blindly to knock it onto the floor. Is there anything near the gas tank that might use those pins?

Nothing back there that would require those I don't think. If someone had the fuel tank out and was using the fuel tank for a workbench to rebuild a fuel pump, distributor, etc, maybe it stuck to gunk on top and stayed there...

This mystery rates right up there with things like what really happened at Area 51 and were those astronauts really on the moon in 1969.

Shoot, everyone knows we never walked on the moon, the earth is flat and the sun rises in the west. Didn't you know that??

And the Chinese communicate with the probe on the back side of the moon. Must have something to do with those extra parts you want identified. Not sure about those slotted cylindrical tubes. But the round one sure looks like a US quarter or screw driver for wide slotted screws.

That must be true because I keep getting calls at 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM Oregon time about technical questions from dudes on the east coast that think the sun does rise in the west!

As someone said, these pins are used for many things. These sort of look like the one at the base of the floor shift that keeps the shifting lever from wiggling all over. I have a spare but haven't had time to look at it to see if it matches the pins in the photo. Beamer