Gas tank flushes??

[BPVan]

I figured I would open up an old post on this...

My bestest neighbor Jeff helped me drop my tank Sunday night as I was getting pick up problems and I have noticed some sediment come into the fuel filter. After draining what I think was about 16 gallons of fuel and sharing it with the '63 wagon and a friends car we got it out. I noticed a lot of sediment as I transferred the fuel from my catch pans to the gas container. Peeking inside there is a good amount of buildup from the past 40 years.

Long story short, I am debating cleaning vs replacing. This tank was custom made for the van in about '72 (I found the receipt when I bought the van) and is about 20 gallons, stock was 14. The sending unit is not working properly and I have not investigated why. From what I read its about $100 in chemicals and a weekend to clean up an old tank plus whatever the sending unit woes will cost to fix.

They don't make tanks anymore that fit these vans out of the box. If I replace it, it would be a 1969 Mustang 20 gallon tank that I would have to modify: move the filler tube and vent tube, see here http://mysite.verizon.net/samada/id3.html. I would also have to build new straps and get J hooks. I can get this tank kit with sending unit for $150.

Thoughts?

[doghows]

For what it's worth, I think most of those flush kits use a miratic acid to clean and etch the tank. Then they have some type of sealer that coats the clean metal? I have seen them in Eastwood and in the TP tool catalogs.
I have been opting for replacement stuff on my project but all my stuff is pretty old and rusty. So if I can't clean it and powder coat it, I replace it and then powder coat it?
Unfortunately I can't powder gas tanks because they are soldered and I melt that stuff... HTH

[MacDee]

I cleaned and resealed my tank many years ago using the POR-15 kit. My tank had a tiny rust "perforation" in the top surface and was getting gas fumes in the trunk. It's been eight or nine years now since I did that, and it's holding up just fine!

[Jeff W]

After thinking about this for a couple of days (and nursing the Spider Bite I got while helping) I think we should save what you have.

Pull the pick-up tube/sending unit assembly and see if we can identify what it is out of... get a new one or repair the old.

Clean the outside of your tank so it looks decent and bring it to an old radiator shop and see what they charge to boil it out.... they still do that right? If it looks clean they may be more likely to allow it in their tanks.

Let's seal that baby and get it mounted.

We should also form the fill tube a bit to get better alignment with the nipple on the tank.

[Luva65wagon]

I'd like to have those two days back I spent on the Ranchero trying to clean and seal it - most was spent on the cleaning and not the sealing part. And it didn't clean as good as they said it would. The tank was pretty bad. I just sealed in whatever was left. I used the Eastwood kit, which at $50 for the kit and two days effort, the $279 for a new one seemed the bargain.

You on the other hand have no replacement you can buy that doesn't also have a lot of work to be done. I like Jeff's suggestion to see if a radiator shop can do the stripping. The Muriatic acid part was not very much fun.

Whatever you do - do it safe.

And Jeff - a Spider Bite? Ask my Mom, I'm not a fan of spiders. She moves them to safety when I go down to visit.

[Jeff W]

And Jeff - a Spider Bite? Ask my Mom, I'm not a fan of spiders. She moves them to safety when I go down to visit.

I'm assuming spider... the mark is big, round, red and angry. I think it crawled up my sleeve while I was laying in Brian driveway under the van.

[Luva65wagon]

Well, let's hope that's all it was and something doesn't break out of your chest and take over the world.

[BPVan]

Maybe we need a new member forum "The Infirmary" or "Hall of Pain" where we can highlight our restoration related injuries.