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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Fuel Tank: Level of Rust

Posted by: Joseph Mills Sep 30 2005, 12:39 PM

Tank condition:

Smooth rust on walls with mottled or layered rust on bottom. However, there are no visible particles, flakes, etc.

I stirred and scraped with my hand and can feel some grittiness from the walls. The fuel clouded up, but still no visible particles, not even sand grain size, only microscopic sized that clouds up. The small "sock" screen feels "clean".

Since treating a tank is an expensive proposition, what is the determining level of rust acceptance?

I don't want to spend 150 bucks just to have pretty fuel.

Posted by: qa1142 Sep 30 2005, 01:10 PM

just think of sand blasting your jets or fuel injectors.

Get a micron filter until you can get it pulled and cleaned.

Posted by: Toast Sep 30 2005, 01:12 PM

Too much is when your fuel filters get clogged with rust flakes.

Posted by: LvSteveH Sep 30 2005, 01:16 PM

Your tank sounds pretty funky. A peak inside Toast's tank revealed no rust at all and it was very clean, yet she had accumulated enough debris to clog her filter.

Personally, tanks are cheap, I'd get another one, have it cleaned out at a radiator shop, paint it all pretty, and then swap it out for the one you have. I'm not overly fond of the tank coatings, it's too easy to find a nice tank and do it right.

Posted by: lapuwali Sep 30 2005, 01:23 PM

When I looked inside the tank on my '71, I expected to see some rust, since I'd been having problems with clogging idle jets. I was surprised at how little there was. The "sock" was orange, and the return had a ring of orange goop on it, but the tank walls themselves were 95% rust free. A few spots near the bottom, but nothing else. I cleaned the sock and flushed the lines, and fit two new fuel filters, and haven't had any more trouble.

Posted by: jr91472 Sep 30 2005, 02:59 PM

I coated mine 2 summers ago with the POR tank kit. Made the inside look like new.

so far so good.

JR

Posted by: bd1308 Sep 30 2005, 03:00 PM

PLEASE PLEASE take care of it while you have it open.....

My dad didnt when he "restored" it and i'm left to fix it....

Posted by: Hammy Sep 30 2005, 03:06 PM

How hard is it to restore a tank, what tasks are involved? Isn't it just draining the tank, cleaning it, and then coating the inside with some tank-lining liquid and let it sit overnight? I'll have my tank out soon

Posted by: Spoke Sep 30 2005, 03:12 PM

My tank was a mess with rust. I used the POR15 tank kit:

http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=316

Took about a week to totally do it but the inside of the tank was nice and clean.
Used 1 fuel filter in 2 years.

Spoke

Posted by: d914 Sep 30 2005, 03:15 PM

$50 bucks to get boiled/stripped, por 15 kit, por 15 outside

Posted by: McMark Sep 30 2005, 03:18 PM

I am NOT a fan of tank liners. Heard stories about improperly applied liners coming off and clogging tanks. And besides that, the tank is fine as long as it's not sitting. Sitting = Rust.

Posted by: Joseph Mills Sep 30 2005, 04:31 PM

QUOTE (McMark @ Sep 30 2005, 03:18 PM)
I am NOT a fan of tank liners. Heard stories about improperly applied liners coming off and clogging tanks. And besides that, the tank is fine as long as it's not sitting. Sitting = Rust.

Mark,

If a sealer is not used, what keeps the bare metal of the tank from rusting again?

If not using the sealer, can I simply have the tank "boiled" at a radiator shop and leave it at that?

Has anyone else used this Por kit?

..

Posted by: bd1308 Sep 30 2005, 04:33 PM

nothing keeps the tank from rusting except either POR15 OR keeping alot of gas in the tank.......

Posted by: r_towle Sep 30 2005, 04:45 PM

A quality radiator shop will boil it and coat the inside with an epoxy system...POR 15 is not the only thing out there.

I had mine done, 150 boiled and epoxy coated.

In order to get it really clean, he did drill a 2 inch hole on the drivers side to get behind the middle baffle and ensure it was all cleaned out.

Rich

Posted by: 9146986 Sep 30 2005, 04:45 PM

If you cheap out on your fuel tank, you'll live to regret it. $150 too much to invest in a fuel tank? Fuel injectors are at least 2/3 of that each.

Gastank Renu, OK? If you go with the interior and exterior coatings, you'll get a lifetime guarantee, and thier coatings are baked on and will not come off. You can get a interior only coating which, I'm sure will last your lifetime, but you'll only get a two year guarantee. If you go this route, you can paint the exterior of your tank for a "correct" appearance, if that's important.

I've heard horror stories of DIY fuel tank coatings that have sloughed off and made a real hardcore headache.