old gas tank, need help Options

[juicebox]

my gas tank is VERY old, and obviously i need to be able to fill it with gas.

i have no clue what to do. i think it may be filled with water, since the gas guage reads 1/4 tank.
any adivce would help.

also, i have been looking for cv joints, because mine are dead. i have not been able to find them.
if you have any recomendations, let me know.

thanks, matt

[mihai914]

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Jun 24 2005, 08:01 PM)

Check out POR-15 gas tank sealant. I have used it on my old BMW which originally came with sealant. Worked great.

Don't want to go over Dr Evil... I know a fellow 914 guy who used the POR15 sealer as per instructions, well now he is looking for a new tank because the sealer came off and it blocking the fuel pickup. As mentionned radiator shops will clean it and probably try to sell you a coating of some sort that you should refuse.

I opted to change mine after the car sat for 15 years, beware the the fuel lines may also be gummed up from old fuel so check that also.

You can try and clean the inside yourself, I let the thing dry, removed the sender and filler. Used a shop vac to get the big stuff out. I put some water in to get as much as possible the junk out. I followed with filling the thing with a CLR equivalent from Home Depot (mild acid) at this point you can add some old nuts inside for scraping action. shook it for a while and dumped the acid out. Finally I rinsed with water, of course it started flash rust immediately (but I didn't care) and let it dry in the sun. Finally I shopvaced a last time. Changed the screen and put a new filter and all is fine.

You may want to rinse it with some baking soda/water mix to neutralize the acid and then with some thinner or gas as a final step. Like I said I didn't do it because I was lazy and the tank was much cleaner to begin with than the original one.

PS: while vacuuming you can tap with a rubber mallet on the tank and specially on the seam to get as much as possible rust to flake off the walls.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that while I used the rust and scale remover, some people actually use Muriatic acid (the swimming pool kind) diluted for a more agressive bite in the rust. Also always wear protection, eyes, clothes, gloves and whatever else if it make you feel happy (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)