Took out the gas tank and it indeed is full of . I'll let the pics tell the rest:

The tank:

The gas from the bottom of the tank that didnt syphon out:

and inside the tank (if you have small children in the room, you'll want them to leave):

Yup, not surprised given the issues you've been having. And you've even got HOLES!

Time to go tank hunting.

Thats a reflection, not a hole. But it is chock full of rust. I rinsed it a couple times with alcohol, but theres still a good amount of gunk in there.

Get a couple gallons of Muriatic Acid and CAREFULLY wash out the inside. Dilute the acid with water and use appropriate safety gear. We don't want you messing up yer face and losing your hot girlfriend.

Check

Also, my dad was talking about putting some ball bearings in there to break up the rust, is this kosher?

"Are you out of it boys? Everything is ball bearings these days."

I don't know what the ball bearings would do, but I have heard of a sealer to put in the tank that will coat everything to make it like new.

The ball bearings would break off the rust that wont wash off with alcohol/acid/water so it's all clean when seal it, cause there's no point in sealing up rust.

The ball bearing trick may have worked on Dad's keen '59 Nash Rambler, but there are too many uneven surfaces/hiding places in our tanks for this method to remove all rust.

Have it professionally hot-tanked and pressure tested. Then seal with POR-15 tank sealer.

Do it right, do it once.

The other option is take it to a rad shop and have them boil it clean.

Try the acid and ball bearings first and see how clean it comes.

Here we go again...

Take it to a radiator shop and spend $35 to have it boiled, or otherwise tanked with a suitable alternative. If you have a shop with an ultrasonic tank you won' t believe how good it looks when it comes back. They know their business and you won't torch your digits with acid.

nice tanks will be fetching good money before you know it.

k

I hit myself everytime I think that I sold a very clean tank to Denny Acre for 50 bucks last year. I should have held on to it. All is well when helping a teener out though.

Take a short length ( 1 foot) of link chain and put it in the tank, then dance around your garage with the tank and chain. First off rinse the tank out, let it dry, then do the chain trick, do this for a awhile, dance and shake, beverage of choice, dance and shake, beverage of choice...you get it! Then rinse it out well and let it dry, then seal it with por-15 tank sealer. Mine is going on 5 years now and is working fine!

Did that with my Beetle tank 10 years ago and it is still spotless inside. I used the Eastwood kit though.

-Chris

I also recommend using the chain method to clean up that gunk. Put it in the tank with some hot water and Castrol Super Clean or your favorite degreaser. Then use the POR-15 tank sealer. Better yet, buy the whole tank restoration kit - it comes with everything you need.

edit:

By the way, I just wanted to note that your fuel tank compartment looks pretty darn clean. Mine did not look that good...

Click to view attachment

I sent mine out to get professionally done and am very happy with the result, much better job than I could have done and no muss no fuss in my backyard! Tanks are very rare where I live and was mentioned above are only going to get harder to obtain, save yours if you can, you will be glad you did.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Well I bought the muriatic acid and I've got a can of dad's old nuts , the uncoated, hardened steel ones. So I'm going to do my rattle nut dance (with the tank dry) and see how much that gets out, I like the chain idea too . Then I'll use the acid/water to rinse and get out all the crap and see what it looks like.

Another thing, what about the little strainer sock? Can I get another, do I need to clean it (non-buyable) or what?

I've bought the sock at a bug shop before. But that was a couple years ago. Check availability before trashing.

Excuse me for butting in here, but where does one obtain POR-15? I'm dealing with an off topic gas tank, and I tried looking for information on POR-15 here. but nothing came up on a search. I asked at one auto parts store and they were not familiar with it. And you pour this stuff in the tank and slosh it around and it seals the metal? Does it seal pin hole rust through too? Thanks for any information.

http://www.por15.com

Thank you, McMark. I will study that site.

Muriatic acid will burn you to the bone. It will blind you if even one drop gets in your eye(s). When you pour it on concrete (to remove oil stains), it causes the concrete to smoke.

I would seriously reconsider playing with this stuff.

And, if it does burn you, will you please post pics as a warning to others?

Regards,

D. Ocean

well I didn't and I'm ok (i guess it was that chem lab last year that taught me not to mess with acid).

I put a bunch of nuts in there and did my dance and then I did a bath of diluted acid and then a water rinse and then another acid and another water rinse and then ran the shop-vac on blow to dry it all out and this is what it now looks like...

The stuff that comes with the POR-15 tank Seal Kit is Phosphoric Acid, quite dilute too. Also available as Ospho from Tru-Value Hardware on special order, 4 gal minimum... Not quite so dilute.

Also, the POR tank kit contains a de-greaser and the afore-mentioned Metal Ready etchant plus Silver POR-15 in a can labled Tank Sealer. Be sure and save the "sealer" and use it as you would POR-15. I got most of the pint back after coating my ghia tank a few years ago, most of the silver went on various 914's after that. Even one rusty silver '71 that was left in the rain after being primered, not a sealing primer either! POR-15 hates sunlight, so now the silver spots have turned a lovely greenish. I might get around to getting it painted someday.

Still looks like crap,

So more acid or nut dancing or what?

You must remove ALL traces of rust. Any rust left behind will continue to "grow".

As mentioned before, take it to a shop.

Let the acid sit in there for longer to get the stubborn bits. How long did you leave it in the first two times?

I did a fair bit of sloshing, but it was in there like 10 min, you suggesting more an overnight type deal?

Like I said, take it to a rad shop, pay the man $35-50, forget about all of the coating crap, paint/powder coat the exterior, fill it with gas and go for a drive.

Kids don't listen. They know everything. We all did the same sheet when we were young...screw adults. They don't know what they're talking about!

Then again, I didn't have access to free advice from the Internet in the '70's...

Let him shake, rattle & slosh. We'll be reading another post in a few months: Damn! Have to remove tank again!

That would be a good title for another volume of my threads, but I'll check out getting it hot-dipped or cleaned tomorrow morning. So it's all bare metal when I get it back? and I just paint the outside and leave the inside bare and use it like that?

It will shine like a nickel in a goat's ass when you get it back.

You can leave it bare, but sealing will ensure a long time before having to re-do.

now you went and done it!

Miles is gonna come back now!!!

RUn!!!

Yup. Opinions differ on coating the inside of a fuel tank. You can coat the inside if you wish. I never will and I've done a couple of 30+ year old tanks. Just let the rad shop do their job and then take care of the outside and you're done.

So the bare metal on the inside wont rust when I have it back in?

figure that's prob 30+years of neglect resting in the bottom of the tank. the build up takes time. the 'filter/sock' can be cleaned. reverse rinse with hot water, soak in some pbblaster, rinse again, repeat as ness. check the fuel outlet tube as the crap builds up in there too. both of these strainers were near plugged solid and sucked flat. look for the longer version if you can find one.

k

i coated my tank. after the acid cleaning routine ...
the stuff that i used for the coating was really thick. i *seems* to work OK, but i wouldn't do it again.

i would just clean it with the acid, wash it out, rinse with metal-ready/ospho and be done with it ...

no need for any extra coating.
Andy

Watch out for reusing the sock. The flash aluminum washer/base is a sealing point. Use some fuel safe, non-drying sealant there or you will have a slow leak that will stink up the car as well as being mildly unsafe.

I once left a gallon of muriatic in a one car garage with the lid off for a couple of days. I had a Mercedes 450SL parked in there with it and the fumes totally destroyed all of the chrome on the car...bad stuff

think of what the fumes do to lung tissue if they'll eat a chrome finish. hyrochloric/muratic acid isn't a rookie product. you have to have the proper protective gear. if i did a tank at home i would further rinse the tank with a box of baking soda disolved in water mix to neutralize the acid. where do you guys pour the acid wash when you do this at home?

k

Well I just got done with another acid bath (higher concentration) and left it in there for an hour or so, it's really cleaned up. I think in the next couple days (when I have time) I'll put in a similiarly high-concentration and fill the whole tank (not just the crap part) and let it sit for 2 or 3 hours , making sure to slosh it around once in a while to keep the burning going. I figure after that I'll have a spotless tank.

What do you do with the acid after you are done with it?

I would tell you, but the Green Party will send swat after me

that would eventually be chambers creek, titlow beach, or day island. good work. please don't continue what ever it is you're doing, unless it is something related to the recycle center at the tacoma dump. did you grow up in the greater puget sound area?

k