• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Gas tank refresh

Share this page

J

jackag91

Jedi Warrior
Offline
I have slowly been taking the car apart. This weekend I was able to get everything out of the car from the rear bumper to to most of the dash.

Since I have the gas tank out, and it is going to be stored for quite a while, I figured I should clean it up and do what ever needs to be done to it before I throw it in the attic.

So, is there anything I need to be aware of? Any thing I need to do besides sand off the outside rust and coat it with Por15? I assume black is the right color.

I know there is some debate on the effectiveness/safety of using an interior coating kit on it.
 
jackag91:

Last month or so I had to replace the entire fuel
delivery system in my TR6.

There are several other things you can do to refurbish
your gas tank.

https://rides.webshots.com/album/559938774SZbUCt

Remove the outflow fitting and the fuel level sending
unit fittings. The fuel cap pipe will slide off on
it's own. Check the gasket under the fuel cap- car
exterior side. Check the gasket under the fuel level
sending unit cap.(If it was me, I'd order new ones for
the re-install down the road)

Get a large handful of clean, scrap bolts and nuts-
I used 3/8" by 2" bolts plus old nuts.

Dump them inside your tank along with a cup or so of
commercial grade, heavy duty cleaner liquid. Hold your
hand over the bottom out flow hole and shake and shake
and shake the hardware against the inside walls of the
tank.

Then spray water into the tank and run clean water thru
the tank and let it overflow maybe for 5 minutes. Rust
and gunk will come out the out flow hole. You will be
surprised how much comes out.

Repeat this process until no more rust or gunk flushes
out. Remove the bolts and nuts. Paint the outside, cover
all the openings and store in a low humidity location.

The general consensus is the interior coatings break down
after a year or so. A nearly full gas tank, when in use,
is the best protection against rust.

regards,

d
 
Or send it to a radiator shop and have them do it and then use 1 of the tank sealer paints
 
Warning. I am not sure when, but at some point in time, the tank's filler spout was extended down into the gas tank to prevent filling the tank solid thereby allowing room for expansion. If you have a tank with the extension, getting the nuts and bolts and other larger pieces of debris out will be a challenge.

Another option that does not cost much is to take it to a radiator shop to have it boiled out and pressure check for pinhole leaks.

Black is the right color, but then again, once installed, who can tell what the color is.
 
I used a phosphoric acid wash after cleaning. Let it slosh all over for several minutes, especially the bottom. Drain. Rinse well a couple of times. Leaves a new new looking finish. Sloshing diesel fuel inside before storage also help prevent further rust.
 
Back
Top