The Crypt Car returns

[Tinster]

I have pulled the entire fuel delivery system out of the car.

1. Gas tank cleaned out and wire brush scrubbed and now
siting by the pool. (of note- almost no crud came out when
I drained the tank). Stopped at 3 radiator shops - can't boil
my tank.

2. No luck anywhere finding a product to seal the tank inside

3. Pulled and trashed all the fuel lines

4. pulled and trashed all the fuel filters

5. pulled and trashed the fuel pump-Installed Paul's.

6. Pulled and cleaned the carbs-sitting on a shelf.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

1. waiting on delivery of float bowl gaskets from Browsky

2. Waitin on new carb float from Amcboy

3. Attempting to find space in the fuel line side to install
a marine filter with water seperator. They are kinda large.

4. Until I can afford to have a custom fuel tank fabricated:

A. I intend to reinstall the cleaned but marginal tank;
B. purchase my fuel from a new gas station with new underground tanks;
C. prefilter all my fuel into a 5 gallon plastic fuel can;
D. add 1 oz 2-cycle engine oil per 5 gallons gasoline
( to coat the marginal fuel tank walls), every other fill up.
E. Filter gas from plastic can into car fuel tank
F. Install new fuel lines
G. Install marine filter/water seperator
H. Install glass cylinder fuel filter before carbs
I. Repair carbs and reinstall
J. Install new, quality dizzy cap and quality rotor from PeterC.
K. Ask Mickey for a small blessing.

This is a long list and daunting. My motivation to 100%
rebuild the fuel delivery system a second time is prettty
low right now. The danged tank is the show stopper.

This the present status- work will proceed slowly.

thanks all for your support and kindness.

PS: The Mrs is truly not an ogre when it comes to spending
$$ on my hobbies. She approved a $1,000+ to repair my damaged
boat engine figuring that was a better return on investment.
Nice looking stainless steel 13 X 17 racing prop, eh? We are
taking Tres Gatos over to the marina this morning.

dale

 

[tony barnhill]

Way to go, Dale - a bit overkill IMO but if it works for you that's all that matters....now, where's that yield sign you were gonna bolt up to Tres Gatos?

 

[martin_burtt]

What about a can of POR15 gas tank sealer (https://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=TS&dept=12)? The POR15 site lists a Puerto Rico distributor.

Or is there anyone going to PR who can take some down for Dale?

 

[DNK]

Martin, dale has called that dist. a # of times and never got an answer what he informs us.
Julian is heading over soon.Maybe?

 

[jjbunn]

Martin, dale has called that dist. a # of times and never got an answer what he informs us.
Julian is heading over soon.Maybe?

I'd be happy to take a can ... the problem will be getting hold of it before I leave, which is O-Dark-30 on Wednesday morning.

 

[jessebogan]

Dale,

How about this for an idea? Drill 2 holes in the trunk near where the fuel line leaves the gas tank, and run metal lines thru grommets into the area near the spare tyre. Mount the marine filter there.Easy access that way, and it is protected from road/suspension/etc.If you plan ahead a little, the fuel line to the engine should be right exactly where it was in the first place. If you can find one with a clear bowl, you can monitor it more easily without having to open it to inspect it. Cheer up!!This is NORMAL for an old car. The fact that the car went 1400 miles before its first "teething trouble" appeared is a sign that the bugs are being worked out.It is like stamping out the DPO Pedro fire, even after the major blaze is contained, there will still be the occasional flare up. It took 40 years for that car to get to the Pedro-ized condition that it was in. You have to expect that it will take some time to reverse that. There are a lot of people supporting you in this, quitting now would kill us. There has to be very few cars on this planet that have so many people putting in good vibes /help/etc, it is going to be OK. Trust me.

 

[NutmegCT]

Martin, dale has called that dist. a # of times and never got an answer what he informs us.
Julian is heading over soon.Maybe?

I'd be happy to take a can ... the problem will be getting hold of it before I leave, which is O-Dark-30 on Wednesday morning.

Julian - every NAPA store I've been to around here carries POR-15 products, altho' one has a 24 hour order time.

Maybe a NAPA or other auto parts shop near you?

Tom

 

[hondo402000]

do you fill up you other cars at the same station? that crap that you got out of your tank would foul any car up, seems I read a reply that thought maybe someone poured crap in your tank, is it possible?

 

[jjbunn]

Martin, dale has called that dist. a # of times and never got an answer what he informs us.
Julian is heading over soon.Maybe?

I'd be happy to take a can ... the problem will be getting hold of it before I leave, which is O-Dark-30 on Wednesday morning.

Julian - every NAPA store I've been to around here carries POR-15 products, altho' one has a 24 hour order time.

Maybe a NAPA or other auto parts shop near you?

Tom

I have Kragen and PepBoys nearby ... and I don't recollect seeing POR15 in either. I order my POR15 off Ebay.

 

[dklawson]

I'm coming into this late but would like to comment that I've used the POR tank lining kit for motorcycles (on the Mini). It's the best tank lining kit material I've used and I've tried a couple of others. It's well worth trying if you can get it in PR.

As for getting the tank boiled, there have been a couple of posts about this on the Spridget forum. Your neighbors would love this but if you are discrete you may not even have to explain much. The old school method of DIY tank cleaning is to remove the sending unit from the tank and plug all the lines/openings (except the filler neck). Place the tank on a barbeque/gas grill and fill the tank with water. Start the coals or fire, allow the tank to reach boiling and keep it hot and boiling all day but don't let it go dry. The steam and the agitation of the boiling water will remove scale and varnish and give you a very clean interior suitable (with some additional prep) for the POR tank liner.

 

[Silverghost]

<thinking out loud here - or in this case in type>

We know Dale went through his car, stem to stern, fixed, rebuilt, replaced everything that needed it.

Carbs cleaned, rebuilt, etc. fuel pump same, fuel lines and filters same. Cleaned gas tank to best of ability and all appeared clean. Everything was clean and green.

Got car running and drove 1500 miles. (rounding up for easy math) At 300 miles per tank (easy math again)- that's 5 tanks of gas.

Fuel systems are a one way river. Flows from tank to lines, through filter to pump to carbs. The only place gas enters the river is at the inlet.

Surely if there was a problem with the tank it would have shown up in 2-3 tanks? And Dale reports several times little or no crud came out of tank during this last round of disassembly/cleaning.

By my logic, the only place the crud could have entered the supply system is from a bad fuel source or someone up to no good??

Unless there is a key piece of information missing, I can only conclude that the problem came from an outside source...

Ok, that's the end of my thoughts in type format. If I am wrong or made a mistake, I know you all will let me know!

 

[NutmegCT]

You guys piqued my curiosity. To make this a bit easier for our intrepid Caribbean BCF Officer, I talked with Mark at POR15 about an hour ago. He says Nu-Tech in Guayama PR has been their distributor for years. Just shipped another load to them a couple weeks ago.

Mark gave me the name and number of the Nu-Tech rep, so I went ahead and called them. After about 10 rings, I talked with Victor at Nu-Tech PR, 787-315-3237 . He either has now, or can get whatever POR15 product you want. Nu-Tech, Urb El Dorado, in Guayama PR. Across the island from Bayamon.

https://www.nutechcoatings.net/

If the decision is that you need to coat the tank, give it a try Dale.

Tom

 

[tony barnhill]

Nope, Peter, I think you're right on - & I've continuously said that car has ne 'real' problems! This is just something we come to accwept with these old cars.

My '79 MGB that I've owned since new & only has 120,000 miles on it with perfect maintenance just started flipping a push rod off the rocker...no big deal...when it happened I could usually limp home...but, now I've gotta do something...its probably stuck valve, bad lifter or cam lobe...easiest thing to do: replace head with spare off shelf, install a good, used cam & new lifters!

No big deal either!

You can't take these cars seriously - & there's nothing you can break that you can't repair!

 

[Tinster]

<thinking out loud here - or in this case in type>

Carbs cleaned, rebuilt, etc. fuel pump same, fuel lines and filters same. Cleaned gas tank to best of ability and all appeared clean. Everything was clean and green.

Got car running and drove 1500 miles. (rounding up for easy math) At 300 miles per tank (easy math again)- that's 5 tanks of gas.

Unless there is a key piece of information missing, I can only conclude that the problem came from an outside source...

That makes sense to me given the final, clear glass, carb filter was lily white right
up until the car died. Also, almost no crud was in the tank when I pulled it and cleaned
it again. Nothing in the fuel pump or post pump filter. Pre-pump filter full of crud.

JULIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLY WITH POR OR ANY OTHER CHEMICAL IN YOUR LUGGAGE.
FORBIDDEN BY HOMELAND SECURITY- HUGE FINE AND JAIL TIME.

Point well taken that I got 1500 miles from my effort. I am at that point again-
everything rebuilt, new and clean. If I use my concept of prefiltering my fuel
into a 5 gallon can with 1 oz 2-stroke oil, I should get another 1500 miles,
maybe more.

My coffers will slowly fill again and I am designing an aluminum fuel tank
that will incorporate a 10 micron filter with water seperator.

Thanks for the perspective!!

dale

 

[tony barnhill]

Way overkill, IMHO!

 

[poolboy]

Can you really blame Dale? Like the old saying "once bitten..twice shy."

 

[GB1]

Dale IMHO

Keep it simple, these cars have lasted a long time under proper care and modifications should be simple.

did I just say that :wink:

Seriously, keep it simple and get him on the road again. I think that for 45k ahem, you could have built a new amos.

Please stay with it.

Pat

 

[jjbunn]

JULIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLY WITH POR OR ANY OTHER CHEMICAL IN YOUR LUGGAGE.
FORBIDDEN BY HOMELAND SECURITY- HUGE FINE AND JAIL TIME.

Message understood!!! I'd rather not find myself in a PR prison

 

[DNK]

Dale- Do you have a link to where it says you can't bring paint into PR. Why any different than the other 50?
I wouldn't expect him to put it in his carry on.

 

[toysrrus]

Hi There Dale,

"I`M IN SHOCK" relative to your comment of "TRASHING / CRUSHING" your TR.

"DON`T DO IT"!! As others here have mentioned; You have a ton of $$$ and Time invested in your car. Just "STOP" and smell the Roses for awhile!

Leave the Darn thing alone! At some point in the near future, come back & do a pcs. at a time without getting too frustrated. I know; Easier said than done!

Again; I would do the clean out process without going overboard & run the car in a "STATIONARY" position for hours. Then, When you feel comfortable, take it out for a spin adding more miles ea. day & double checking the "IN-LINE" clear bowl filter regularly.

Keep the faith! Its not as big a problem as you may think.

Best Wishes,

Russ
PS: I just looked at your profile & notice that you purchased a `69 parts car! I`m just curious; What did it "INITIALLY" cost you?