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Gas tank repair suggestions needed


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Howdy all,

             A couple of months ago I picked up a B2C parts truck. It had been parked since 1979. Among the parts I removed to use in my B1B is the gas tank which had a rather nasty dent in the bottom at the very rear of it. Believe it or not it still had about a 1'" of gas (if you could call it that) in it. I dumped out what was a really dark amber colored syrup / varnish . To my delight the tank was bright and shiny inside. I decided to see it the syrup I removed from the tank would burn so I took my torch with Map gas and proceeded to try to light a small amount in a dish afire. No surprise, it refused to light or burn. I let the tank sit for a month or so while I tended to transferring some of the other parts to my truck. Yesterday I started to work on the tank.  I cut a part out of the top so I could knock the dent out from inside then I hammered and dolly it out and it turned out really good. Now for the part I am seeking advice for. The fuel pickup tube is plugged and plugged good.I tried putting some air in it to see if it would blow the goo/residue that is plugging it up out but no dice. As one would expect the bottom if the tank is covered with thick tarry old fuel goo for lack of a better word. I also retrieved about a dozen 1" rocks and a 1971 nickle. My dilemma is how to best clear the blockage in the pickup tube. My neighbor suggested that I apply heat to the tubing to soften up the blockage and then try to blow it out with the air hose. Even though the old fuel that I drained out of the tank refused to light I dont think its a safe to put heat to a tube filled and plugged with a potentially flammable mixture of solid gas residue so I nixed that idea but my dilemma still remains.  I have toyed with the idea of removing the rivets that hold retain the fuel inlet and removing the whole thing from the tank then set about either unplugging the tube or forming a new pickup tube and installing it in the tank.Along with being riveted on it appears to also be soldered as well.  As for removing the old tarry residue from the inside of the tank itself I was planning to used some heavy duty easy off oven cleaner on it and wash out. It really is a nice tank thats well worth saving as my truck sorely needs a new one. The PO of my truck drilled holes to mount a screw on sending unit in the process severely bent up the sealing surface so it leaks when the tank is full. Also when he got it in the mid 80's there was a foot long rip along the bottom that he soldered up. Theres no rust inside but the tank in my truck  now but its a mess. I would really appreciate your suggestions as to the best way to clear the pick up tube ?

  Thanks, 

             John

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Edited by John Rogers
Im an idiot that cant type to save my life
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1 hour ago, Jerry Roberts said:

I have used a choke cable housing in an electric drill as an auger to clean out a pick up tube . Be careful that the auger doesn't grab and try to break off . Perhaps use the auger with some liquid of your choice .  

I was thinking the exact same thing. Carb cleaner As well. 
i had a studebaker tank that was way worse,2 inches of rubbery black goo. I dug it out in chunks. 
the pickup came out the top and was removeable. I used electrolysis to clean the fine mesh screen. 
to dissolve the goo in the tank, i used acetone. That was the most effective on dissolving it. Unhealthy to work with, use the proper precautions. 

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Thanks Jerry and Tooljunkie, I will try both suggestions. Im hoping that the clog is only in the last inch or two of the tube where the gas remained. I fear I made my job a lot harder by not attempting to clear the tube immediately after draining the tank before it might have had a chance to harden up but at the time I just didn't think of it. I wish I had , Im kicking myself for not doing it. I carefully bent the tabs of top of the support that holds the end of the tube up off the bottom of the tank . Now I can lift the tubing up and out of the support so now I have some room to work on it.

                                        John 

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I discovered with tanks that have old crystalized gas....the bend in the pickup tube may have pin holes in them.....leading one to think the gas meter is off or in need of repair.

I would re-tap it with a stainless steel line or least test it for holes and live with the false reading.

 

48D

 

Gas tank post from 2010

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Success !!! Yesterday I did what Jerry and Tooljunkie suggested. I  used an old 10 speed derailleur cable and housing that I had laying around and chucked it up in my cordless drill.. I had to use the housing with about 1" of cable sticking out to make sure that cable was rigid enough use then as the cable went in I would pull it out and shorten the housing and run it in again. It was plugged with fine powdery brown residu and it only took about 20 minutes and it went pretty easy .Once it passed all the way thru I broke out a can of spray carb cleaner and ran it till it was running free. After that I put a vacuum hose cap on the end and filled the tube with carb cleaner and let it sit overnight. In the morning the tube still had the cleaner in it so there are no pinholes or leaks in the tubing. I then blew out the tubing with compressed air then I sprayed it with carb cleaner again to make sure it was clean and no more residue was coming out. To clean out the mung in the bottom of the tank I used acetone like Tooljunkie suggested. It worked great. I ran out of acetone so I used some lacquer thinner to finish it off. It came out nice and clean. Now all that's left is to weld the piece that I removed back on when its safe to do so. The hole that I cut in the top of the tank is large (see photo) so I had plenty of room to not only work out the smashed tank bottom but also reach in and clean out the tank afterward.Between the piece I removed , the hole for the sending unit and the gas filler tube there is a lot of ventilation for circulation.  By this morning there was no scent of lacquer thinner or acetone. When it comes to welding on something like a fuel tank one can never be too careful. Im not sure how long to wait before I weld the plate back in . I know some folks attach a hose from a tail pipe and run it to the tank and weld while the engine is running but I dont think that will work very well because I'm going to MIG  it and the shielding gas will be blown away from the stinger by the exhaust. Ive also heard of placing dry ice in the tank but sadly no one carries dry ice here anymore. It looks like I'll be waiting for quite a while just to be safe. 

                       Thanks again Jerry, Tooljunkie and 48Dodger for your help, I appreciate it.

                                                       John

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Edited by John Rogers
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Rinse it with hot soapy water, then hot water and dry with compressed air.

If you choose not to use the soapy water, just run some air through it for a while.shop vac exhaust or compressed air even. 
After welding i have used a shop vac to check for leaks instead of compressed air. Shouldnt make so much pressure. 
 

great progress. 
 

what are your plans for rust-proofing tank afterwards?  
 

my fargo is getting a plastic tank,so rust isnt a concern for me. 

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Once I got all the mung cleaned up the inside, the tank is beautiful, all the galvanizing is like new. Even the steel makers marking are still in perfect condition. Here is a pic of the inner top surface of the tank but all the metal in the tank looks just like this. I used my phones camera to make sure that I got everything clean without having to to and stick my head inside it :) After I took this picture I took a towel with a little lacquer thinner on it to the residue and it wiped right off.I found a grocery store in Sierra Vista that carries dry ice so I took a ride and bought some. I dropped some chunks of dry ice in the tank and with the 70 degree temps outside the tank was soon filled with the CO2 fog then I welded it up. Im really happy with the result. I metal finished the weld and gave the area a good sanding with 80 then 180 on my DA and now there is no trace of the repair. I capped the fuel filler pipe and installed a old sending unit, then I put a little air in the tank thru the fuel line fitting and checked for leaks with soapy water. No leaks except for one at the sending unit where I used a old gasket  It came out really nice.  I really lucked out with this tank. I didn't want to waste the last of the dry ice so put it in my massive mug filled with diet coke . When it got done bubbling and smoking my coke was really slushy, it was awesome. It was a great day.

                                John 

 

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Edited by John Rogers
I type in gibberish
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