280z fuel tank problem

[ZCurves]

Wow, I have not seen that much rust either! It pays to change the filter!

[Jeff G 78]

In my best Crocodile Dundee voice...

That's not rust, THIS is rust.

POR-15 and a LOT of work took care of the problem.

[ZCurves]

When I worked my tank over, I pressure washed the inside and used this product from Eastwood - looks like melted marshmallow. After meticulously following the instructions everything went well - except when the coating began to soften and come loose inside the tank. I picked up another tank and repeated the cleaning process, EXCEPT for the coating. I finished by putting in a gallon of Phosphoric Acid, let it react and then rinsed it out, followed with Acetone. I then put a filter before the Fuel Pump to catch any debris that I didn't get out and a new filter up front.

Coating is not always necessary, if you do not have a load of rust chunks, then you are wasting time and money not to mention risking the loss of your tank! It is not something that you have to do, simply because you have an old car. Just clean the tank out.

Flushing out a 30+ year old tank is a great idea and everyone should consider doing it. Water is heavier than fuel and will -over time begin to collect on the bottom of the tank. Every couple of years you should pull the drain plug on the outside bottom and drain Accumulated Dirt and Water.

[FastWoman]

Crikey, Jeff, now THAT'S RUST!

Argneist, it shouldnt' be hard to drain the tank. Just pull the drain plug, and let it go. Drain it into a pan. If the hole gets plugged, just poke whatever is plugging it with a wire/stick/nail/screwdriver.

I wouldn't have a hose list for you, but I can tell you everything is easy enough to find at your local auto parts store except the roughly 5/8" fuel-rated hose (DON'T USE HEATER HOSE!), which you can supposedly find at your local tractor supply company. If you can't find it there, give Hampton Rubber a call in Hampton, VA. Talk to them very nicely, and they might mail you out some. (They don't ordinarily do mail order.) Let me know if they say, "Oh, damn, what is it with you Datsun owners?! Why do you keep bothering us with this stuff?" (I have to get along with them for other stuff. )

Sublime, there's no way to remove the intake screen without cutting the tank open. My radiator guy quoted me about $500 on my tank to cut it open, pull the screen, eat out the rust, coat the inside, and put it all back together. Then he looked at my tank and said (with a wink), "Your tank is fine! Get out of here and stop bothering me!" He told me that an acid wash will eat the fine screen, and epoxy coatings will clog the screen (which might not be relevant if there's no screen left from the acid wash).

A agree with Andrew that there's no reason to get too aggressive with the tank if it's in good shape. All I did with my tank was to pressure wash it, rinse with acetone, dry, repaint the outside, and reinstall.