1973 Rebuild

[Patcon]

25 minutes ago, Matthew Abate said:

Drained my tank tonight. Last I checked this is not the correct color for gasoline

Yeahhhh, no!!!  Maybe a gas tank liner gone bad? Or a bad rubber hose that dissolved into the gasoline, vent hose maybe????

[Matthew Abate]

Well, I had intended to replace all that stuff anyway, but jeeeeeeeze.

So tell me about reconditioning a gas tank. Should I just buy a replacement or is taking it to a radiator shop worth while?

It's dented and needs knocking back into shape, and this is making me think it should be thoroughly flushed and treated.

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[Matthew Abate]

Well, I had intended to replace all that stuff anyway, but jeeeeeeeze.

So tell me about reconditioning a gas tank. Should I just buy a replacement or is taking it to a radiator shop worth while?

It's dented and needs knocking back into shape, and this is making me think it should be thoroughly flushed and treated.

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[Zed Head]

The color and the smell are more from just chemical reaction with oxygen.  If air is getting in, moisture probably is too, but a good inspection would be worth doing before assuming it needs a lot of work.

That smell is one you'll recognize in the future if you're trying to figure out how long a car's been sitting.

[charliekwin]

There's a few threads on here that go into detail on reconditioning the tank.  Here's a recent one:

As long as you don't have any large holes that require welding, it's a pretty easy (though time consuming and largely unenjoyable) job.  The TLDR version is basically this: fill the tank with something like nuts to knock off any loose rust, remove remaining rust with muriatic acid, rinse thoroughly, then coat with a tank liner like Red Kote.

[siteunseen]

You might use a wooden handle through the sending unit hole to push the dent back out. Sorta like what "Dent Doctors" do with metal rods. They slowly massage the dent out. Cleaning and coating the tank is an easy PITA job. It's an all day job getting ready for it but when you're prepped and ready it only takes 30 minutes, a hurried 30 minutes too. The tank can get flash rust in 10 minutes!

You can replace all the vent hoses too, $60 from O'Reillys. The tank cleaning stuff and a quart of red kote was $50. $10 gallon of acid, $10 quart of acetone and $30 for the red kote. Oh and a couple of dollars of baking soda. You'll need a few empty five gallon buckets too.

[Matthew Abate]

Got it out:

It's currently sitting next to my garage dehumidifier with three gallons of white vinegar in it and all the holes plugged. Hopefully I can manage time to work on it every night this week, but it's raining like crazy and the humidity is insane.

Thanks for the tips on reconditioning it. Once I have the thing detoxed I'll start working on that.

[ksechler]

20 hours ago, Matthew Abate said:

 

Well, I had intended to replace all that stuff anyway, but jeeeeeeeze.

 

So tell me about reconditioning a gas tank. Should I just buy a replacement or is taking it to a radiator shop worth while?

 

It's dented and needs knocking back into shape, and this is making me think it should be thoroughly flushed and treated.

 

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This post made me think of something....

Save everything!  Every hose you plan on replacing and every bolt you break off.  I did and it has been a huge help in putting the car back together.  I didn't realize it would take two years to get everything done and I would forget so much.  By saving the old parts it is easier to figure out where everything went and then put in the new stuff like it's supposed to be.  I actually used my rusted sorry old brake and fuel lines to reconstruct the routing prior to bending and installing new ones.  I think it saved me a lot of time and frustration in the long run.  I also saved the fuel tank vent lines.  I'm using them now to remind myself what the routing is supposed to be as I try to put my tank back in.  

[siteunseen]

I don't know what you've read yet but these two helped me get a better understanding of the process.

http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/fuel/gastank/index.htm

http://www.damonq.com/techsheets/red-kote.pdf

If you'll make a plan of attack beforehand it'll really help, did for me on #2. 

Get some 5 gallon buckets and go ahead and mix the soda and water, have some empties to pour the dirty acid in, figure out how you want to hang the tank while draining it.  The tanks have some holes around the edges, I used bungee cords.  A leaf blower or good air gun will help dry it quick so you can coat it quicker.  I used an old sending unit with everything cut of for sealing up that big hole and on the filler neck I used a rubber pipe plug, 2" I think.

I see your clutch fork boot is torn.  I bought one from my local Nissan dealership this past December, $8.  They still have them available.  That's the right part number in the picture below.

[Matthew Abate]

This should give you a sense of what the inside of my tank looks like:

[siteunseen]

I'll post the part number for a new sending unit and oring in the a.m.

I think it was less than $50 from my local nissan dealership.

If you cut off the arm for sealing the opening while refurbishing your tank take pictures of the old one for comparison. I had to bend the float arm mine to match for accurate fuel gauge.

[Matthew Abate]

Thanks. That will be handy.

I got about 50% of the metal clean by tumbling a box of half inch nuts in it for 15 minutes (count them going in and out and have a magnet ready), so it's not as bad as I had thought. I am currently dehumidifying it and will fill it up with white vinegar again once it's dry. That will sit for the rest of the week I think. Then I'll descale it again.