Most dreaded of jobs finally on the horizon ? the fuel tank !

[siteunseen]

10 hours ago, Killain said:

Hi all, would anyone have a picture of the inside of a 280Z fuel tank ? I am in the need to drain my fuel tank, and once drained I planned on removing both the gas cap and the drain plug and leave them both out till the inside of the tank is dry. I have a borescope and once dry I can get a better look inside the tank to see what kind of condition the inside of my 47 year old fuel tank is, is this a good or bad idea ? I never had to deal with a either dirty or contaminated fuel tank, and besides getting the 17 gallons of fuel out, then I need to come up with a strategy on how to remove it while preserving the hoses, nothing on this Z is easily located or priced. I'm changing the fuel pump and the previous owner put a fuel filter inline just before the pump, ( which I reinstalling or a new one) to keep from sucking up dirt into the pump. I haven't found any signs or contamination yet, but . . . . 

A little past halfway down of the link I posted earlier.

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

 

[Killain]

Yes, these are great pictures, I just spoke to the shop doing some of the work, and they said they wouldn't put the rockauto fuel pump on it, it has the original or maybe a factory replacement, but my problem was the hoses ( and they weren't FI hoses, had burst and the pump shut off. So they put new fuel injection hoses on it and put the new filter before the pump, ( and when I told about my fears of a dirty tank, and that the car sat for 13-14 years not used, he said well look, maybe it was stored with real gasoline and if that is the case, the build up of junk on the bottom of the tank might not exist, or at least not to the point of clogging lines or anything, ( the in-line filter they took off did not have any dirt or junk in it? ) Howie also said about my plan to drain the tank and let it dry out, He said don't do that. If you want to see what is on the bottom of the tank, wait till fuel is low, drain the tank, get the borescope and take a look in the tank from the drain plug location, if you don't see any build up of dirt of other junk, put the plug in with some Pematex thread sealant and then refill the tank. You stand to great of a chance of rust if you leave the tank open to the atmosphere which could cause more problems than just a little dirt ? I said to him, the problem with this classic car is you can't have it towed and left sitting at his shop for too long as it can and will get vandalized. Other than the fuel system, I'm trying to get the A/C converted to R-134, something of a formable task here as I live in a Service Desert around here ?????

 

Thank you for all your help.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Killain

[bluez]

A good source for braided hoses is Belmetric in Ma, they offer many sizes, with great pricing.

For cleaning and sealing a tank, Por15 works well.

[Killain]

Well it looks like the day of doom is here, The Z was at the shop for another reason, but while it was idling in the driveway of their shop the pump blew a hose again and gas went every where. But they shut it off and pushed it into the shop and up on a lift, there si some reason the hoses keep blowing apart and it's from very weak hoses somebody used in the past, BUT they drained the tank and then looked inside and guess what . . . . It's VERY RUSTY in there. So I said I need to take the tank and get it restored, but how was I going to do that with it sitting in their shop ???? to which the owner said No Problem, we'll push in the last bay and it can sit there until I get the tank finished and back to them. So there's a old shop about 120 miles from here and I'll pick up the tank and drive it out to them to be restored. There isn't a lot of alternatives right now, I really don't have much of a choice, I could hunt around for another tank, but I'm not going to find a 47 year old tank that's not as bad as the one I got so I'm restricted in what I can do ????

[Pilgrim]

45 minutes ago, Killain said:

Well it looks like the day of doom is here, The Z was at the shop for another reason, but while it was idling in the driveway of their shop the pump blew a hose again and gas went every where. But they shut it off and pushed it into the shop and up on a lift, there si some reason the hoses keep blowing apart and it's from very weak hoses somebody used in the past, BUT they drained the tank and then looked inside and guess what . . . . It's VERY RUSTY in there. So I said I need to take the tank and get it restored, but how was I going to do that with it sitting in their shop ???? to which the owner said No Problem, we'll push in the last bay and it can sit there until I get the tank finished and back to them. So there's a old shop about 120 miles from here and I'll pick up the tank and drive it out to them to be restored. There isn't a lot of alternatives right now, I really don't have much of a choice, I could hunt around for another tank, but I'm not going to find a 47 year old tank that's not as bad as the one I got so I'm restricted in what I can do ????

Find a good radiator shop; many of them can do the cleanout and re-coat the inside.

[bluez]

Check out Por-15 Fuel Tank Sealer. 

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00V98E918?reviewerType=all_reviews

[Patcon]

Replacement tanks are also being manufactured depending on the year car

[Killain]

Well I have the car on a lift, so I took the tank to a radiator/fuel tank repair shop in York PA this morning.  I talked to the owner and he looked the tank over and said it would be about 10 days if he started it today, they clean the tank and then have a fluid that turns into a tank liner. He showed me a 1916 Ford tank he's working on, Looks real good it's red the final liner is. I could find any company manufacturing new tanks for the 1975 S30, so I'll have to go with a relined tank which is mine. I have the car at my friends shop and I need to do something fast. But overall, this has been a job I needed to do since I bought the car last year, and I have a new gauge sending unit to go in once the tank is ready to be put back into the car.  At least I now can drive around without a 1 gallon can of gas in case I run out ?  I was wondering now if I should have pulled the evap tank and have it too relined ?

[Racer X]

19 minutes ago, Killain said:

 I was wondering now if I should have pulled the evap tank and have it too relined ?

It should be OK. Every evap tank I have ever had out of a
Z has been clean and shiny.

Wouldn’t hurt to have a look at it, do you have the inner trim panel removed?

 

[Killain]

What does the EVAP tank do ?

[Racer X]

3 hours ago, Killain said:

What does the EVAP tank do ?

Actually I think evap is a misnomer.

The fuel tank has a very large inlet opening, and isn't thoroughly baffled. My guess is that the engineers used it to catch any fuel that would slosh up during cornering, catch it, and then let it drain back into the tank.

It appears to be a complex solution that other vehicles don't seem to require.

 

 

[Racer X]

On 6/14/2022 at 5:07 PM, Killain said:

Hi all, would anyone have a picture of the inside of a 280Z fuel tank

In addition to Clint's reply, ETI4K posted his:

On 6/7/2022 at 5:24 PM, ETI4K said:

 

Tank is from early production '76 280

 

 

In the fuel injected Zs the tanks had screens to reduce debris from getting pumped to the injectors. The holes in the injectors that the fuel sprays from are very small, and clog easily. Clean fuel is very important.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Racer X