Gas tank

[Ed]

I have a quick question. How many gallons (U.S.)

will my 73 240 hold? And what kind of gas mileage is common? I'm getting about 20 mpg.

[2ManyZs]

A 240 tank holds 16 gallons. The later 280 tanks hold 16.7 gallons, but they won't fit a 240.

Of course you may be able to squeeze in a couple more tenths in the filler neck but figure 16 as your baseline.

[2ManyZs]

Oops, forgot your mileage question. 20 mpg would be right around average, everything depends on your driving style, car mods if any and where you drive. I have had cars that got 24 with no problem, and one that could never get 20.

[brobob]

What are you guys doing for fuel tanks on 240s ?

I have looked around the parts folks and they say nothing available ?

Mine is basically clean but needs coating to prevent surface rust and the pick up would have to be replaced as it is collasped . Is someone refurbing these tanks ? Thanks for the reply.

Brobob:confused:

[EScanlon]

The Early 240 gas tanks are hard to find. Why not contact a radiator shop and see if they can fix the pick-up tube for you. They can also paint it.

There are also places that specialize in fuel tank repair.

If you don't mind doing it yourself, the POR-15 people have a fuel tank saver kit that will help you restore the inside of the tank. The outside can also be protected with an application of POR-15.

[Rattfink]

It'd take more work, but one could probably work in a fuel cell if they had a mind to. Never done it, but...

'Fink

[2ManyZs]

Eastwood's also has a tank re-sealer kit that is quite inexpensive, but you will have to buy acid at the hardware store to use with the kit.

Hopefully you can find someone to repair yours or find anothe one in a junkyard somewhere of off someones parts car they may be selling here in the For Sale forum. They are one of those parts that the aftermarket sometimes has and sometimes can't get. I would say you should be able to pick up one pretty cheap off a parts car that may be in better shape so check out the For Sale forum.

Only one problem with a fuel cell is the price. By the time you buy a 16 gallon cell (or something close to 16) and buy a fuel sending unit and get it all hooked up you will be looking at a significant investment. Over $500 easily, so if you don't want to spend that much try to find a used one or possibly try to have yours fixed.

You could check the web-links area to double check if any new ones are available, but they will probably cost in the 500 or so category.

[brobob]

I have worked the the tank once, heres what I did .

Drained it , removed it , replaced all the rubber , revamped the sending unit,

filled it with sulfuric acid taped it up and agitated it.

Then flushed it until clean water ran thru it, dried it and it appeared like new.

So I painted the lil puppy and put her back to work, the plot thickens....

I still have surface rust showing up ?

I probe the pick up with wire and rust remover, lots of nasty stuff here ?

The pick up must be blocked a bit because the car will basically run out of gas and suck a vaccum on the fuel rail?

I run one of those glass filters before the pump and I always find very fine rust particles .

My guess is pull it again, do it all over and this time pull the pick up out and

make my own outta some brass tubing.

I guess it is also time to bite the bullet and use the fuel tank treatment (POR-15) I have used the primers before and like them.

Any other suggestions ?

I will look around the site and see if someone would like to part with one but I am a cheap bas-turd !

[Mike]

I refurbished my own gas tank. I even purchased the entire kit from Eastwood, but, decided against putting in the sealer.

I purchased all of the other ingredients (acetone, etc), but, decided not to pour in the sealer at the last minute.

Here are a few picts of the stuff as I did the work....

This is a shot of all my supplies and the tank. Notice the nicely powder-coated tank and the rubber gloves. Be careful when you take on a job like this!! Nasty, nasty, nasty chemicals....

[Mike]

Muratic Acid, Acetone, and various tools for the job...

[Mike]

So, here we have the metal wash, rust remover and the sealer. Again, after taking all of these steps, I decided NOT to pour in the sealer because it looked so pretty inside!

I also heard that the sealer comes apart eventually over the years and can plug up your fuel system.

[kmack]

Word of caution about using acid to clean your tank....make sure you nuetralize the acid or it will rust again!

When I first got my car back in '93, there was 3/8" of sludge in the bottom (along with a screwdriver?) and it was almost hard as a rock. (My car had been sitting for about 5 years.) I pulled the tank and it had been suggested to me to use muractic (sp?) acid the clean the inside. The acid worked great! Nice, clean, shiney metal appeared inside. I thoroughly rinsed the inside of the tank for over an hour. 3 weeks later I had my engine running.

Well about 3 weeks after that, while test driving the car on the road (1/2 a tank of gas), the thing ran out of fuel (or at least felt like it)! Checked the fuel filter.....BROWN! Pulled it, and brown liquid poured out. Changed it, and a week later it was glogged again.

Finally, I pulled the tank again. The inside looked worse than it did before I tried to clean it! Turns out that you can't nuetralized muractic acid with water alone, so it kept eating away at the metal. And not having a full tank of gas let air/moisture in which caused the rust.

The fix? I'm not sure, but I went to a radiator shop that repaired fuel tanks and they turned me on to a process called "Renew." (I have the paperwork at home and will look for it later) Basically, they clean out your tank, nuetralize the metal, then coat the inside and outside with a fuel resistant, hard, epoxy coating and baked it in an oven for 6 hours. Carries a lifetime warranty. Cost me about $150.

As I haven't really had my car back together since that point, I can't tell you how it's holding up. I can tell you that when you look inside my tank, it's clean and neat inside with no signs of rust.

FWIW....