Cleaning of Gas Tank on '29 Plymouth Coupe

[29plycoop]

With the weather greatly improving I started working down the "to do list" on my '29 Plymouth again.  Managed to acquire a gas tank this winter from one of our forum friends and as most tanks this age needed to be cleaned out.  Relying on a method used in the past that worked great, strapped it to a rear wheel of my Massey Ferguson (wheel jacked up off the ground and on a jack stand).  First rinsed out as much dirt as possible with some old gas that was available. Removed the gas gauge to work on it and not destroy the delicate mechanism in cleaning the tank. Tossed in a couple hands full of hex-nuts and a gallon of carburetor cleaner. Strapped the tank to the tractor wheel, put it in low/3ed gear and tumbled it for about 4 hours.  In the process found out that if you remove the small pipe plug in the bottom of the tank,  the end of the internal gas line pick-up tube ends there.  If you remove the 90 deg brass fuel line fitting that is midway up on the tank (goes to the vacuum tank) you can take the outside of an old choke cable and push it back and forth through this opening to clean the internal line out. The end of the cable will come out the bottom drain hole so you can tell when it is clean. It really needed it! Gave it a couple final rinses and it is ready to go.  Will have to take out a few dents, sand blast and paint it.  Still have to come up with a new style foam float to replace the the old cork on the gas gauge.  Replace horn wire next. - Happy Motoring!!!! - Rich    

[Tinkeys]

Hi Rich!!
Method sounds good just dont like the part where you put in gqsoline , I'm thinking if there is a slight spark from the nuts tumberling around the tractor and Rich could be on the moon !!
Some other non volatile liquid would be a better choice . Good luck keep up the good work !

[Rusty]

Do you seal the inside of the tank once you are done?  I have used POR-15 gas tank sealer system and that really works if you follow the directions to the letter.  All the tanks I have done in the past are very very heavy rusted with baffles so I cut holes in the top of the tank and sand blast them.  Once clean, I air blow the sand out and then have a local welding shop weld the top holes closed.  The POR-15 works great.  The tank has to be dead dry before the sealer is pored. I use a halagen shop work light to heat the bottome of the tank and a cheap air dryer to blow hot air thru the tank for 72 hours.  I use a little bit of air pressure to blow out suction lines incase some sealer got into the treads or  such.  The walls need to be rust free for the seal to really work.  I had a gas station once just pore some sealer in a WW2 jeep's tank that I had once.  They never removed the rust so after 3 years the rubber sealer pulled from the walls and came off is large 12 inch sheets and would plug the pick up line and it started to leak thru pin holes.  What a mistake.

My 29 looked like it was pretty clean when I looked inside with a flash light when I had the gauge out.  I left well enough alone.

rusty

[29plycoop]

The gas was only used as the initial rinse to remove the heavy stuff, then went with carburetor cleaner and nuts.  The tank was pretty dirty but not rusted out so will not use any sealer on this one.  I have read good and bad reports on the different gas tank sealers so have tried to stay away from them. With the new fuels with the very strong detergents I wonder how the sealer will hold up.  Only time will tell. Thank you - Rich