Hi guy's I'm Sammy and I'm in here everyday reading everyones post's and looking at cars. I never really post since I'm still learning about cars. I have a question if anyone can help. I have a 51 Pontiac that has a rusty fuel tank and this one place want's to charge me about $300 to clean and seal it. I found another place that would clean it for $60 but wont seal it. I was thinking of sealing it myself with some stuff from Speedway but I dont want to mess things up and ruin my tank. I was thinking of getting one of those fuel cells and I actually read all the fuel cell threads that were in here but they didn't really answer my questions. Does anyone run one in their car's? I know you end up loseing your trunk space but at this point I just want to run some clean gas with no rust chunks through my lines. Or are fuel cells mostly for race cars? I'm also aware of the 65 Mustang tanks but I dont have the tool's or the know how to cut up my trunk. My car is just a stock 51 Pontiac ( straight eight ) which I plan to do a lot more to but first I just want it to run good so I can drive it around town and go on the freeway. thanks for listening, Sammy Oh yeah, So my questions are: Does anybody run them in their cars? Do you like the fuel cell? What other place's have them beside's Speedway ( or is Speedway the wat to go ) any fuel cell in particular that I should consider? or just keep looking for someone to that would clean my old tank for cheap. Also if anyone know's anyone in the East or South bay that could clean my old tank for a reasonable price please let me know!
both me and Outlaw run plastic jaz fuel cells in the trunk. Pros... no one can ever **** with your gas. they are cheap they are easy to install they have a good sending unit built in they are easy to remove and occasionally clean. they are extremely durable and hard to punch a hole in Cons you gotta open the trunk everydamn time you get gas every one I have ever seen has a "bow"in the top of it after about 15 minutes they don't hold alot of gas(a 22 gallon cell is HUGE) you still gotta cut a big hole in your trunk floor(for the sump) you get to buy some fittings (which are not particularly cheap) in the (unlikely)event of fire,they can melt,or explode. they must be vented to the outside of the vehicle the caps are a pain in the ****. they take up some trunk space,RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE WHERE YOU NEED IT MOST! all aside, I replaced mine for weight savings and because my old one was a rusty peice of ****.and they wanted 450 for a new steel one. I really like it because of the pros, but I am one of those weird ***holes who has a rollbar in his daily driver,too. so I might not be the best person to give advice in this particular instance.
screw a fuel cell! take your tank out of the car, empty any fuel that is in it in a proper manner. go to a hardware store and get soem 1/4" chain, about 3 ft of it. Put the chain in your gas tank and shake it like you got no brains, make sure the chain gets all around the tank, shake it some more, oh yeah, make sure you cap off the tank while you're doing this. ok take off the cap, fish the chain out of the tank, put some mineral spirits in the tank, cap it off and shake it again, take the cap off, empty the mineral spirits in an approved matter, watch for rust/dirt/junk to come out of it. get a small inspection mirror and see how clean it is inside, if it needs to be cleaner, use some of Eastwoods gas tank cleaner with the chain, repeat as needed, once it's clean, use some tank sealer and let it dry 100% before you put fuel in it, also, blow you fuel lines out with 150PSI compressed air to make sure the lines are clear
I would only add one comment; Take the fuel quan***y sender out of the tank and make a cover for that hole for the cleaning process described, also, get a fuel filter and install it at the tank outlet, a transparent one is good, then you can monitor it in the future, just in case. When blowing the fuel line out disconnect it at the fuel pump and blow it out both ways a couple of times, if you get a lot of crud, add some oil and blow that through. Good luck.
If you're not comfortable with rattling chain, etc around inside fuel tank because of sparks, etc. get a pound of dry ice, bust it up and pour into tank. That will fill tank with carbon dioxide so you don't need to worry about sudden noisey events http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=163 Here's a link to a site with some good info -- some folks really like POR-15 products, but I've never used any (yet).
Hey Sammy; Do you know anybody that drives a bigrig, like a gravel truck, logging truck, backhoe, etc. Those things bounce around a lot, if somebody could tie that tank with the chain in it to the knee of a backhoe for a day, that's a lot of shaking!!
Hey thanks for all your help! Sorry for the late responce but I had to go out with the lil' lady and buy dinner. My other question is, I was planning to lower my car and I was told if I lower it too low that It may bottom out and smash my fuel tank. That's another reason why I considered a fuel cell. Should I take that advice or clean my old tank? Thanks again everyone! all this info is very helpful!
if the rear end is beneath the gas tank, then it just might...cleaning tanks is very expensive, cause it is really ****ing expensive to dispose of the rinsate from cleaning the tank (used to be $50.00 last quote i had was around $150.00 and that was down in San Diego) the chain method works, some good aircraft tank seal will make everything all right, after you are done cleaning, i dont think that the ethanol in the fuel today will eat the seal coating, like mtbe did (it made a mess of one tank). If you are really concerned about **** in the tank after you have done all the previously mentioned acts and you have installed an axuillery fuel pump (outside of the tank) you can install a catch/ sediment tube. On the low pressure side of the fuel pump install a threaded T, with one side down. I would use atleast a half inch npt. cut off a length of pipe (4 -6") will work just fine, thread both ends and put a cap on one. Thread it into the t in the fuel line, with the pipe facing down. This will catch any potential heavy sediment before it gets to the fuel pump. If you can find one they used to make really nice gl*** ones that can be installed inline. I know this isn't really applicable to this era of cars, but it works great on my '17 T and my fathers '06 Pope
If your car is low enough to "smash" the gas tank, you'll have way more problems than the gas tank, sounds to me like you want us to tell you it's ok to use a fuel cell, **** it man, go for it, just seems silly to me to spend $ you don't have to on something you don't need.
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