And the saga continues... I dumped the muratic acid in the tank, dropped the 4' of chain in again and started sloshing it around. I flipped it upside down on the ground, and with it resting on the corners, just rocked it back and forth. That was enough to cave in the tissue thin corner the pinholes showed up in at the car wash. So... Off to my friends radiator shop to have the make a patch, clean and seal the tank. It still looks TERRIBLE inside. He said there's no way sealer will adhere to it as is, and he further said that non of the sealers will really "fix" the holes. He thinks he can clean it enough to call it good. SquireDon, it's the original T'Bird tank. I cut the section of top out of the Tempo tank with the pump/sender hole, and the rollover valve hole. Then I cut an opening in the T'Bird tank out and trimmed it fit the "new" piece. The Tempo tank had a plastic baffle that the fuel pump sets in, I drilled the spot welds out of the metal bracket that held that in, and welded it onto the bottom of the 'Bird tank. The tanks were the same depth. The top piece I brazed in, then had my friend, the same guy who has the tank now, pressure check the tank and he soldered up a couple of pin holes. That was way back when I put the 302 in the car, which must have been around '92 (?). I'll worry about the injectors once I get the tank back in. They're easy to replace if need be, so I'm not going to worry about 'em. I AM going to fire up the LT1 in the '48 Pontiac tomorrow, which hasn't been started in a couple of months, and warm it up. It has a poly tank, so at least the tank won't rust, but there is no way to drain it.
We can drop it off at three select locations of our county Solid Waste & Recycling centers. From their website: <TABLE id=2col cl***=rightBar border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=629><TBODY><TR><TD cl***=content height=1 vAlign=top colSpan=2>Hazardous materials that can be recycled include: </TD></TR><TR><TD cl***=content height=1 vAlign=top width=304>Kitchen and Bath: Cooking oils and grease, air freshener, aerosols, general cleaning gents, disinfectant, drain cleaner, floor cleaner, hair color, hair permanent, hair spray, hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol, mildew remover, nail polish and remover. Shop/Storage/Garden: ****nic, herbicides (link to EPA) fertilizers, insecticides (link to EPA), insect repellent, rodent killer. Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Recyclable Batteries: Alternate locations. </TD><TD cl***=content height=1 vAlign=top width=305>Garage: aerosols, cleaning agents, asphalt/roofing tar, glues/adhesives, paint, paint thinner, varnish remover, strippers, solvents, flammable oils, gasoline, kerosene, antifreeze, car wax, motor oil, household batteries (alkaline and nickel-cadmium, i.e. camcorder, laptop, camera, flashlight batteries, etc), lead acid (car) batteries, photography chemicals, fluorescent light bulbs, pool chemicals, other chemicals. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I just finished cleaning out the tank on my newly aquired shoebox; it's hardly moved in 20 years. The inside of that tank was easily the ugliest thing on the car! I had a POR-15 fuel tank kit leftover and was going to go through the whole thing, but after doing step one, cleaning with their Marine Clean, the tank really looked great. There was 1/4" of black gunk in the bottom and all of it came out. I did have to shake a chain around inside to get the rust scale off the roof of the tank. I bought some non-ethanol gas (a few stations around home carry it, 89 octane) and threw in there. You can hardly smell it, I accidently spilled some in my office and couldn't even tell by nose. Can't say that with the ethanol stuff.
My son has his Harley stored in my garage. Hasn't run in 12 mos at least. Charged the battery and it fired on the third try. That's with ethanol gas that has been in the tank that entire time!
Great thread. As for spent, old gas, I do BOTH of the things, which 38Chevy & RDAH mentioned. Gas costs too much to throw away and, anyway, I hate to put this **** into the water table. (BTW, my dad always used his used diesel motor oil as a weed killer in fence rows. It worked great. And since it's motor oil, not thin fuel, it stays put.)
I did dump about 2 gallons into the Dually, and it seems to like it just fine. Although, I don't think it's very fussy, as last year at this time when I fired it up after setting TWENTY YEARS, I guess it'll run on anything. I did dump a couple of gallons of fresh gas in first, but it had at least half a tank of 1991 gas in the front tank. Only issue I had was the fuel pump diaghram was weak, and float sunk in the Quadrajet. And I had to replace the tank, and all the lines. Other than that... Gee, thinking about it, I have a lot of cars that have sat around a long time. Perhaps I have to many? Naw... Brian
Not trying to bump a thread here, but have also run into gas that wont burn. Dip a stick in tank, or take a sample off fuel rail, try to light it with a lighter, harder than diesel to ignite. Let my newer Taurus sit for 4 months, puttered, ran rough, misfire codes. 10% ethanol blend. Bought some "green" stabil fuel treatment for ethanol blends, added 5 gallons, within 2 minutes she purred. Lots of talk on bobstheoilguy about additives, can only say I add it to every 5 gallon container intended for my lawnmowers, stored cars, etc. I have pumped out 6 month old gas white with moisture and yea ends up on the firepit. Hoping this helps.
I got the tank back from my buddy's radiator shop. They were able to save it, patched the leaky corner, built a new baffle for the in-tank pump, and sealed. Only cost 15$ more than a new one! The only advantage of having it fixed was not having to modify it for the pump, or, buying an external pump. I'd already bought the new pump, so I was invested. Got the tank mounted today, cycled the pump several times to purge the lines, and the car fired right up! I was worried I'd have injector issues, but no problems at all. Runs perfect. I DO have a problem with the short sections of rubber fuel lines at the filter, and the pump connectors. These are all cracked, brittle, and now leaking fuel. So, it's off to parts store from some new, ethanol tolerating fuel line and I'll be all set. All in all though, it turned out OK. Brian
would never pour old **** gas from one car to another to use it up, i would replace that tank with a plastic tank to help prevent that problem in the future. all cars built the last 15 years have plastic tanks, there out there. TANKS INC can set you up with plastic. fuel now in our world starts to brake down in 30 days. if its going to set more than 90 days think about draining it, times have changed.
The old gas went up in flames during our New Years Eve, "Bonfire you could see from space". I'd have gladly bought a new tank from Squire Don here for less money, but would have had to have either cut it up to fit the in-tank pump, or bought another, external pump to feed the EFI. Happily, the no injector issues from setting, so it's all good. And yes, the tank has a drain, so if it's gonna set around, it'll get drained next time. Brian
The Jalopy Journal
