Clean gas tank

To do anything Correctly with a pantera gas tank you have to take it out of the car! and yes the motor has to come out to do this! you should slosh (god i love that word) a sealer around the inside and to do this you have to tip the tank all over to get Complete coverage of the application.. I have an extra Tank (from a 73) that i am Taking to Vegas to sell this Mo.Seems a had an extra from an old project.. don't do anything Half Ass with the gas tank So how close is your car to the gas water heater now? Also i don't care how hot or cold it is outside..Do it outside!

Oops, sorry, but I just located a previous exchange regarding this subject. Does anyone know if the Muratic acid proceedure will work without taking the tank out of the car. Also, will it damage the sending unit? Thanks in advance.

Zoom Zoom Dude! there is no easy way can you say cherry Picker! http://www.pantera.go.cc

Robert.... I guess I will be using a cherry picker...glum, and if the old tank is coming out, then a NEW one is going back in....no since perfuming the pig.

safe is allways better than sorry!

Zoom-Zoom
Take the tank out of your car and have it steamed and inspected by a local radiator shop. I had mine out last year and we looked inside and there was not a speck of rust in it. I was amazed at how clean it was. You might have the same luck and save yourself some pretty big $$$$. Also, after it is cleaned it can be coated inside with a red colored membrane that seals the metal. The radiator shop was doing a later model pontiac gas tank while my tank was there. After I had the tank cleaned, I took it and had it media blasted and powdercoated, all told about a hundred bucks and I should be good for another 25 years.

Good Luck
Gary #06984

[This message has been edited by fordgt (edited 04-07-2003).]

POR 15 has great automotive products one of which is there fuel tank sealer kit. compleat kit runs about $50.00 and works great. But you need to remove the tank to coat the inside properly. If you give them a call they will give you all the info you need. 1-800-457-6715. Good luck...

In the Aug 02 POCA news, I wrote an extensive article on this very subject. It included all the known options re fixing gas tanks including welding up pinholes etc. 4 pgs I believe- too many to recap here. But the very first thing I suggested was to remove the left rear quarter window (it simply prys out with the frame attached). Once the window is out and the left gas tank cover is removed, the fuel gauge sender can be pulled out the window opening. Then, with a NON-SPARKING light, look inside the tank for rust or debris; its amazing how clean most tanks are. This will give you some idea of what condition your tank is in. I also suggest you remove the fuel-out 'sock' thats inside the tank (on '71-72s, & on the pipe attached to the sender in '73-up). After 30+ years, most are almost completely plugged with varnish, which seriously restricts fuel flow out of the tank. If its a pre-1973 tank, the upper banjo fitting is also mostly plugged with varnish; this can also be easily accessed through the window opening. Many of us now leave the glass out & simply replace the chrome frames. This has no effect on streamlining or drag, and also makes it easy to clean the vertical rear window as well as casual access to the gas tank top.

Many thanks to all who have responded to my earlier request....and now I have another.

Further investigation (window and filler out but tank still in car) indicates little or no rust, but "black" material, for lack of a better word, like molasses or tar. When I drained the gas from the tank, about a quart and a half of this black stuff drained out after the gas. Now, whats left in the tank is hard as a rock. Anybody got a suggestion....(I know, replace the tank). Thanks.

Well, you're going to HAVE to remove the slop, so assuming you just don't want to (or can't) pull the enging/trans/tank, and you've been able to get the drain plug out, I'd plug the hole again and dump in some type of strong solvent to see if you can soften the residue enough to allow it to drain. Gentle heat will help but do NOT use an open flame! Once the sender is out, there's nothing in the steel tank that will be sensitive to solvents, even aircraft paint-strippers. Just be VERY sure to rinse the tank thoroughly afterwards, if you're successful. FYI, this is more-or-less what you'd have to do once the tank is removed; its just more convenient and less dangerous to the body paint, rubber etc if the tank is removed. If my suspicions are correct, someone grabbed the wrong nozzle at some point and dumped diesel fuel in the tank.... and it wouldn't be the first Pantera I've heard of.

Jack Deryke, thanks. Any other idea on what the "slop" might be. I have had the car since 1976, and never any trouble. My trouble begin as (I guess) a result of long storage period and no activity. There is absolutely no rust anywhere on the car, and none in the tank as far as I can tell.

By the bye, could the tank have some kind of liner or factory coating which in now beginning to deteriorate?

I have the same problem with the tank in # 6287.

When i bought the car in LA it have been Out of use for many years.
I am in the prosess of restoring the car. When the engine and trans was out of the car, i also took the tank out for inspektion.

The tank was fine outside, but inside was covered with a "tar like" stuff. It was rock hard -like aspalt. It also smells like when you open a old can of paint. It seems like the gasoline has transformed/reduced to aspalt.

I have put fresh gasoline on the tank, power washed the tank inside with litte or non luck. This stuff is like bonded to the inside of the tank

Is this a known problem caused by lack of use/warm climate?

Any suggestion for removing the "tar like stuff"

Have you tried a strong engine degreaser? Just let it soak. It has worked for me on a smaller scale...

Most automotive machine shops have a "hot tank".
It is a cautic solution that they use to "boil" blocks and heads.

I never asked but I don't see why it wouldn't work on the hardened deposits in the tank. That is essentially what it is made to clean.

Give your local shop a call and see if they will do it.

Thanks for the advice. I will try the "hot tank" solution.

I have tried a lot of different degreasers with no luck. This stuff is realy hard.

Remember, no one knows it all- including me. Conventional wisdom says to remove the engine and tranny, then the heat shield and finally, the gas tank. But one midwesterner told me he had rust behind the tank, so he just cut the left quarter panel off the body! And there's the tank, ready to come out.... Doing this stuff long-distance is tricky 'cause we can't see the car to ask the right questions!

quote:

Originally posted by Bosswrench:
.. But one midwesterner told me he had rust behind the tank, so he just cut the left quarter panel off the body! And there's the tank, ready to come out.... Doing this stuff long-distance is tricky 'cause we can't see the car to ask the right questions!

I have never tought of this as a way to remove the gas tank.. Hope he likes welding.... Btw. The gas tank of # 6287 is removed the conventional way. Se post okt 27. 2007.


I have not yet tried the "Hot Tank" solution, but i will. Bodywork and enginework on #6287 has first priority.

probably the best degreaser i have tried is "marine clean" by "por". this stuff is water based, reasonably priced and really works. just let it soak for as long as it takes, also most of the solution can be reused after the particulates settle out. i would consider this before the caustic hot tank.

nazgul