The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1953 Fuel tank - Replace or clean?

Hello all,

Recently acquired a 1953 Chevy 3100 pickup. The information on this site has been awesome!

I am starting to dig into this truck a little bit more. I already read most of the tech tips, but I was curious as to what folks think about replacing a fuel tank, or professionally cleaning an existing one? I removed the fuel line at the tank and there was a little bit of old (varnish) fuel that dripped out. I dumped about 2 gallons of fresh gas in hopes that it would drain but no luck. I'm guessing the tank is gunked up especially at the lower petcock. It sure smells like old old gas to me.

The truck ran roughly 10-15 years ago according to the previous owner. It was also in dry storage so I am confident there isn't any water or other contaminants in the tank.

I work in the auto parts industry and I have access to parts at wholesale pricing, so if needed I am not opposed to a new tank. Just wasn't sure on the quality and workmanship of new vs OE after cleaning. I am in no hurry to get this truck on the road, just want things done right.

Thanks!

Myself and others have had decent results cleaning an old tank that is otherwise in good metal condition

I drain them out well
Put in about a gallon of clean gravel
Lots of water and some detergent of choice
Shake it around a lot
Rinse and rinse and rinse
Stick a vacuum discharge hose in it for a few hours

I’ve been running one truck that got that treatment well onto 10 years now
Takes a long time to build up line clogging levels of junk
I didn’t even put a filter anywhere in the system which I really should one of these days
Ideally under cab where the tank line goes to the steel line on the frame rail I think would be a good place.
-s

Thanks for the info. So does the gravel get vacuumed out afterwards or how do you remove it? I assume the gravel is to break up any particles or contaminates?

I vote for reusing the old one if it doesn't have any holes in it.

You shake and dump all the gravel out of the big hole where the level sensor bolts in
It’s just for knocking out the chunks
Oh yeah I didn’t explicitly state it
But you should absolutely not do this process without first removing the fuel level sensor from the tank
-s

Removing the fuel sending unit will give you a good indication of conditions inside. Do yourself a long term favor; replace with a new one.

New tank is cheap insurance against future problems. Rockauto.com has good prices and it’s made close to home.

If the truck has been sitting 10-15 years with Ethanol gas, it will have water at the bottom of the tank (if it hasn't dried out beforehand).
The hard facts are that the alcohol in the fuel will absorb moisture from the air (vented gas cap).
After several months, phase separation occurs. The fuel needs to be used (burned in combustion) or drained before this happens.
If left unused the separated water will react with steel and cause rust.

Additives can be added, before separation, which binds the water and fuel but this water absorption does not last forever.
Then you have even more water in the bottom of the tank.

If you plan on spending significant money on the truck and plan on using Ethanol gas, I would go with a tank made for Ethanol.
As a matter of fact I would change everything from the gas cap to carburetor to be Ethanol resistant or Ethanol tolerant.
One less thing to worry about.

I decided to only use Non-Ethanol gasoline. I purchased a new Spectra Premium steel gas tank made in Canada.

Great information, thank you.

One of my vendors at work is Spectra Premium so I think I will order one up. If I can save the old tank I will do that, but for now I want to start fresh.

I installed the Canadian-made tank and found it to be of equal or superior quality to the original. New straps and cradles, too.

Is the new tank bigger? Or does is it just the perspective?

Either way it looks great.

haha! Yes it's just the perspective of the lens on my shoe phone. If it isn't held reasonably parallel to the subject, the difference in depth makes the closer object look a lot bigger than it is.

I think that tank is a real bargain at $200. I don't think you could properly clean up and seal an original one for that kind of money.

The original tank was solid but I emptied out a baseball sized pile of loose rust. I thought I had a picture of the rust pile I dumped out but I guess not. You can see how bad the sending unit was.