The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Gas tank restoration or new?

Howdy Doo Pard'ners:
Before I start I know this topic has probably been covered ad nauseum but I had couple of questions I couldn't find by searching. My '53 3100 has a pretty decent gas tank but it's full of goo from sitting for 20+ years. No rust thru though. Anyway I ordered a new tank and my original filler neck just ain't matching up any where near close. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm trying to use as much of the original truck as I can for cost and plain old nostalgia. I'm considering sending the tank back and restoring the old one. My question is if I don't go the POR-15 route does anyone know of a place that will clean the tank and hot dip galvanize it?

There's a radiator shop in Giddings that will clean and "seal" it for around $130.

If the parts not right send it back. The more people who have valid complaints and voice them, the better the chance that the vendor will learn that quality does make a difference and they can take steps to correct their parts.

That being said, if they had made a tank that was appropriate for my COE, it probably would have been cheaper to buy one. The POR-15 sealer, marine clean, and metal ready cost me about $100, but I also bought the gallon sized containers. Add in the 6 gallons of muriatic acid it took to clean it properly, several boxes of baking soda to neutralize the acid, plugs for the tank, etc. Then add the time involved to do everything.

Hope that info helps.

Jeff

I have several reproduction tanks that were made in Canada and they fit like oem in gmc's as well as Ford cars. They may have sent you the wrong part number. Stale gas and lead sediment is really hard to get rid of and you almost have to take a used tank to a shop because you can't ship it unless it is degassed and clean.

My preference is OEM parts over repops when possible. If you can find a radiator shop that will boil out your old tank you probably won't even have to coat the inside. Whether you have to coat it depends on the amount of rust on the inside. If there's little to no rust you'll be good to go with just a cleaning. If there's a significant amount of rust you'll need to acid clean it, then coat it. When cleaning/coating I use basically the same process as rustednuts except I use RedKote instead of POR-15. That's not a criticism of POR-15 because I've never used it. Of the several coatings I've used over the years, RedKote is by far the best I've used. My 2¢

I would look for the right new tank. Ive had problems with every one ive had clean & or coated.

My 37 tank was in pretty bad shape. I bought the POR kit back in 1999 for about $50 back then. I did buy some muriatic acid from Lowes and spent one afternoon cleaning, and then coating it inside. 8 years later it is still nice inside. I can look stright down into it as its directly under the seat of the 37 and its holding up good. I might add that with the kit came enough of the regular Por15 to coat the outside as well.
This is just MY experience.

Yes, I want to put the tank under the bed but haven't found the right solution yet......meaning some way that doen't rob the bank

Also a lot depends on what kind of use you are going to with it. If it will be used regularly gas splashing around will keep it coated. If it is going to set for periods of time, the parts not contacted with gas will start rusting or the coating can dry out & peal.

I bought a reproduction tank for my '54 GMC, fits exactly like OEM, no problem. I spent about $160.00 for the new one and probably would have spent that much fixing the old tank and maybe with less than good results.

I'd go reproduction myself.

Yes, I want to put the tank under the bed but haven't found the right solution yet......meaning some way that doen't rob the bank...

I put the tank under the bed of my '46 for about $275... even had it fabbed out of aluminum. Feels alot better than 'sitting on' 25 gals of fuel.

i would just buy a new one, then you know for sure there are no pin holes or anything