The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop cleaning gas tank

Today My Son and I cleaned the gas tank on the 53 GMC I just got , it's old school I guess but that is the way we did it. It worked great got all the rust out and now the fuel flows clear and clean , it was full of a real dusty rust before and keep cloging the fuel filter. Some cleaned rocks and a 1/3 gal of mineral spirits and about an hour and a 1/2 of rotator time an it's clean.

http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/sparky52/gas%20tank%20clean/


Pete

Looks good!

Hey Pete, nothing wrong with that. As my daddy would say..."thats using your head for something besides a hat rack"!!
Looking good.

That's a neat idea!

I've also heard of strapping it to your tractor tire -- which I may do with my '48's tank (not as long as the in-cab tanks).


John

Yeah but, it costs ya more to feed that crank motor there than it would to buy a new tank!

Hey buddy, neat set up, looks like somethin' an old tired electrician might make up.

May be we can load up the Jimmy up with spare parts in September and talk the young'n into following us out to KC in the Jimmy. We'll have a caravan.

Good goin' Pete, I like saving as much of the original truck as I can.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Took her out today not far just to see how she runs , ran good , no rust in glass bowl thats good now I gotto order the new sending unit there was no saving the old one . Also got some of the lights working today .

Thanks all , Pete

PS anyone need a gas tank rotator / cleaner jig the kid don't come with ?

I removed the gas tank of our 51,it had been over half filled with gas when it was parked(It sat for about 3 years) As I drained it, the first part of the fuel was "varnished",last part smelled ok.Question:Do I need to go thru the whole process of nuts & bolts in the tank?Or is a good hot steam cleaning sufficient? Thanks Joseph

Take a look inside and see what it looks like,take the sender out , mine had alot of loose rust in it so I had to use the cleaning that We did .

Pete

redsoldblue51, although it might not be necessary or overkill I think it is well worth the money to clean and put the liner stuff in it. I have done several and they still are good after 10 years..... and yes, I learned the hard way. I cleaned several and yet ended up some time later on the side of the road changing fuel filters...
Just my .02 and its better to be a penny wise than a pound poor.

Good advice.Any specific brands?

many here will recommend RedKote.... It's what I used, it's only been in the tank for about 4 months now, so no word yet on how well it worked for me. I decided to use it because every radiator shop in town that does gas tank work uses it, and all say that they had good luck with it.

What ever you decide to use...FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS TO THE LETTER!!!! and make sure that tank is BONE dry before you dump in the liner.

PM me if you have any specific questions.

... I didn't say it above but I have used he POR15 kit. I did my 37 back in 1999 and its still holding up as well as some others. I can see inside my 37 tank and it does still look good.

I just recently cleaned my tank out. First took it to a machine shop to get hot tanked. then putt a couple feet of chain on the inside and some water and shook it out until there were no more rust particles and the water was clear. Let it dry over night inside. Then rinsed it out again with Mineral spirits. Then I used the gas tank sealer that is for sale on Classicparts.com. Worked great! Now the inside of the tank is new and I put a couple coats of paint on it and it looks brand new! Hope this helps

Really neat setup for cleaning the tank! I have one from a '53 3600 I should do, plus a tank from a tractor. However, my youngest son is a little past the stage where he would think cranking the tank for an hour or more would be fun - I have to think of a way to trick him into it . . .

Do You need to rent a Youngest Son ? But You got to keep Him for a week . He is helping fix up the GMC.


Pete