The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Cleaning the Gas Tank

Good morning Stovebolters. Bringing our 1950 3600 back to life and have found that there was about half a tank of gas in the tank when it was put away 7 years ago.

Whats the best way to clean out an old tank and prep it for use?

Thanks - Bruce

If a new one is available, I always go with a new one, along with a sender and rubber hoses,
Scott

Second what Bigtrucks said. There is probably a lot of surface rust in the tank from moisture condensate. That's what happened to my truck. I decided to send mine to Tank Renu. A lot folks on here have used the tank "clean and coat" systems (available from a lot of vendors) with very good results. Good luck and keep us posted on your project.

If it's just old fuel it can be cleaned fairly easily. Many radiator shops will boil it out for you. If there's rust involved it'll need to be acid cleaned and coated. If that's the case I agree with Scott, replace it if you have that option.

I used a 3 step system from KBS coatings....I am very happy with the results.

I took mine to a place that dips radiators, car parts, and entire car bodies to get rid of the rust. The place was called Chem Strip. Don't know if it's a chain or what. My tank had been sitting for about 25 years with old gasoline in it. After dipping it was clean as a whistle and I haven't had any problems. I think it cost about 75 bucks.

My truck arrived with a tank half full of very rusty water. I drained and flushed it. With nothing to lose, I put a shovel full of sand and gravel and some more water and shook it hard and rinsed more water through until it ran clean. This took some time and strength. It came up clean enough to use, but ongoing rust would be a problem.
Its been sitting dry for a while , while I restore the truck. I expect to use one of the available tank-liner type coatings. I have used them before in motorcycles with good success.