Fuel tank cleaning - wisdom please

[RichChef]

Hello,

Having now got the car MOT'd and Taxed after over 7 years off the road I took it for a quick blast yesterday. Car was running sweet for the first 40 miles and then gagged (cutting out like it was out of fuel), getting gradually worse until i got home. Car idles fine and its only accelerating under load than causes an issue, i had to sit at some lights and it was no problem at all (until i set off that is).

So I have ordered a new fuel filter for the engine bay, an inline one for pre-pump (and have a couple of spare pumps in the garage thankfully). My question is, first what is the diameter of the fuel lines (may as well replace them), in the engine bay its down to 8mm external but i assume its larger than this before the pump?

Secondly, how do you clean the fuel tanks? - or more accurately how do you get them off the car?

Thanks for any help,
Rich

[adam quantrill]

Hmm well I expect you could clean the driver's side one through the hole that the fuel sender gauge mounts into - does anyone know if it's big enough to get your arm in? But I don't think there's a similar hole on the passenger side.

What if you coat the insides with some petrol-resistant resin? That would stabilise any rust.

[phillpot]

Tank off (can't help with that bit, not a "Wedger") put a handful of small stones in and shake for all you're worth.

Rinse out with paraffin or white spirit (cheaper and less volatile than petrol).


Read mixed reports on those resin lining type products, would always be on my mind it could peel off and make things a lot worse

[adam quantrill]

Sounds like a good idea - you'll want to use clean gravel I'd have thought, and put some paraffin in with them. My experience with cleaning banjo parts with a tumbler is that it requires hours of shaking to get the crud off.

[RichChef]

I might have a look for a wire brush type thing (like a radiator cleaner thingy), might be the way forward as i can't see my arms fitting in a sender hole (unless its a damn sight larger than i imagine!)

stones and a shake seems a method on a number of sites so i may try that once i figure out how to get the tanks off.

Cheers,
Rich

[wooly350i]

Some body some where cut bigger access holes for sand blasting then i suppose plated with a gasket perhaps. With the clean gravel route you could always hire a cement mixer for a day and strap the tank in before you go off to work, when you get home job done.

[carob]

Chemical Cleaning.

Must be a speciallist in your area or not far.

3 Stage Clean.

Degrease.
Acid Clean.
Passivation.

Rob

[carob]

Or This

www.fueltanks.co.uk/pages/renu.html

Rob

[NaCl]

I'd steer clear of trying to line the tanks with resin. I tried it once on an ageing bike tank. Complete rubbish and a waste of money. The subtle expansion and contraction of the metal caused it to fracture and break away in no time at all and the bits clogged the carbs, lines and filter. Ended up buying a new tank and stripping the whole fuel system down to sort out the crap.

[chapperssx]

carob said:

Or This

www.fueltanks.co.uk/pages/renu.html

Rob

I had a quote from these, all in the quote was well over six hundred quid so i took another path covered in another thread..

[carob]

WOW, A lot of doe that mate.

Rob

[chapperssx]

Thats what i thought and i know a few people that have had their tanks relined only to have issuse later!!

[adam quantrill]

wooly350i said:

With the clean gravel route you could always hire a cement mixer for a day and strap the tank in before you go off to work, when you get home job done.

Brilliant idea! I was trying to think of some large shaker to do this. Can I suggest a small improvement which is to put it on a mains timer (you can buy them for under a tenner - in fact I got 3 for a tenner) then you can try an hour first, see how that goes, then run it for 4 hours or whatever.

[chapperssx]

adam quantrill said:

wooly350i said:

With the clean gravel route you could always hire a cement mixer for a day and strap the tank in before you go off to work, when you get home job done.

Brilliant idea! I was trying to think of some large shaker to do this. Can I suggest a small improvement which is to put it on a mains timer (you can buy them for under a tenner - in fact I got 3 for a tenner) then you can try an hour first, see how that goes, then run it for 4 hours or whatever.

10kg tumble dryer would work a treat as well !!

[RichChef]

Good threat chappers, knew I'd seen one recently but failed to search correctly.

Bit of searching has turned up a sand blasting and powder coating shop just outside salisbury who do some custom chopper things too... Since the tanks don't leak I might see they can offer i want the rocker covers and wheels doing too so might be able to get a job lot done.

Rich

[Wedg1e]

adam quantrill said:

Hmm well I expect you could clean the driver's side one through the hole that the fuel sender gauge mounts into - does anyone know if it's big enough to get your arm in?

If you were Jeremy Beadle or perhaps Jimmy Savile, then yes, maybe

[Wedg1e]

RichChef said:

Secondly, how do you clean the fuel tanks? - or more accurately how do you get them off the car?

Thanks for any help,
Rich

There is no easy option for dropping the tanks. One way would be to lift the bodyshell and drop the tanks from under the floor.
The other (and the way I did it, although the tanks weren't my initial concern) is to jack the back end up and strip off whatever you find is in the way. This could well include A-frames (or trailing arms), exhaust, fuel pump and filter, driveshafts... I think Mark (Zig) found out it was possible to get one side out with minimal dismantling but the other needed a lot more work.

Each tank is held up by a pair of steel straps: the straps are galvanised and lined with thin rubber. The nuts securing the straps fit onto 4 studs - actually bolts that are welded to a pair of steel straps inside the car, under the carpet, so if you're lucky and nothing's too corroded, you can remove the nuts without needing to get at the bolt heads inside the car.

The offside tank has the filler neck; to disconnect you'll need to remove the trim panel behind the driver's seat.
On my car there's a GRP fill-in panel under the wheelarch that covers the gap between the tank and the side of the car so water and cr"p doesn't get thrown up to enter the car around the filler neck: the fill-in is held with a line of rivets and you'll need to drill them out and remove the panel; I did try to get the tank past it but it wouldn't go, the inboard side fouls on the chassis tubes.

I was convinced my tanks were in good order going by what I dould see underneath, but the nearside one turned out to be badly pitted on its top face and had actually corroded through causing a pin-hole. It had obviously been there for years as leakng petrol had dissolved the paint and also caused the rubber mat above the tank to swell.

If you look a couple of pages back on the 'What's happening in your garage this weekend' thread you'll find some pics I took as I was getting the tanks out.

[RichChef]

Well I've started the job today but think its safe to say the the jubilee clips have not been touched in a long time. Every one is knackered so it's going to be a hacksaw job when I locate a blade

Pipes are well shot so at least I'm not cutting up something I will need. Unfortunately the garage is now wide enought to do both sides, still it's not raining in there at least

[Grady]

Hoses are 5/8" and 2"(?) There is a recent thread by Zig on the big crossover hose.

I have used a product called Caswells' on everything except gas tanks (which is what its designed for) and it's good stuff. Not saying new tanks wouldn't be belter.

[ralph350i]

Bit off a long shot guys, but why not use a wet vacuum with a hose reduser, ie water hose attached to the main hose and suck out the tanks