Crap in the tank....

J

Jim F-1

Junior Member
I've read with great interest, quite a few threads here regarding rusty-dirty fuel tanks and different ways to fix the problem.

My 49 F-1 tank looks awesome inside...except for just enough junk floating around to plug the tank petcock.

Some of the threads suggest standpipes and or 'pencil filters'

Can somebody shed some light on these two fixes? Namely what the parts needed are and where to get 'em?

Thanks Jim
 
First thing would be to take the tank out and get as much junk out of it as possible.

The standpipe/pencil filter thing is like a motorcycle petcock, see below. I've never done it on a truck, so I can't say what works on F-1's. Inside the screen ("pencil filter") there are two tubes on a motorcycle application. One tube draws off the bottom of the tank, one draws from about an inch above the bottom. Using the taller tube gives you a Reserve capacity. Not real useful on a truck but it does draw cleaner gas.
 

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drain, then pull the tank out, remove sender and fish out the junk, put some cleaner such as purple power, etc into tank along with some water, shake real good, drain out and flush with water and allow to dry, then coat inside the tank with a good coating, following directions
 
Unless you really want to keep the original gas tank, you could save yourself a lot of time and trouble and get a new gas tank. I bought one for our '51 F-1 several years ago, from LMC truck (I don't remember exactly what it cost but it wasn't that expensive as I recall) I had converted the truck to 12 volts negative ground and installed a set of after-market gauges so I had to buy the sending unit adapter to install the "new" sending unit. the tank looks and fits just like the original unit.
 
If you have junk in there, you have rust! If you don't want to clean it yourself, find a radiator repair shop. They have large tanks to "boil: out crud and rust from radiators. They usually will do gas tanks also. You can get a good sealer on line from many companies selling it. Once your tank comes back clean and dry, you dump a quart can of sealer in, tape up all openings and slosh the stuff around. Pay good attention to coverage on the top area inside as rust usually is found there. Once you get it done, you dump out the excess into a clean pan and can re-use it again. Make sure it is ethanol rated or it will dissolve into muck from the ethanol gas. It had a radiator shop do mine locally and they coated it also. Remember, there are 3 baffles in that tank and it makes coating a pain in the A**! The shop that did mine swore he'd never do another F-1 tank again. He had to cut it open to get all the rust. It was still much cheaper than a new tank, but if I were to do it again, I'd get a new tank.
 
I just rolled a square of metal window screen so it would fit snug in the inlet of the petcock, pinched the top shut and carefully threaded the petcock back into the tank. Low-tech, but works like a charm to keep the big stuff from floating over the hole.

I still use an inline filter just before the fuel pump.
 
Ross F-1 said:
First thing would be to take the tank out and get as much junk out of it as possible.

The standpipe/pencil filter thing is like a motorcycle petcock,
Click to expand...
Great picture.

I think some of you fellas missed the part where I say the tank looked awesome inside. No rust or gunk I can see EXCEPT for what crap is floating around. [Just enough to make its way into the petcock and plug it partially.

I've dealt with enough gas tanks to know as much as you flush it, roll it around, pressure wash the inside, you are a month away from a hidden hunk of crap falling off behind a baffle or the a seam or ANYPLACE you can't see. And for every tank that is saved by coating/sealing the inside, there is another that eventually has the sealer peel off and ruin what ever goodness the tank had left.

The standpipe pencil filter will work AWESOME, at least in my application. I'll probably make one as suggested with a piece of rolled up screen JB welded in a fitting in the bottom of the tank. Great suggestions!
 
I did the standpipe thing after finding a clear plastic label - like a price sticker off a bottle of lead substitute. Incredibly hard to find and just happened to see it in the bucket of gas I dumped out of the tank.

For me, it was just one more reason to avoid additives to gas.
 
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