Gas Tank Removal

C

CatMan1

Senior Member
For over a year now I've had a LOT of grief with my '28 Sport Coupe! I haven't been able to drive it more than a couple miles since August of last year. It's a fuel issue. I'm sure of that as I can remove the line between the carb & the sediment bowl and turn the valve on and nothing happens. I'm considering taking the tank off and seeing if it needs cleaned. I know there is fine rust particles in there, but when I removed the sediment bowl screen it's clean. How much trouble is it to take the tank off? It sure doesn't look like fun. Also, how do I get that screen out of the tank where it's filled up? I assume it comes out? I'd like to look in the tank and see.
 
Taking the Tank off isn't all that difficult and can be done in an afternoon, I removed and replaced my fordor tank (much more involved) in that amount time.. lots of bolts and nuts to keep track of.. Before you remove your tank drain it, pull the gas valve (replace if bad) and add one of the inline fuel screen to the valve and test.. I even added a temporary inline wix filter to my gas line between the sediment bowl and carburetor (use a temporary rubber line) you might be able to avoid the gas tank removal all together..
But if you do remove its a pretty easy process just a little awkward to handle by yourself due to size and shape..
 
Fortunately I have a wife that loves to help work on these cars.....if we can get to it before the cold sets in, but it's still very summer-like out! I wonder if the ethanol I had to put in last year (in August) has messed the tank up?
 
I have a 29 Sport Coupe, removing tank is not a big issue.

I sloshed the tank. That was over 35 years ago. No problems since. I do have an in line filter.


Good luck ��
 
I removed the tank from my roadster when I first got it to clean and coat the tank because of rust clogging the lines every few miles. The only caveat I have with taking the tank off is that you have to be careful with the paint. I'd run a razor blade through every seam where the paint may have bridged across, like where the side (kick) panels join up with the gas tank, or the paint may peel if it doesn't break cleanly at the seam. I filled my tank with a jar full of nuts and bolts and added rust cutter solvent and shook and rolled the tank around to have the nuts and bolts scrape the crude. Getting all the nuts and bolts out was a job in itself, but I eventually did it by filling the tank with water and sloshing it around as it drained. I then added alcohol, which absorbs water, and sloshed that around and drained it. Then I left it on my blacktop driveway on a sunny day to bake it dry.
 
How do you coat one of these tanks with the baffles in them? Does the screen at the fill neck come out? Mine won't come out.
 
The 28/29 cars use clamps on the sides and hex head screw hardware on the front and back. A person may need some new welting and hood lacing if the the current stuff crumbles. The rubber grommet on the steering column is another maybe. Fuel valve, fuel line, and the sediment bowl may need attention, The choke rod also has to be disconnected along with the ignition coil and generator wire conduit. The cowl hood hardware can get crusty. The fuel quantity gauge will need to be removed if any sealer goes in there.

Sometimes a person can get away with using a phosphoric acid based corrosion remover and conversion bath for internal treatment but there is a lot going on in there with the complex baffle system and the fact that the inside top likes to corrode too. These areas required a pretty extensive treatment. If the metal it thin, this is when you find pin holes going through. This makes it somewhat of a risky job as far as finding new problems but the rust has to be stopped and aside from opening up the tank and grit blasting it, there is no other way to insure the rust is history prior to sloshing tank sealer around in there. It's a 10 gallon tank so it takes more sealer than most folks will admit. There are a lot of surfaces in there and they all have to be well coated to prevent recurrence of corrosion. They were originally treated with molten tin/lead in a process referred to as terne plating. That stuff lasted a long time but eventually crumbles away as corrosion sets in.

I use a flexible bore scope to look inside and check condition everywhere that the scope will fit. I look through all three ports to guage the internal surface condition. If it has bad pitting then the tank has to be opened up. I open mine along the original seems where the resistance welder wheels originally sealed it up. This way I can grit blast the whole inside surface and repair it if there are holes or cracks. If it's too far gone I look for another tank.

There is some fairly new stuff available that is called gas resistant epoxy but I haven't tried it yet. I have a few old rejected open tanks that I may try it on some day just to see if it will hold up. Caswell is one of the brands and the other is Max GRE. The stuff is used to line fiberglass boat fuel tanks for gasoline and diesel fuel storage. Nobody is making model A tanks. The tops are made by Brookville Roadster so they can sell their bodies but it's just the top and it has no upper firewall attached to it. We will have to deal with this as the good original tanks slowly get used up.
 
I'm with Sport King Eric #2 on this one .. Before you remove your tank see if you can flush it clean in situ. Try an airline ( or lungs!) back flushing through the fuel line, with say 1 gallon of fuel in the tank, to agitate crud and drain through outlet at the bottom of the tank , do this as many times as needed until the fuel coming out is clean . Problems removing the filler screen?.... this link to Snyders page may help https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/product.htm?pid=979316&cat=41707 if all fails then consider removing the tank but I reckon it's a couple of days job remove and replace.
 
If you decide to have the removed gas tank immersed in a hot tank for a chemical cleaning, be aware that although the inside will be clean, you will lose the exterior paint. The tank will need to be re-painted. If the paint has faded or is a non-standard Model A color, you will play hell trying to get new paint to match the surrounding panels still with old paint. You COULD repaint the entire gas tank and the two hood top panels if you can get a paint mixed that is pretty close to the rest of the body paint. The difference between new and old paint would only be noticeable where the tank meets the lower cowl. The hood side panels are mostly obscured by the front fenders, so the mismatch there would not be as obvious. If possible, try to follow the guys' in-body cleaning methods. But do NOT fall into the trap of putting a "sealer" into the gas tank afterwards! Guys who did this 15 years ago are now finding that the new gasolines with their crap formulae are softening and loosening the "sealer" inside the tank - with the predictable result. Lord only knows what future gas blends will do to supposedly "fuel resistant" sealers.
Marshall
 
You will have to repaint the tank once done with this process but you are done for the rest of your like. Buy once, cry once. I had this done in early spring and after 300 miles there is not a speck of anything in my carb screen. Way way worth the agrevation in my opinion.
https://www.gastankrenu.com/
 
The fire arrester screen comes out. It unscrews, but yours might be rusted tight. Penetrant. Synders sells a tool to remove it, but I made one out of a large washer on my bench grinder. https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/searchm.htm?type=merged&sterm=&searcht=gas+screen+tool Coating the inside with those baffles means you have to move the tank all over the place to get the sealant everywhere- roll it, stand it on it's end, swivel it at an angle, turn it over, swivel, roll it over, repeat.
 
Will N said:
The fire arrester screen comes out. It unscrews, but yours might be rusted tight. Penetrant. Synders sells a tool to remove it, but I made one out of a large washer on my bench grinder. https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/searchm.htm?type=merged&sterm=&searcht=gas+screen+tool Coating the inside with those baffles means you have to move the tank all over the place to get the sealant everywhere- roll it, stand it on it's end, swivel it at an angle, turn it over, swivel, roll it over, repeat.
Click to expand...


I was able to finally get it out last week. I had the week off and tinkered with the A some and the T. It's seems like there just isn't time anymore...... Anyway, there is a small hole in the side of the screen that pushed some material out enough to keep it from coming up. Got it now! I've charged the little remote camera I have and I'll take a peak.
 
If I decide to go with the option to not remove the tank for now and just clean it out really well, what is the chance that the rust particles will just come back? I would assume that it would happen.
 
Once the oxidation starts, it takes a combination of removal and conversion to arrest it long enough to get a seal coat in there. The oxidation just keeps deteriorating the steel in there if nothing is done. Non reactive fluids such as mineral oil can temporarily stop the oxidation but modern fuels with ethanol have that as a oxidizer so it hurts more than it helps. I wish there was a magic bullet that would work. I have several old tanks with holes in them so I know the pain. It took me a while to get one good one together for my 29. It should last longer than I will.
 
Last night I peaked in the tank with the camera. There is quite a lot of surface rust and some pitting. I'm thinking that removing the tank to have it professionally cleaned/sealed might be best. Is there a place that does that close to Iowa? What places have any of you used?
 
I'm curious to know which bore scope you have?




rotorwrench said:
The 28/29 cars use clamps on the sides and hex head screw hardware on the front and back. A person may need some new welting and hood lacing if the the current stuff crumbles. The rubber grommet on the steering column is another maybe. Fuel valve, fuel line, and the sediment bowl may need attention, The choke rod also has to be disconnected along with the ignition coil and generator wire conduit. The cowl hood hardware can get crusty. The fuel quantity gauge will need to be removed if any sealer goes in there.

Sometimes a person can get away with using a phosphoric acid based corrosion remover and conversion bath for internal treatment but there is a lot going on in there with the complex baffle system and the fact that the inside top likes to corrode too. These areas required a pretty extensive treatment. If the metal it thin, this is when you find pin holes going through. This makes it somewhat of a risky job as far as finding new problems but the rust has to be stopped and aside from opening up the tank and grit blasting it, there is no other way to insure the rust is history prior to sloshing tank sealer around in there. It's a 10 gallon tank so it takes more sealer than most folks will admit. There are a lot of surfaces in there and they all have to be well coated to prevent recurrence of corrosion. They were originally treated with molten tin/lead in a process referred to as terne plating. That stuff lasted a long time but eventually crumbles away as corrosion sets in.

I use a flexible bore scope to look inside and check condition everywhere that the scope will fit. I look through all three ports to guage the internal surface condition. If it has bad pitting then the tank has to be opened up. I open mine along the original seems where the resistance welder wheels originally sealed it up. This way I can grit blast the whole inside surface and repair it if there are holes or cracks. If it's too far gone I look for another tank.

There is some fairly new stuff available that is called gas resistant epoxy but I haven't tried it yet. I have a few old rejected open tanks that I may try it on some day just to see if it will hold up. Caswell is one of the brands and the other is Max GRE. The stuff is used to line fiberglass boat fuel tanks for gasoline and diesel fuel storage. Nobody is making model A tanks. The tops are made by Brookville Roadster so they can sell their bodies but it's just the top and it has no upper firewall attached to it. We will have to deal with this as the good original tanks slowly get used up.
Click to expand...
 
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I agree with John Buckley.. Disconnect fuel line at carb and with fuel valve open and gas cap loose, blow some low pressure air (I've used a can of air for cleaning computers, etc.) through gas line until you can hear full bubbling in gas tank. Then try to drain gas tank till empty through the gas line with rubber hose into gas can. You can shut off gas flow with shutoff valve at any time. Then re-flush tank with some gas 2 or 3 times. Re-blow air through line as needed. This should clean things out, but may only be a temp fix.
 
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