Replacemnt Fuel Tank by MVP

[Milo]

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Edited March 12, 2022 by Vladimir

[Mike Self]

Truly odd, that you'd have so many problems with rusting fuel tanks in LA.  I would think that they would last nearly forever out there unless the car was parked very close to the coast for many years.   

 

After 30 Ohio winters, the original tank in my '69 still had all its original paint on the underside, and no rust at all.  Inside is shiny clean.  

 

My wife did run over a piece of sharp metal back in the early 80s on I-75 while driving the '73 .  It punctured the tank.  A local radiator shop repaired it by soldering a copper penny over the hole, after draining the tank and connecting the filler pipe to the exhaust pipe of a running car (much better than filling it with water).  The penny is still there, and the tank still doesn't leak.

 

mike

[Milo]

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Edited March 12, 2022 by Vladimir

[NYNick]

I had a similar experience. After total restoration I filled the tank and went out for my first drive. I got about a mile before I smelled gas and noticed the tank leaking. It had many unrepairable pin holes. I then purchased a used tank from one of the regular part sellers in these classifieds. Think I paid $100 too. This time I tested it before fitting and sure enough, it leaked as well, this time at the seam.

 

I grabbed the bull by the horns and dug in. First I filled the tank with nuts and bolts, hung it from the garage door rails and shook it like crazy, rotating it to get all the rust out. This took several days. I shook it a lot.

 

Then I bought 2 gallons of Evapo-Rust and followed the directions to the letter, soaking all 6 sides inside the tank to get rid of the rust. Each side soaked for 24 hours. Took a week. Next, I rinsed, rinsed, rinsed with clean water many times. 

 

Then I hooked up a heat gun in one hole and a vacuum reversed in another hole and let 'er rip to dry it out. Burned out the heat gun that way. But I kept at it and got it pretty dry. Then I let it sit on the hot driveway for a few days. Took another week before it was completely dry inside. Has to be dry.

 

Then I applied Red-Kote and followed those directions to the letter as well, which means you have to rotate the tank to cover all six sides of the tank and do it while properly timing the whole process. Forget how long that took but with curing and drying, I think another week.

 

I don't want to do it again, but the tank has been fine ever since.

 

 

[Mike Self]

2 hours ago, NYNick said:

don't want to do it again, but the tank has been fine ever since.

Glad I have a spare tank--just in case.  But interestingly, neither of my cars show any rust along that seam line--and I check 'em on a pretty regular basis...

 

mike

[Son of Marty]

If you screw the floor panel down is that enough to hold the top flat?

[jp5Touring]

Would check back with IE see if the other tanks all do it or is just that one oil canning.  

[Milo]

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Edited March 12, 2022 by Vladimir

[Milo]

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Edited March 12, 2022 by Vladimir

[SydneyTii]

I have 2 tanks, one which came standard in my Tii, which apart from the return I believe is the same size as a carb 02, it sat a little high, but I remembered I’d been a bit over zealous with the “mastic” which I used to seal between the body and the tank, and the other tank is an original turbo tank which fits way to tall, I am planning to raise the floor a little anyway to creat a small storage area between the rear shock locations so I’m no so worried, but maybe your gasket is either swollen or if new maybe a bit thicker than what came from the factory, perhaps a thinner one would work better if the mvp tank is marginally taller?

[Tdh]

@Milo-Autostrada,

 

You can most likely work out some of that oil canning with a propane torch and a damp rag.  Heat the area with the torch, and then quickly cool it with the rag.  Don't go nuts on the heat (not red hot).  It needs to be just hot enough so that you hear a little sizzle when you apply the wet rag.  You should get a little shrinkage in the oil canned areas.  You will or course have to re-paint after trying this, so that might be enough for you to not want to.  However, based on the photos on the Ireland site, the black "paint" on that piece looks like the same old black primer sprayed on after market body panels and such.  If that's what it is, I'd strip the tank, epoxy prime and paint it anyway before I installed it. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Tdh

[Tdh]

@NYNick

 

How long has the Red Kote been in your tank.  My tank has some pin holes, and I'm considering a coating, but you hear so many horror stories that I always just buy a new tank.  I have a can of that stuff on the shelf I bought for a lady's Bugeye a while back, but I ended up talking her into a new tank.  Maybe I'll try it on my '02. 

 

Also, I'm extremely envious that you own an '88 Cruiser.  I've been looking for a decent FJ60 for a while now, but it seems there just aren't any deals left to be had on those things.

[Mike Self]

1 hour ago, Tdh said:

You can most likely work out some of that oil canning with a propane torch and a damp rag.  Heat the area with the torch, and then quickly cool it with the rag. 

I'll bet a heat gun will generate sufficient heat to do this without the risk of too much heat...

 

mike

[NYNick]

1 hour ago, Tdh said:

@NYNick

 

How long has the Red Kote been in your tank.  My tank has some pin holes, and I'm considering a coating, but you hear so many horror stories that I always just buy a new tank.  I have a can of that stuff on the shelf I bought for a lady's Bugeye a while back, but I ended up talking her into a new tank.  Maybe I'll try it on my '02. 

 

Also, I'm extremely envious that you own an '88 Cruiser.  I've been looking for a decent FJ60 for a while now, but it seems there just aren't any deals left to be had on those things.

I doubt Red-Kote will do pin holes. It would seep right out IMO. The tank I repaired had leaks at the seams, so the RK could seep in there and coagulate. I did that like 3 years ago and so far so good, but I really took my time and followed all the directions to a T.

 

Good luck on the LC. They've gone up like crazy lately. I'm the original owner of mine. The BaT community would go apeshit over that fact, but it's not going anywhere. Shopping for overly large burial plots for the both of us.?

 

I think there's a Red '89 on there right now that sold for $50k last February.

[Son of Marty]

29 minutes ago, NYNick said:

followed all the directions to a T.

 

A must do for any tank coat, if the coating fails it will plug fuel filters and carb jets for years.