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Fuel tank ?


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For tank replacement a 75-76 tank will fit, 77-78 woulnt.

A 240Z tank will fit but its not baffled and woulnt be a great choice for EFI unless you put in a sump.

 

Your hole description isnt clear, is it a rust hole or one thats part of the tank? if its not a rust hole you dont need a new tank, as far as cleaning, theres acid bath type cleaning kits you can get for cleaning tanks or have a shop cut it open, blast the inside, coat it and weld it back up for a 100% like new clean tank.

Edited by Skib
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To just clean.....put some chain in a burlap bag with a string tied to it...so you can get it back out....then you can slosh it around with whatever cleaner you choose. If it's rusty, search the web for molasses rust removal. Kinda slow, but works well and is cheap.

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I recently cleaned the tank on a 1947 Jeep. Twice as old as your Datsun, and the Jeep had not been ran since 2001, and had gas at least that old in it.

 

First thing i did was siphon as much of the old gas out as I could. Do not suck on the hose, get two hoses, put them both into the filler neck, seal them with a rag, and blow into the second hose to start the siphon.

 

Then remove the tank, and pour remaining gas out of it. With the Jeep, I got old gas, water, sand, rust, and rust flakes out. I then put about an 18 inch piece of chain in the tank, like Mklotz said, I did not bother to wrap it in burlap.

 

If you can, you might want to remove the fuel gauge sender, it it not really designed to have a chain wrapped around it, and be shaken.

 

By now, the old gas had settled in an old 5 gallon Jeep can, and I poured some off the top into the tank, to rinse out the tank. More sand and rust came out. I did this a few more times, until I did not get much crap coming out of the tank anymore.

 

I then poured all the old gas out of the tank, and put it back in the Jeep. I hooked the fuel line back up, and put fresh gas in to the tank, and ran the Jeep.

 

You will want to get a good fuel filter in line, before the fuel pump. I would suggest using a Marine fuel filter, they usually have a much larger capacity than an automotive fuel filter, and also have a provision for trapping water in the gas, a much more prevalent problem with boats.

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Somewhere recently I read about using Simple Green cleaner to remove varnish/dried gas from inside a tank. I guess that is if you don't have a rust problem, just sludge. I see references to Simple Green but have never used the stuff. Anyone think it would work? Acetone seems to dissolve varnish, but just a small amount sloshed around in a tank doesn't seem to get to all the brown film.

 

If I get the varnish cleaned out and there is no obvious rust, is it necessary to use a tank sealer chem in there? I guess I don't know what Datsun tanks were originally coated with (if anything), and does it deteriorate after all these years?

 

Len

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I just used the old gas to rinse out the tank, because it is free. I also do not have to worry about it attacking any thing in the tank, because it is gas. I do not have to worry about traces of it going into the engine, because it is gasoline.

I do not see any reason to coat the inside of your gas tank with anything if it is not leaking. Who knows if they will start putting some additive into gasoline in 3 or 5 years that may not be compatible with some coating you "por" into the tank.

If your tank does not have any holes in it, rinse it out like I said, empty it as best you can, and put fresh gas into it, and a filter in the line.

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The trick to keeping the rust from coming back is to keep you tank full in the cold weather. The cold air gets in it and condenses in the air space. Those water drops cause the rust. Less air space, less rust.

 

Pretty much any chain. You're just looking for something fairly heavy to rub the gunk off inside the tank.

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dont think they were ever coated with anything on the inside...

 

i found (cant recall name- its been a long while) a product for MC (=small volume) but it was made to be used to coat the inner surfaces after such a rusting event.

 

 

i used 2 filters after doing the clean up too.

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I used a few handfuls of masonary nails to shake around in my tank. But I never really got it completely clean. I know it's stating the obvious, but just in case you're thinking of welding on it - welding a fuel tank is seriously dangerous unless you're a pro. A few years ago I worked a homicide case where a machine shop worker was burned to death when a gas tank he was welding exploded...

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