Fuel Tank Restoration

[My5ABaby]

My tank is pretty nasty and keeps clogging the pump sock. Has anyone had any experience with tank restoration? I'm currently looking at this kit. http://www.por15.com/FUEL-TANK-REPAI...ductinfo/FTRK/

[speedjunkie]

RX-7 Chris was having issues with his and he got it fixed, I don't remember how though. I think he had it boiled, but I don't remember for sure.

[TitaniumTT]

Unless it specifically says compatible with high content ethanol fuels, I would stay FAR FAR away from it.

I had what I'm sure is a similarily nasty tank, took it to a radiator shop. They boiled it, pressure washed it and sealed it. Worked great until a few year ago when the sealer started failing and it clogged more than a few fuel filters.

I would go so far as to boil it, maybe get some heavy duty acidic cleaners in there but I wouldn't use any sealer at all.

FWIW, if you're premixing, the premix does an AWESOME job of staving off rust and corrosion inside the tank

[Pete_89T2]

One of my friends used the POR15 stuff to restore the fuel tank on his mid-'60s vintage box Nova a few years back. He hasn't had any problems with it since, but as I recall this restoration process is very sensitive to following the directions to the letter - especially WRT getting the tank clean & completely dry before the sealer gets applied.

Don't know about POR15's ethanol compatibility, but the pump gas around here that he's been running on uses it, however the max. ethanol content is <= 15%. He hasn't run it on E85 or anything with a high ethanol content as far as I know.

[My5ABaby]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

One of my friends used the POR15 stuff to restore the fuel tank on his mid-'60s vintage box Nova a few years back. He hasn't had any problems with it since, but as I recall this restoration process is very sensitive to following the directions to the letter - especially WRT getting the tank clean & completely dry before the sealer gets applied.

Don't know about POR15's ethanol compatibility, but the pump gas around here that he's been running on uses it, however the max. ethanol content is <= 15%. He hasn't run it on E85 or anything with a high ethanol content as far as I know.

I'll check with POR15 and see what they say. Thanks for the input.

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

Unless it specifically says compatible with high content ethanol fuels, I would stay FAR FAR away from it.

I had what I'm sure is a similarily nasty tank, took it to a radiator shop. They boiled it, pressure washed it and sealed it. Worked great until a few year ago when the sealer started failing and it clogged more than a few fuel filters.

I would go so far as to boil it, maybe get some heavy duty acidic cleaners in there but I wouldn't use any sealer at all.

FWIW, if you're premixing, the premix does an AWESOME job of staving off rust and corrosion inside the tank

I do premix and hopefully it's helped, but the tank is pretty crusty. I couldn't get a pic of the tank but here's the fuel pump sock. Keep in mind I cleaned this about a week ago and drove it ONCE for about 5 miles.

[N.RotaryTech]

This is what I did.
As far as I know, this tank has around 200k miles on it now.

From a similar thread...

Originally Posted by N.RotaryTech

So I dropped the fuel tank.
I wish I took better/more pictures (will post up sometime this week), cause this was awful.

So the tank had a layer of brown gunk coating the insides.
The rectangular little basin right under the fuel pump, had maybe an inch or 2 of this brown gunk in it.
It was so bad, I put the fuel pump back in, and it wouldn't seat on the tank, i had to wiggle an push on it for it to seat.
So the bottom of the fuel pump must have been sitting on the pile of gunk.

Its all out of there now.
You can actually see metal now.
And the walls/separations are not rusted through.

I 1st flushed it with water from the garden hose, then put purple power through it, then flushed with water again, finally flushed with a quart of acetone.

Putting the tank back in was a pain.
But I got it done.

I think I actually felt more power when I drove it. ha ha ha.

Originally Posted by N.RotaryTech

Yeah, that brown gunk came out of the tank. There was chunks actually.


The inside.

[My5ABaby]

Per my conversation with a Por 15 representative.

Originally Posted by Question

I'm looking at repairing a somewhat rusty fuel tank on a 86 Mazda RX7. How resistant to Ethanol, race gas, and TCW-3 oil is your repair kit? What is the life expectancy of the lining?

Originally Posted by Answer

Our tank sealer will hold up fine to todays ethanol in gasoline and any sort of oil. As long as you follow the all of our directions and apply everything correctly, it will be a permanent coating.

Sounds pretty good. I sent a follow up question regarding E85 and straight ethanol and will post up the response when it comes.

[TitaniumTT]

Sounds promising. I would be curious as to what type of testing they have done and for how long. I wasn't until last year that 30 year old Betrams fuel tanks started melting. E10 had been around for years.

[My5ABaby]

Originally Posted by Question

Thank you for the prompt reply. Does the ethanol coverage include E85 and/or pure ethanol?

Originally Posted by Answer

We have only done testing with the ethanol in today's fuels (5-8%). We havent done any testing for E85 or pure ethanol.

Update.

[TitaniumTT]

There's more ethanol than that in todays fuels. I'd be leary. The liner is only to prevent further rusting. If it's cleaned out, it should take another 22 years to get nasty like this again. Premixing will also lengthen this time. I wouldn't line it just from my own experiences.

FWIW - ethanol attracks moisture. Look at just about any boat around the filler/vent, and you'll most likey see MOLD forming around it.

[FerociousP]

I would say the POR-15 stuff would be overkill and/or not worth the effort. A cleaned out tank will last (probably) longer than the rest of the car especially in our climate. If you were to do anything, I would find a good condition tank from a wrecked car(the one in my vert looks brand new on the inside) and just replace the whole thing and forget about it.

***All that is a subjective opinion, and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[My5ABaby]

I'm thinking of just cleaning it. I don't think it's particularly rusty, just dirty. I'll drop it and dump the fuel out. Hmmm, bonfire time?

[FerociousP]

Originally Posted by My5ABaby

I'm thinking of just cleaning it. I don't think it's particularly rusty, just dirty. I'll drop it and dump the fuel out. Hmmm, bonfire time?

Then do it and quit bitching about it










jk

[My5ABaby]

Originally Posted by FerociousP

Then do it and quit bitching about it










jk