Tank off and in pretty good shape in and out. A little surface rust on a patch of the inside, but nothing threatening.

Took a peak at the pickup tube and amazed to see a filter on the end of the tube. I'm sure it's just a barrel of stainless mesh and never meant to be replaced, but it will be screwed to tears when I RED-Kote the inside of the tank. Damn. Should / can this be replaced ?

Thinking about welding a bung on the boss at the lowest point of the tank and routing a gravity line to my Holley red from there and not using the stock pickup tube at all. Pros / cons, anybody ?

We're (brother and I) also hooking the return line back up so the fuel pump won't be dead-headed all the time.

Replacing pads around the outside of the tank, powder-coating the straps, bedliner material on the outside of the tank, new filler spout, etc. etc. I'll post pics as we go.

 

Did mine last Summer, old tank was badly rusted, 1" holes in top, used a spare, cleaned, treated with POR, undercoat and painted, rebuilt fuel sender, note these are expensive to buy and can be repaired. went back in and been running great ever since. Not a difficult job overall.

 

How did you repair it? I did not know this was possible?

 

Anything is possible, Grasshopper.

Seriously, they can be patched and welded. Just 16 ga. steel galvanized. Just make sure the gasoline residue is gone, then don't breathe the galvanic vapors when you're TIG welding.

 

My tank ('83) was pretty gunked up inside from sitting for 13 years. I had a radiator shop boil it out and replace the pick up and return lines with copper tubing, which eliminated the wire mesh one you mentioned. I still had a problem with rust filling up my fuel filter so I pulled it off again and did the Marine Clean, Metal Etch, POR-15 gas tank sealer treatment. It's been running fine for a couple of months now. As you said, though, the POR-15 would have sealed up the wire mesh filters...

- David

 

Oh yes I know the gas tank can be redone, my question was for aussiesmg who rebuilt the sender.

I will see what my new (used)tank looks like, when I get it. Whenever that will be I dont know?

 

Update: Today we pressure washed the outside of the tank. Went very well. Acetoned the inside three times... last time clear as water. Let that dry, then taped up all the holes but the filler. Poured Red-Kote in (one quart diluted with a cup of acetone... the thinner of choice per the instructions), then carefully manipulated the tank to all positions and went toward the pickup at the very last very carefully so as not to coat the mesh at the end of the pickup. Then turned upside down and poured the excess out the sender hole (which is the lowest point with it upside down).

It is drying now (24 hrs). Will get primed and painted top and bedliner sprayed on the bottom half. New fuel sender going in, but my original works and is in great shape. Anybody need one ?

I'll drop the straps off to the powder coater tomorrow morning. They'll be silver. The shields will be primed and painted black.

 

Hit the shields with the truckbed liner, it will quiet down some of the noise, particularly rocks, and it won't chip and rust as soon.

 

Cool !

I cant wait to see the pics. It will give me something to shoot for while I wait for my arm to heal. No work on the 7, have trouble shifting now. Thats no fun, when ya own a 7!

 

i need to do this. im just afraid it may be too late for my tank. the last time i check it was full or rust, im sure it has gotten worse since then.

david---how are you sure you coated the whole inside of the tank? did you pour it in the fuel level sender whole and the fill up whole to get both "chambers"? also, man i wish your tank would fit my SA...oh well.

 

We poured into the filler hole and moved it all around very carefully to make certain each area is covered. I made sure NOT to pool it around the little pickup screen... saved that area for last.
Afterwards, probably less than a cup full was left to drip out. So a quart will definately do the job thinned a bit with acetone or MBK.

 

I failed to check this post for a bit sorry guys, I posted on this repair on this thread

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/fixing-gas-tank-540044/

 

Aussie, hey thats my thread. I have to say the POR 15 treatment is working great. My sending unit was so bad I had to replace that. Get some POR 15 and put 2 coata on the outside of the tank, let it dry then a few coats of rubber undercoating and your all set.

 

Pics of the tank with POR 15 on.


With the rubber undercoating:

You can see where the repair was.

 

Pics of the porgress...

1st is parts disassembled
2nd is tank before
3rd is tank after painting (just before going back in)

 

Excellent, looks great, how do you like the truckbed liner?

 

Lovin' it, Trochoid ! It's fast drying, light weight and tough as hell.

At first we thought the damned 3M Super adhesive spray wouldn't stick to the bedliner material, but it finally tacked up and sticks great after a wait. (When we were replacing and installing the padding on top of the tank).

I'd recommend the stuff to anyone.

 

What did you use for padding?

Oh yeah, and that spray adhesive is the stuff, when we redid the floors on my buddys old boat we sprayed the the bottom of the astro turf with it, and it was stuck like chuck! I plan on using it for my boat that im restoring. If I can ever figure out how to get spark on the darn old thing! Stupid Points!!!

 

Went to an auto trim shop and bought a yard of dense foam. Worked great.