Any of you guys done the tank refurb where you pull the tank, remove the level sender, have the tank vatted clean, then do the "coating product" on the inside ? Then finish off the outside with prime and whatever before reassembling ?

Any experienced advice is appreciated.

 

btw... found Damon Red-Kote, so no need to vat. Just empty, rattle with chain inside to knock loose off, then acetone or MEK to dry, then Red-Kote. Available in red or blue. $30.98 a quart at Carquest.

Anybody experienced ?

 

A buddy bought a 79 that had been sitting for a long time. It had what looked like tar all over the inside of the tank. The areas that were not covered by this tar-like coating had some rust. We dropped the tank, and cleaned it with an acid-based A/C coil cleaner. When done, the tank looked like new inside.
We did not use any type of coating inside, but we did clean the outside, and sand/painted the areas that needed it.
One tip I can give. Be careful about using those coating products on the early model tanks. They have a fixed fuel pickup tube, and a small depression in the bottom of the tank that sits under this pickup tube. If the coating product settles into that depression, it can block the pickup tube. This was what our issue was caused by. I don't know if the tar-like coating inside the tank was from gas evaporating, or from someone using a tank coating product at some point in the past. All I know is that it had settled into the well around the pickup tube, and was causing a major fuel starvation problem.

 

I pulled the tank off my '83 and had it cleaned at a radiator shop ($40). There was still a lot of rust in it, so I bought the POR15 kit ($65) that includes Marine Clean, metal etch and gas tank sealer. It took about a week to go through the process, but it seems to have worked fine. I only finished it a couple of weeks ago, so I don't know how it will do long term.

- David

 

Likewise POR-15'd mine with their tanks sealer, after having the local rad shop dunk the tank first. Make sure you pay CLOSE attention to which fuel lines go where - TAKE PICS!!!- ask me how I know!! ;p
Should get a new gasket for the fuel sender, too
'Luck
Not hard to do, but time-consuming...
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

A fellow in Harrisonburg, VA named Bill Rader refurbishes 1st gen tanks for the spec racers. He puts walnut hulls in the tanks, then puts it on a machine to spin it. In the same way a rock polisher works, the inside of the tank is polished by the hulls. He then coats the inside of the tank and re-seals it. He can be reached at 540-432-6666. (I already kidded him about Christians not liking his phone number.)

 

I used the Por15 kit on my tank when i had a leak. It cost around $115 for the entire kit and well worth it. It comes with all the cleaner, interrior sealer and exterrior paint you will need.


I used several layers of rubber undercoating to protect the bottom. You can see the little area I needed to repair. Its a good idea to replace the fuel level sending unit, as you will probably have corroded connections on the outside anyway (Mazdatrix $111)