How do I clean a bug's gas tank

Hey Ben Thanks -- "the works" sounds good - right now I am really just evaluating what needs to be done to get the car runnng. I have a power washer and am not afraid to use it. Would I use a degreaser like that stuff they always demonstrate at Sams club and BJs? Thanks! Remco

Some good advice I was given that I will regurgitate:

If you are in depserate need of a clean/new fuel tank, invest in fuel filters. You 'should' have two installed. One just below the tank in the front of the car (connecting between the small piece of rubber line coming out of the bottom). And a second in the engine cabinet between the pump and your carb.

I like to go with those cheap paper filters (the clear plastic covered ones). That way you can get a quick look at how dirty it is when checking your oil.

This is of course just buying time until you can get around to that new tank. I have been swapping filters every couple of weeks for a few months. I probably could have bought that new tank by now if I had thrown those dollars into a piggy bank. ;-)

-Ray

BEFORE the pump!!!!!!!

Never on the pressure side!!

Jan

Why? I've used them there for thirty years with no problem... I change them at least once a year (car stays in storage all winter).

I know about the issue of ones left too long being a fire hazard from cracking and then leaking, but I change them so often that I'm not all that concerned.

As far as rust goes, there's a fairly easy way to get that out if you remove the tank. Drop in some nuts and bolts and shake your booty! Actually, shake the tank around. The bolts will knock loose the rust and it will just pour out when you tip it. MAKE SURE YOU GET ALL THE NUTS AND BOLTS OUT WHEN YOU'RE DONE! lol Though thinking now, that will work for a dry tank. It won't help much with sludge. So if you wanted to drain the tank and wait for it to dry, you could do that for the rust and then try one of the other suggestions for the sludge build up.

(Who says I can't be helpful?)

K. "So tonight I'll ask the stars above, how did I ever win your love? What did I do? What did I say to turn your angel eyes my way?"

I had an "issue" with the gas tank on my '62 Stude which sat in a shed for some 30 years... what I did was to remove the tank (actually it was out when I bought the car) made a little plate to seal the sender hole, then dumped a can of Drano crystals in it and filled it with hot water. Then rattled a length of chain around in there through the filler neck after letting it sit a while (this knocks off the rust you've just loosened.) Lather, rinse, repeat. the reason for the block off plate was so that when I did the "repeat" but I could turn the tank upside down to get the rust off. Then I did a rinse with some muriatic acid (do I need to say, do this outside?) and repeated the chain bit after rinsing it out again. Finally I put a little phosphoric acid based metal prep solution in and swished it all around so that all the surfaces got rinsed with it (it not only removes rust but leaves a little protective coating behind) and last but not least rinsed it out a couple times the same way with gasoline to make sure none of the nastiness I'd used found its way back into the fuel system.

Been working fine for me so far... I did install a little fuel filter before the carb so anything I missed gets caught...

If you follow the above procedure and find that your tank is less than perfectly sealed, at least you've done most of the prep work for using a gas tank sealer coating...

good luck,

nate

Do you have a fire extinguisher in your car?

Appreciate all those helpful tips. Initially cleaning seemed to be the way to go to me, but after weighing everything, the best approach is just to replace the tank - that way I know what I have.

Another couple of questions:

Are the tanks sold at JCWhitney ok? How about some of the other parts they sell? I also definitely need floorpans - are JCW's pans ok? Or are there other good part stores you guys use?

To get rid of whatever crud is in the system, could I just blow air from the pump down intake to the tank (the old tank, that is)? After that, I'll replace the flexible portion of the fuel line since it can't be in great shape after 13 years. Is that the best way to do that?

Thanks a lot -- really appreciate the input. Remco

Mine is regular stock mechanical with stnd. carb. setup (1961) so hardly any pressure involved.

It's not just pressure you have to worry about. You also need to think of the added WEIGHT of a gasoline filled container suspended in and by the gas line. The filter will move around and it will repeatedly send "shocks" to the hose fittings as you drive, and the carb top fitting is known to be a weak spot. It will pull out of the aluminum and you will then have gasoline spraying all over the engine compartment. It's the number 1 reason for engine fires in an aircooled VW.

There's plenty of pressure in the line too btw. I have heard of incidents where a plastic filter housing has cracked from a seam under pressure. Possibly a faulty filter, but still? There's no risk of that on the suction side. Just avoid the unnecessary risks and keep the filter on the suction side of the pump. It's so easy that there's no real reason NOT to move the filter there the next time you replace your fuel lines. Which you should do every 5 years or wo on average. Depends on your climate and quality of gasoline. (I've personally experienced a nasty leak due to a 2 year old braided fuel hose cracking... it just got so brittle you couldn't bend it without cracking it..)

Jan

Yeah. I just had a regular carb setup on my Jeep and had one of those littl plastic fuel filters in-between the fuel pump and the carb like you describe. Worked great for me.

Hah! Well I am glad that I posted that or I would have never known I was putting my Bug in danger. This is how the VW shop installed the filter when the engine was rebuilt 5 or so years ago. I never thought to question it.

Having bought an extra foot or so of rubber hose, I should be able to move that filter today with some slicing, dicing, and re-clamping. Thanks for the heads up.

-Ray

............A word of caution, Ben. These autoparts companies change suppliers from time to time. What you really want, is a new tank that's made by a manufacturer in Canada. I don't remember their name but they're probably the only Canadian manufacturer of new replacement gas tanks. Just be sure that your FLAPS knows that the country of origin of that new gas tank is Canadian and it'll probably be comparable to OEM quality like the one that I bought.

On 10 Dec 2004 11:39:09 -0800, "Ray Dios Haque" scribbled this interesting note:

You should already have two filters installed by VW when the car was made. One is actually in the tank and the other is actually in the fuel pump. If your fuels system is clean then those two filters are all you need. The filter in the tank is a regular maintenance item that should be removed, inspected, and cleaned or replaced periodically.

If you feel the need for more filtration (and there is no real need since, as I've read, there are no passages in a stock carburetor that are smaller than what these two stock filters will allow to pass), then the best place is directly under the tank.

Google "engine fire" on ramva. See how often folks post about their cars catching on fire because that little brass nipple that is merely pressed into the carburetor has worked out because of the extra mass of that little nugget of gasoline wiggling around between the pump and carburetor. Why risk it?

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)