Recently purchased a 53 Mercury truck. After drilling and ez outing the drain plug drained about 5 gallons of a red varnish like gas. Can anyone recommend a solvent to dissolve remaining gunk in tank to flush without pulling tank? Thanks

 

Welcome to FTE. The best place in the whole world for info on our old trucks. Por 15 makes a product for such things. But I think you are better off pulling the tank to clean it out. Not familiar with the 53-56 set ups. Pulling it will give better access to see inside the tank., not to mention cleaning it as well. I guess most of the vendors offer new tanks for a couple hundred bucks or so. I'm sure someone will pop in with better info soon.

 

I would use a cheap USB camera to look inside the tank, if you see rust I would buy new if available. A radiator shop may be able to boil it out, but junk in the gas tank can plague you forever. I also know that if the tank sealer stuff does not stick properly it is just as bad as rust and will clog up the gas line.

 

Just because the gas is bad doesn't necessarily mean that the tank is gummed up. You are a step a head in that the gas in the tank was liquid and had not evaporated to leave an empty tank to collect water and rust out. I think that you are on the right track to try a flush before moving on to more drastic measures. I am not aware of any product that is specifically designed to remove sludge in a fuel tank, most articles I have read cover the use of strong detergents, heat, steam, etc. I have had good luck with products like "Purple Power" (available at WalMart), when used at full strength it will remove latex paint. I would add a gallon at full strength to the tank, slosh as much as you can, let it sit for an hour, drain and inspect for residue. Repeat as necessary until clear. Flush the tank with water and use some compressed air to dry.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I think I am going to bite the bullet and pull the tank to do a full cleaning and inspection. Will update with results. I'm sure I'll have plenty of more questions for this forum as this is my first restoration. I appreciate all the inputs.

 

Welcome to FTE!

You've come to the right place for answers. We need to see pictures of your truck to feed our addiction..

 

Pulled my 55's and took it to a radiator shop.
They boiled and cleaned it +coated with a rust preventer.

 

Used Por -15 on gas tank in the hot rod truck . It is a PITA to do but works excellent . Also use racing gas in it w/ no problems .

 

I'm sure they did but, was it more expensive than a brand new one? It's tougher to find places that can do that.

 

I had my radiator repaired and asked about the gas tank. They said they could do it, but it would be a gamble and suggested I get a new one instead. I think they quoted me just under $100.
My tank had a bunch of powder in it. I need to get a good light in it and see what it is like, but I have a new one now so it really doesn't matter.

MidFifty has the original tanks for $180, the plastic tanks are 2 gallons smaller and $225. I think it's worth that to be sure you have good gas.

 

Tanks are relatively inexpensive for our old trucks. However, if you want to tackle it yourself, it's pretty straight-forward. Here's my method:

1 - Rinse & flush with water to get larger particles out.

2 - Put about 1 gallon of denatured alcohol, along with a handful of roofing nails, nuts & bolts, or something else you can use to shake around - seal up the openings well with duct tape.

3 - Shake, rattle, & roll. Be sure to shake and slosh with all 6 sides at the 'bottom' of however you hold it. I've even heard of folks strapping it to a tractor tire and driving around the field for a while. You can't shake it enough. When you're tired. Shake it some more.

4 - Did I mention to shake it?

5 - Open it up and rattle all the junk out. Rinse with denatured alcohol until it's clean.

6 - Pour in about 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid. Be very careful with this step as it will burn you, etch concrete, and create fumes you don't really want to inhale - do it outside. Carefully slosh the acid around all 6 surfaces of the tank - be sure to get the top well. This step removes the rust.

7 - Rinse with water.

8 - Rinse with alcohol.

9 - Put about a 1/2 gallon of phosphoric acid in and slosh it around carefully. Same precautions as muriatic acid, but it's not nearly as caustic - still, you don't want it on your, concrete, or your clothes. When done and certain all 6 sides are coated, dump it out and let it dry overnight.

10 - The next day, rinse with water.

11 - Rinse with alcohol.

12 - Reinstall.

13 - Forget about your tank and move on to the next project....

 

When I use the muriatic acid I dilute it a bit. 2 to 1 sometimes. Full strength is pretty powerful.. Put the water in first or mix it in a 5 gal. bucket. Don't breath the fumes unless you want to acid etch your nose and lungs too. HD has gallon jugs for about 6 bucks. Pool maintenance area. Good luck and be careful.

 

is using the phosphoric acid after the muriatic acid overkill? Seems like the muriatic would take care of it.

 

What the phosphoric acid does is leave a coating on the metal. When you use the muriatic acid, it leaves bare steel and it will rust literally as it dries. The phosphoric acid leaves a zinc-type coating that will resist rust to some extent.

I'm also not a fan of ANY of the commercial tank "sealers" because unless they are applied perfectly, they WILL eventually begin flaking off. I've had more tanks ruined because someone put in some sort of sealer in the distant past and either had poor prep, or it was an early design that couldn't withstand the modern gasolines.

I also phosphoric acid coat brand new tanks.

I just did the long process on my Studebaker tank and it came out near perfect!

 

I used the POR 15 sealer kit on my tank....it came out perfect. The POR is a good product & isn't likely to be affected by gasoline. The kits are around $75 & comes with the etching chemicals and neutralizers.

The problem is that after installing my newly sealed tank, I had a leak at the gauge sending unit flange. the solder joint was cracked. At that point, if I had re-soldered, it would have destroyed the POR sealer.

I ended up buying a new tank from Mac's for around $200 delivered. By the way...the local radiator shop quoted me $220 to clean, pressure test and re-seal the original tank.

Dan