Plastic or metal? We are planning to refurbish ours but are wondering about a plastic one. Any experience out there with plastic?
Tere

Tere you must love working on the barth.I just don't like plastic.
lenny

no experience with plastic... what is wrong with your tank that you are contemplating on replacing it?

most radiator rebuild shops with also repair your fuel tank

FWIW, I once had a Dodge van with a factory-option oversize plastic fuel tank. It never caused a problem, but I never felt quite as secure as I would have with a metal tank.

Not to steal Tere's thread, but she DOES love working on the Barth. Right now she has the gas tank laying on the ground, the carburetor en route to be rebuilt, the fuel pump on the bench, and most of the gas lines in the trash. When I met her 25+ years ago, she was sitting in the engine compartment of an old 60's era Ford, tinkering with something. Knew then she was for me. She's my best friend, the world greatest grandmother. I love her to death. She's the complete package!!
Jim

Jim, we all agree and she is A-1 go-cart driver also.

Tere has the tank out and I took off the sending unit and discovered almost no trash in the tank. A very small amount of something black like sand but just a little. The sock looked new and had no junk on it. This makes us think that the problem was not the rear tank, but something in the carb to begin with. The tank has two small rust spots, one the size of a dime, and the other the size of a nickel. What should we do with those? Have found no radiator shops in Knoxville that want to mess with it.
Jim

quote:

The tank has two small rust spots, one the size of a dime, and the other the size of a nickel. What should we do with those?

I would just treat them. Brush off the rust, use some naval jelly, sand, spray some zinc on it and be done. Unless your talking about inside...then I personally have no suggestions.

I have no personal experience with this product, but I've read about Gas Tank Sealer Kit For Cars sold by Eastwood. I'm not sure how large your tank is, but this "bundle of products" says it's for up to a 20 gallon tank.
Another company I'm a fan of is POR15. I've used their products before, and am always very impressed with the quality. Here is their line of Fuel System Restoration Products

From the sound of it, it seems like your tank is fairly clean though, it this might not even be needed. Since you already removed the sending unit, see if you can use a digital camera to take a picture of the inside of the tank and post it up here.

There are rust spots, & there are rust spots. If they are merely surface rust inside the tank, I'd say don't mess with them. If they're surface rust outside the tank, treat as jsloan suggests,though my preference to halt the rust is a product called "Extend" rust treatment. In any case, be sure to paint over any kind of rust treatment.

If the rust is thick enough to be flaking, or causing obvious thickening, it could be more serious. Surface rust whether inside or out, is not likely to be a problem.

quote:

my preference to halt the rust is a product called "Extend" rust treatment

I thought "Extend" was...o wait...never mind, that is another product..

The two spots are on the inside. I'll try to take pictures. It is more than surface rust tho.
Jim

You should be able to find a shop that will do a rust treatment and sealer application, on numerous hotrods I have built, I have done this and it works well, even if it was beyond surface rust, just so long as the rust hasn't compromised the tank material.

I am not in favor of a plastic fuel tank, for diesel--maybe-- but not for gasoline.

I will resend a response to your email, I mistakenly sent it to Bill (playing around with new email program and blew it!)

This is about the size of my thumbprint


Same as above


This one quarter size.


These are just surface rust. One is 1/2 dollar size the other is quarter size


The first two are pretty rusty.

The top ones look like they're about ready to go through. If they were mine, I'd let a pro look at them. If the tank is out, they could probably be patched professionally. Wouldn't try it myself, though there wasn't much that would scare me when I was still turning wrenches.