Gary ..will do the acid thing, thinking about mixing in when filling the tank with gas a bit of 2 cycle oil, hope it will slosh around and help prevent any further corrosion.

Roppel sometimes has distributors in local cities. We took our to their distributor in Knoxville who sent it to Roppel and called us when it was back. Call Roppel hq and ask.

Remember Duane you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.

You have the tank out. You’ve pulled out the crap. You either have to replace or clean it. Don’t be tempted to cut corners. No fuel no vrooom no go. If the tank is kept full no corrosion.

Air and condensation are the nemesis of any fuel systems.

Now you understand my advice. Drain all fuel. Start with clean tank, then an open straight pipe to a big filter. (No sock filter in tank.) External pump. Never mess with tank again.

Now you know how much fun it is to remove the tank, you never want do it again. Even a ton of new junk/water in the tank won't ever plug the sock and you can change external filters easily.

With all new hoses and vent lines, your tank should be good for a long time. If you can get your old tank cleaned up and it is not rusted through, you can prob still use it if you use the big filters.

Old timers used to put a bunch of golf ball sized stones in the tank, then put in back of the pickup on a bumpy road. Drive around a few days, rotate the tank around. Remove the stones, rinse it out and flush well. Follow up with muriatic acid and rinse again. Might get enough stuff loose to be usable again.

If you keep it full it will not rust any further. Needs condensation and oxygen from air to make iron oxide (rust)

As much trouble as you have had, consider yourself at the top of the mountain now. All down hill from here. Soon you will have a reliable fuel system for many years service.

Jim will call them tomorrow, see if anyone is close.

Dana , the tank must have set on or near M_T for awhile, probably why it is so corroded, won't let that happen again.

Steve, rocks in the tank slosh around, sounds viable, I am an old timer!!! Ordered all the parts, spent a fortune, probably a week before the tank can be reinstalled. If Jim's company does not pan out, have a few days to let those rocks do the job!!!

Can replace all the rubber lines and check out the electrical circuit. Could if I have to move the RV, run a tube from the existing inline filter to a fuel container, hey great shades of the TV show Road Kill!

Gonna be an off week for sure!!! May be get the Gilmer spacer put in Ole Nose. Might have to use Nose for the Michigan GTG. Hate to put the 88 back on the ground, so let the neighbors moan and work on Nose in the street, no room in the driveway. Should be able to do that job is a couple of hours.

Got the neighbors to help and emptied 13 gallons of the most miserable concoction ever seen in a gasoline tank. Before made reference that the fuel looked like Blue Moon beer, well this stuff looked at least 10 times more dense. Do not see how the engine even ran on this stuff, mixed it up a lot during the pour process though. Due to the shape and geometry of the tank it is hard to get everything out of it, baffles everywhere, some still in the tank perhaps as much as a quart. Also sure there tons of loose rust in there AKA (Iron Oxide)!

Now to figure out where to get rid of the garbage. Does not even smell like gasoline!

Congratulations to Richard Branson what an extraordinary achievement! Yea, Burt Rutan, may not be involved today (retired) but it was his thinking that got it done. Chuck Yeager should get some credit also. The real great thing is next week the same machines could do it again!! A little more fuel and a heat shield, hello orbit!!

Given the baffling it's probably best to not add anything to the tank but gas. I think the best approach might be the triple rinse method recommended for agrochemical containers. A small volume X3 rinses so a maximum is carried each time. Since the crud will be rusty watery liquid with some gas. You may be able let it settle for a short time and decant it through a filter cloth, reuse it and not have such a large volume for disposal.

Tim that is sure worth a try! Might mix a bit of 2 cycle oil with the gas, coat the walls, prevent any flash rust! Need to figure out a way to hang the tank so it can be sloshed and rotated easily.

Took a closer look and the baffles would only let the rocks work in about 1/4 of the tank, just small openings to the outer sides of the tank. Shoot!!!!

Cargo net, long rope and tree limb. If you can plug holes maybe just end for end and roll.

Just curious what are the dimensions of the tank? There are so many possibilities out there. Metal,plastic, marine,truck,RV,airplane,tractor,bicycle,dirigible, submarine.

Okay I threw the last ones just to see if you were paying attention.

I once had one made out of stainless steel for my 71 international pickup for $50. That was a condensation machine. In the winter forget it. The outlet would freeze. Sorry off track ancient history.

I moved a 300 gallon free standing steel fuel tank. Had a large filter on the discharge. Gas looked like orange soda even after filter for years. Gravity fed on a stand. I assumed it would settle out. Never did. I ran my tractor off it. Sediment bowl needed cleaning all the time. Scraped it after a couple years.

I’m sure you searched just want to throw it out there to check all possibilities.

quote:

Gary ..will do the acid thing,

Duane, check around a bit. I bet that in a place like Iowa, where farmers keep machinery running many decades, there are supporting businesses including some that do acid washing of fuel tanks to restore the tanks.

Here's a place in Missouri... https://afftonradiator.com/services/tank-service/

It looks like that outfit also coats the tank. There is a product called POR-15 that you could also use if you choose to DIY.

Matt

Dana, the tank is 54X24X14 or pretty close to that, the problem is mounting flanges, the fuel pick-up and filler neck are pretty vehicle specific. the length is critical because of the cross members and how it is held to the frame. Using the forty gallon tank could just use the cross straps, perhaps.

Matt will check with your folks! There is a radiator shop in a nearby town, gonna give them a call and see if they can clean it for me.

I bought some meratic acid, not sure it is good thing to do myself, kinda scary and the disposal.

Hey Matt, a radiator shop never occurred to me, called the local guy 20 miles away, they can do it!!! Take it up there today! Thanks!!!

Duane, muriatic acid is commercial grade solution of HCl (hydrochloric acid) about 35%. It is commonly used for cleaning brick or lowering pH in pools.

It is the most friendly of the strong acids because when it is done reacting it leaves the Cl choride ion as in sodium chloride (salt). Pure HCl is a gas at room temp so it will evaporate when left around leaving little residue. This leads to the one downside... acid fumes. This is how it got its name in fact. Latin for watery eyes is muri- so they named it muriatic acid (the one that makes tears)

Use with plenty of ventilation. Wear rubber gloves and cover your eyes just in case.

When finished you can neutralize any remaining acid just dump in some limestone. When it quits fizzing it is close to neutral.

Thanks for info Steve. Did get it to the shop and they are g0ing to give the ole college try. Take the muriatic acid back to the home depot if they will let me return it!!

Did not get a completion date or cost but waiting on parts anyway.