Date:         Tue, 9 Apr 1996 01:01:24 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Bob <zaphod@mail.ameritel.net>
Subject:      [T1] Comments on...Bad Gas/Rust Solution: Comments Sought

At 12:06 PM 4/8/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Years back, a buddy of mine bought a car which had a rusty gas tank. Kept
>clogging fuel filters, carburator, and generally causing the car to run
>rough. The local junkyard mechanic told him to pour in 1 gallon (yes, I
>said gallon) of DENATURED Alcohol with his next fillup (or was it 1/2
>fillup). Anyway, it seemed to cure the problem.

I have (hopefully had) the same problem w/my '67 Rusty.  I've heard numerous
remedies from the Hoover (just buy a new tank) acid-etching sermons to
threading a length of chain in the tank and shakin' it all about but a
friend of mine gave me a helpful suggestion.  Remove offending tank (if
you're like me you'll just snap those 30 year-old bolts off) and drain all
the nasty gas out of it.  My tank sounded like it was filled with sand.
Here's my rust-removal procedure.
BEGIN
  Dump in a bunch of gravel and fill tank part-way with water.  
  REPEAT
    Shake, stir, rock, whatever... 
    Drain.
    Refill.
  UNTIL (arms hurt a lot)
  Dump gravel out.
  Rinse tank thouroughly.

Now I can at least see the bottom of the tank.  There's still some clingons
in the bottom but considerably better than before.  I let the tank dry for a
while and then put about 2-3 gallons of gas back in and sloshed it around.
Maybe the remaining H20 will go to the gas and not the tank wall.  I dunno.

Ok, did I waste my time or what?  At least I feel better.  Plus I got to
remove the engine for the first time!  Now I can replace those seals and
paint the engine compartment!  Any suggestions on what to do about the tank
bolts I sheared off?

Bob J.
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                      /       Bob Johnson - Programmer       \
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                      |       zaphod@mail.ameritel.net       |
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