Bought a 71 off ebay this summer and towed it home last week. Been sitting in a pasture for 9 yrs. I took an extra set of wheels and tires Cause the originals wouldn't hold air. Car was in Montana on a small? ranch. 35 thousand acres, he said that was small, his uncle had a large one- 75 SQUARE MILES!!!!!!!! Any way tried to start it and it would only run untill the starting fluid was burned up. Decided to pull the tank and clean everything out. It had about 5 gallons of strong coffee colored gas in it and a coating of the brown tar on the bottom of the tank. Is there a quick, easy and cheap way to clean that crap out of there so I can move it under it's own power while I work on it? Also what is the responsible way of disposing of that old gas? I am really glad I got it tho. It is in nice enough condition that the 74 I have started working on has now become THE PARTS CAR
If you cut the fuel hose feeding the pump from near where it meets the hard line (coming out of the inner fender) and put that into a source of fresh gas, like a can of gas taped to the inner fender, it may run enough to get around the yard (that's how I got mine home). You'll need to prime the carb. It worked for me. I bought a siphon pump for $12 and stuck it onto the hard line (inner fender) and pumped out all the bad gas I could get, then put a can of gas treatment and 2 gallons of fresh gas in the tank, hooked everything back up and it's running fine. Of course, #5 is still dead. Needs a valve job. It was blowing a lot of raw gas at first but a carb kit fixed that. Metering rod (1bbl) was stuck.
I always filter the old gas through a rag and run about a gallon per tank full in one of my beater carbed vehicles or tractor. A gallon of tolulene or acetone in your old tank will help cut the tar and sludge out of it. Also you might want to pull the sending unit and get a new sock on the end of the pickup. It will probably be clogged. Sometimes they are torn and brittle and allow all the "floaters" in the tank to be sucked up. Cleaver
Thanks Cleaver and just got a 72. I've had those ideas floating around in my head (yes things float around in there, just don't tell anyone). I thought acetone may cut the crud so it could be flushed out. Also thought of using straight carb cleaner in the tank. I have the tank off the car and all the fittings off. The sock is not torn or have any holes in it but it is hard as a rock. I'll just have to see what happens. Also the float mechanism was stuck but came loose with a slight? push on the arm and seems to be free now. How much of that tar stuff do you think is in the lines? Probably better just to replace it no? Any thanks again for the suggestions.
