Gas tank cleaning: 1951 Ford 8N

[bradleydavidgood]

 

[bradleydavidgood]

 

[HarryVanderpool]

Measure twice, chop once.

 

[ChrisFromCLE]

What is Berryman’s?

I am currently cleaning a tank on my Farmall Cub. I have shake agitated it with stones inside to knock off the loose rust and calcium deposits. Next I am planning to swish it with Naval Jelly using 1/4-20 nuts to agitate and spread the jelly then plan to rinse and dry.

Should Berryman’s/gas solution be part of this process? Will it make things better/faster?

Chris from CLE

 

[bradleydavidgood]

What is Berryman’s?

I am currently cleaning a tank on my Farmall Cub. I have shake agitated it with stones inside to knock off the loose rust and calcium deposits. Next I am planning to swish it with Naval Jelly using 1/4-20 nuts to agitate and spread the jelly then plan to rinse and dry.

Should Berryman’s/gas solution be part of this process? Will it make things better/faster?

Chris from CLE

When I looked into my gas tank that had sat for over 20 years, I didn't see any significant rust, so I wasn't concerned about rust so much as just cleaning it. Your situation sounds different.

Berryman's B-12 a strong solvent-based fuel-system cleaner used to dissolve old gasoline varnish, gum, and deposits in fuel tanks, carburetors, injectors, and intake parts. It is much more aggressive than something like Sea Foam.

I am not going to address rust in my tank because there is little if any.

But if I had significant rust, and it had no deep pitting, I'd use evapo-rust by CRC.

For heavy pitting, I'd buy a new tank since for the 8N that is about $160 with shipping.

The cub tank is about twice as much.

I wouldn't want to deal with all that work just to have some of the heavy rust come off and leaving a lot in there.

I wouldn't use navel jelly, that's a jelly meant to be brushed on and sticky. And the nuts can get trapped behind or beneath the baffle in the tank.

If I had your cub I'd evaluate the rust and if it is significant, decide if I wanted to spend the $300-400 for a new tank.

The only good way to remove significant rust in my opinion is by filling the tank with some liquid thing like Evapo-Rust and letting it sit. But that would probably cost more than half the price of a new tank.

You could try a gallon of Evapo-Rust ($28) and rotate it hourly, but it's not going to work as well. Or try 2-3 gallons rotated/swished hourly.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

What is Berryman’s?

I am currently cleaning a tank on my Farmall Cub. I have shake agitated it with stones inside to knock off the loose rust and calcium deposits. Next I am planning to swish it with Naval Jelly using 1/4-20 nuts to agitate and spread the jelly then plan to rinse and dry.

Should Berryman’s/gas solution be part of this process? Will it make things better/faster?

Chris from CLE

Here is the correct procedure to solve your problem:

https://www.jpcycles.com/assets/0000/3502/kreem_fuel_tank_liner_combo_pack.pdf

 

[ChrisFromCLE]

Thanks for the advice BDG and Harry. I appreciate the benefit of your experience.

Chris from CLE

 

[Jim in LA]

My '51 needs the tank cleaned, I finally ran it till I had to turn on reserve and now I don't have a lot to drain out. The temps here right now are hitting 99-101 in the afternoon and the high humidity just makes it worse to work on anything. I think I'm going with the gravel and wheel tumble method. I think I'll hammer some dents out and shoot a coat of paint on the hood while it's down.