Tony;
Hugh is probably right about divergent points of view on a gas tank
cleanout but here's mine. I would take it off, dump it out, and fill it up
with a strong mixture of pine sol and water. Let it sit for about a week,
dump it out, fill the inside of it with sharp gravel, and shake the @#$!
out of it. Dump out the gravel, rinse out the inside with water, and let the
thing drain out and dry. An easier way might be to fill up the tank with a
strong water and lye solution which will clean it out in a day or two
without the gravel but with the rinsing. However lye will eat your hands if
it gets splashed on them so I would use the pine sol.
Best Regards
Arran Foster
1954 Imperial Newport
Needing A Left Side Taillight Bezel and other trim parts.
----- Original Message -----
From: "hugh hemphill" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 9:09 PM
Subject: IML: 58:clogged fuel lines on unused car?
> Tony,
>
> That's pretty funny! You'd better get used to it. The simpler, the more
> innocuous the question, the more likely you are to receive a plethora of
> potentially divergent advice and opinion.
>
> And I am no different. In my rather varied experience in restarting old
> cars, the oldest being a mere 75 years young at the time, I have never
> encountered clogged fuel lines. The fuel returns to the tank where it
> slowly goes bad. After a couple of decades, in one case, the fuel reduced
> itself to a hard shellac coating that you would hardly know was there.
> Until it started breaking up into chunks once on the move again. You are
> very unlikely to encounter this. The fuel pump may be gummed up, and the
> carburetor may have some shellac in it too.
>
> My advice is to leave them alone and see if they work. I have yet to have
a
> fuel pump fail at this point. The rubber diaphragm will probably not be
in
> great shape, and may fail later, but all rubber is prone to that. If any
of
> the ports or jets in your carb are clogged that could be a problem, but a
> good carb cleaning spray will work wonders. In my experience, it's really
> only the tank you have to be worried about, and, even then, I have never
had
> one that kept the engine from running on an initial start up procedure,
> unless, of course, it was full of holes.
>
> There is at least one place in my city that will take your unused car and
> prep it for you professionally. I mean they do the whole thing, including
> brakes. It's expensive, but it keeps your hands clean. It is a little
too
> antiseptic for my taste. Getting to grips with your ride, literally, is
> half the fun for many old car enthusiasts. It's your call.
>
> Me, I would dump the gas, put in fresh, flush out the radiator and the
> block, check the spark plugs and fire her up and see what I got. Not
every
> one would be this rough and ready. We had one old thang we thought was
> deader than dead, not worth much effort, and it turned out to be one of
the
> easiest cars to get running. Go figure.
>
> Hugh
>
>
> > One other question, though, related to the old gas tank that I didn't
ask
> > earlier. Am I likely to find gunk clogging everything else from the
tank
> > to the engine - fuel lines, fuel pump, filters, carb, etc? If so, any
> > special tricks to also clean these up?
>
>
>
>
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