Ivan Shelkovich

What's the general process on this? Tons of 4 year old fuel in the tank so it needs to be cleaned real nice.

Olds64

1) Siphon the old fuel out until it's mostly empty.

2) Loosen the ground strap coming from the fuel sending unit.

3) Loosen the hoses going to the tank.

4) Support the tank with a floorjack.

5) Remove the two bolts that secure the straps around the fuel tank

6) Lower the floorjack so the tank drops and remove it from under the car.

Once you remove the tank use a product like this to restore it:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...56-3/overview/

Make sure you wear PPE when using this stuff, it's nasty!

joe_padavano

Well, the first thing is that you need to get that old fuel out. I've found that the easy way to do this is to disconnect the hose from the sending unit outlet by the rear axle and use compressed air in the filler neck (with a rag to seal the blow gun) to force the fuel out the sender. Depending on the age and location of the car, you may have trouble getting the two nuts off the two retaining bolts. Repros are available if you need to cut them. Be sure to disconnect the ground wire to the sender in addition to the power wire. The power wire connector is inside the trunk, at the tail light panel.

Olds64

I forgot about the power wire. Dang 12V!

joe_padavano

It's actually not 12V, it's the wire from the gauge that runs through the variable resistor in the sender and then to ground. Technically I should have called it the sender wire as opposed to power wire.

MDchanic

I can't speak specifically about the exact body dimensions of a '64, but I have been able to get a whizzer into position to easily cut gas tank strap screws in the past. Odds are you'll have to. Watch out for stray gasoline and fumes if you use a whizzer.

If you can get darn near all of the gas out (it weighs about 6½ pounds a gallon), you can lower the tank down by hand, without a jack, which is sometimes helpful when maneuvering the fill tube out of the rear bumper. Be sure to remove the gas cap, as it will want to hang up on edges.

Oh, and just cut all the hoses when you lower the tank (garden pruners work great for this) - they're all shot anyway.

- Eric

joe_padavano

You are a braver man than I.

I've used a hacksaw, but not a device that makes sparks.

MDchanic

If you haven't cut the hoses yet, the gas cap is on, the tank isn't leaking, and you haven't done anything else to spray gas around, it's fine - no different than using a torch on a stubborn exhaust bolt.

If, on the other hand, all of the above conditions are not met, disassembly may not go as intended.

A friend of my ol' man once blew up an open, empty gas tank that was lying on the floor on the opposite side of a large garage while he was welding, so I'm not unaware of the risks.

- Eric

joe_padavano

Except that in my case, I've disconnected the outlet hose and used compressed air to push the fuel out of the tank before releasing the straps. FYI, at the back of the car, I'm usually using a Sawzall on those bolts, and yes, I realize the brushes in the motor can arc.