Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Fuel Tank Removal

Derek69SS · Founding Member

dashboard wrote:
Does this mean I've joined the cars apart club guys?

Only if you've managed to lose or break any pieces.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Kevin, I see now what you've been doing the last couple of days. How did you get the gas out of the full tank? Hopefully you didn't need to re-learn your siphoning technique from the 1973's gas shortage when your Elky was only 1 year old! biggrin

Where are you taking the tank for refurbishing?

Too bad you didn't find a build sheet as that would have been a valuable find...

Chris R · 2K+ Club

It doesnt even look like there was any evidence a sheet was even stuck there in the first place.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

I'm going to call Gas Tank Re-nu of Minnesota in Shakopee, MN. Tony Hoffer recommended them. Hopefully I can drop it off tomorrow and get on with the underside cleanup.

I did not siphon any fuel, thought it had 5 to 10 gal in it based on the fuel gauge. Set up several boards like a house mover would and lowered it down one board at a time. Quickly realized the tank was very light, I removed the boards and set the tank on the floor. Latter when I drained the tank, it had less than 1 1/2 quarts of fuel.

A build sheet would be nice but I'll have to settle for a 72 W code.

I really wish I had space for a lift, of all the things I do with any car I hate getting under them on my back the most.

I'm just glad Derek excused me from the cars apart club. We as a group need to define the cars apart guidelines.

Lost in the 60s · President

I vote that you qualify for "The Club". You're too meticulous to loose or break anything so that quanitification can't apply for you. Your car is "apart" so there ya go.... wink

If it were mine to clean/treat, I would use a hand wire brush and do a light clean with that and then spray it with Eastwood Rust Converter, followed by Rust Encapsulator to seal it from further growth. There's NO WAY you will ever get every inch of that area to bare metal anyway. The treatment will leave it dull black and paint ready for any color you choose. I'm really digging Charcoal Grey for chassis/ under body parts lately.... smile

If you want to run small parts i.e. bumper brackets, bolts, etc thru the blasting cabinet, we can set up a time for that.

As for the build sheet, only certain plants were know for putting them on the tank. As I've said before, it was a convenience for the line workers to quickly see what was to be installed as it went down the line and not a mystery hunt for us many years later.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Also, that thing doesnt belong on your kitchen counter. biggrin

Just joking. I know its not your kitchen.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Good news, inside of the tank is spotless, saved $100.00, bad news the sending unit is bad. Can't get stable reading, cost $68.00. Hey I'm up $32.00 bucks.

Seem to be able to make money in this Car Apart Club! I'm liking it.

Lost in the 60s · President

dashboard wrote:

Good news, inside of the tank is spotless, saved $100.00, bad news the sending unit is bad. Can't get stable reading, cost $68.00. Hey I'm up $32.00 bucks.

Seem to be able to make money in this Car Apart Club! I'm liking it.

You saved a lot more than $32. if the inside had been rusty it would've been another $100 to treat it which, in my opinion would've been wasted, when you can buy a whole new tank for $150. Soooooo worst case would be new tank $150 plus sender anyway $68 equals $218 minus the $68 you actually spent means you saved $150. NOW, go tell your wife how much you REALLY saved and what the next thing is you need. You now have an EXTRA $150 to spend on the car....

When will it be all back together and out of CAC ?

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Mitch, love your math. You should work for the government. Ok since it looks like I may have saved some cash.

Dear Car Fairy, I'd like a retro state of the art radio, one of those 200 amp jobs, that new high tech rear view mirror with reading lights, temp, compass, and homelite for the garage door opener. After that ether new paint or that new 5 speed tanny with a .67 overdrive that gives ya about 2200rpm at 70mph with 3:73 gears.

Lost in the 60s · President

dashboard wrote:

Mitch, love your math. You should work for the government. Ok since it looks like I may have saved some cash.

Dear Car Fairy, I'd like a retro state of the art radio, one of those 200 amp jobs, that new high tech rear view mirror with reading lights, temp, compass, and homelite for the garage door opener. After that ether new paint or that new 5 speed tanny with a .67 overdrive that gives ya about 2200rpm at 70mph with 3:73 gears.

I vote for the 5 speed and I get the M22.....

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Have you already bought the sending unit Kevin? If not. Do some searching on places like Team Chevelle.

These things are not created equal as if any repro or replacement part we use is. There are some good ones out there and some bad ones. I have even heard that the AC Delco ones have been known to be junk as well.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Thanks Chris, good point. I'm going to go with whatever Joe at Tank Renew recommends. He seems to be a straight up guy and does this for a living.

Think I would be holding on to the M22 Mitch.

Oh the radio make that 200 watts not amps. I want to listen to tunes not throw lightning bolts.

SShink · 3K+ Club

dashboard wrote:

Oh the radio make that 200 watts not amps. I want to listen to tunes not throw lightning bolts.

I don't know Kevin... it might be kind of fun to throw a few lightning bolts out the front of the car when 'those' people get in front of you and drive 5 mph under the speed limit, and you know who I mean! biggrin

Lost in the 60s · President

SShink wrote:

dashboard wrote:

Oh the radio make that 200 watts not amps. I want to listen to tunes not throw lightning bolts.

I don't know Kevin... it might be kind of fun to throw a few lightning bolts out the front of the car when 'those' people get in front of you and drive 5 mph under the speed limit, and you know who I mean!

I'd rather throw them out the back at the jerks who ride your bumper like I'm supposed to get out of their way so they can speed...

SShink · 3K+ Club

Lost in the 60s wrote:

SShink wrote:

dashboard wrote:

Oh the radio make that 200 watts not amps. I want to listen to tunes not throw lightning bolts.

I don't know Kevin... it might be kind of fun to throw a few lightning bolts out the front of the car when 'those' people get in front of you and drive 5 mph under the speed limit, and you know who I mean!

I'd rather throw them out the back at the jerks who ride your bumper like I'm supposed to get out of their way so they can speed...

I resemble that remark! wink

dashboard · 2K+ Club

I want to move the dust away from the work area and not have it all over the garage. Well when your retarded or retired theses are the things you dream up. I want to move the greatest amount of air with the least restriction to reduce static build-up so I can use it for painting also.

I looked at bathroom fans capable of moving 50 to 160 CFM (my work area will be less than 100 cu ft) but I'm concerned about electric motors generating sparks in there armature.

So the leaf blower fits the requirement. I estimate it will move in excess of 1500 CFM at max RPM and 600CFM at idle. No sparks and by routing the air through a flexible aluminum six inch tube to the outdoors I can provide bonding and grounding for the tube to eliminate static discharge; the blower will be outside.

So I can get back to cleaning and brushing and sanding and cleaning. Then I would think three days of painting. Pick up the tank tomorrow, it also needs paint so hopefully I can start putting this thing back together next week.

That is unless I decide to replace the rear body mounts, they are in rough shape after almost 40 years. Not sure if I have the ball* to take a chance on forty year old hidden nuts.

I send along some pixs of my temp spray booth.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Here is my my little home made paint booth. Vents to the outside using a shop vac via two filters, can't even smell paint in the shop. Large enough to hold my Elky fuel tank. Built completely out of scrap lumber and other left over stuff in the garage, held together with sheet rock screws so it can be broken down stored in a very small area.

Best of all it has not blown up yet, there are 60 feet of bare wire woven through-out the inside of the booth to the vacuum hose then to ground to prevent build-up of static electricity.

Now about the fuel tank project. Sometimes stories start out with, "" I would have just bought a new tank for $175 bucks. When he blasted the tank he used sand, it pitted the tank badly. Now I'm using a heavy sand-able primer to smooth it out. My tank project developed some project creep that lead to cleaning the underside then removing the rear bumper and cleaning up the brackets, and on and on.

John D · 2K+ Club

If I didn't know you I'd be saying "There's a guy with waaaayyyy too much time on his hands.....

Watch out! The snowball is gaining speed!

bowtie · Secretary

So, I'm thinking people might get confused. If your garage looks like that, what's the kitchen look like?

Lost in the 60s · President

Sorry to hear you are disappointed with the blaster. It seems to be the way things are done now. As you know, I was disappointed with the pieces I had (over) blasted too. I have many hours of hand sanding ahead to make them good again too.... furious

-- Edited by Lost in the 60s on Sunday 16th of January 2011 07:05:28 PM

dashboard · 2K+ Club

bowtie wrote:
So, I'm thinking people might get confused. If your garage looks like that, what's the kitchen look like?

Who needs a kitchen? You only heat up food and water there. I have a microwave in the garage

Mitch, understand I'm only talking about the tank blasting, NOT the parts I blasted at your place.

John, you bet to much free time, but it only took 3 hours to make from scrap lumber, it works so well, zero over spray and no paint odor while the vacs running.

I've spent a lot more time moving snow lately. If all goes well I'll be done with the spray booth in a couple of weeks if any one wants to use it there welcome to it.

It is 48" deep 24" high and 44" wide so it would fit in the back of a pickup with out breaking it down.

Lost in the 60s · President

I knew that. I was refering to the hurry up mentality of people who do this for pay. We know how to turn the pressure down and use a mix of media so we don't turn the steel into a rasp file....

I thought I would save myself some time and clean up but I'll be doing my own large part blasting in the driveway again from now on. I'll spend more time repairing the damage done than the nuisance of setting up and cleaning afterward.

Tim H · Mega Poster

Nice set up with that blower.

I used a leaf blower to get get all teh yaers of accumulated dust out of my shop last year. It looked like the dust bowl outsdie my shop but it sure worked well.

I like that setup you have.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Thanks Tim, the blower and booth work very well making painting a breeze, in fact painting has become the enjoyable part of the project. I just hate to put a nice clean tank back into a nasty area so I'm cleaning up the underside.

As you know so well it's all about the preparation, if you have ever looked under an Elky you know it's unlike a coupe, there are braces running for and aft, and right to left to reinforce the bed. I've made some tools out of wood that fit into the ribbing and bracing, I wrap sand paper around them, they really speed up the sanding.

Allow me to wine, someone provide the cheese, I am so tired of laying on my back looking up at the underside of this *&^ ^& *(&.....there's that love hate relationship popping out again; that I've limited my working time to three hours a day so I can spread out the fun. It really should be on a rotisserie to do what I'm trying to do. The counter seems to have gone into high gear, there are several other things I wanted to get done before the counter hits zero.

Note to self, next time, just buy a new tank!

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Well the tank is ready to go back in, everything that needs to be done while standing on two feet is ready. So it's time to get back under the truck and finish up the sand and paint part.

93 days and counting on the *&^+_ counter, I have a lot more little things I want to get done, but I'd like to take a test drive.....say out to Mitch's place by the end of March. That's 50 days, yep I'm ready for spring.

Note to self! Next time just don't be so dam cheep, buy a new tank.

Lost in the 60s · President

Tank looks nice and I'm sure the underside does too, but if it takes till the end of March, I'll drive my '66 to YOUR place....

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Mitch, is that like a challenge? Who gets there first? First one there wins, loser buys lunch?

Lots of parts arriving some last Friday and more today via FED & UP so I'm running out of excuses to not get under the Elky, gosh I wish I had ceiling height for a lift.

Lost in the 60s · President

dashboard wrote:

Mitch, is that like a challenge? Who gets there first? First one there wins, loser buys lunch?

Lots of parts arriving some last Friday and more today via FED & UP so I'm running out of excuses to not get under the Elky, gosh I wish I had ceiling height for a lift.

It should be an easy challenge for you to win but yeah, I'll buy lunch this time.....IF you win....

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Making some progress, primer and first coat of black paint, still wet in this pix; no ones going to able to accuse me of over restoration. Like painting the inside of a black box black with your eyes closed. A rotisserie or lift would have made the job a lot easer, but the runs look great.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Tank's in and that puts me out of the CAC.

Here's what I learned, never, never again will I try to refinish a fuel tank or the space above and around it while laying on my back. It needs to be done in conjunction with a frame off or with the car on a lift. It became much more work than I thought it would be. Not because of project creep but rather ..... yep, age, eye sight and an old back and on and on.

I think the finished product would have been much better if I had the truck on a lift. But it's back together the fuel gauge works.

Now I can move on with the couple of small projects I wanted to get done this winter.

tank installed.jpg

Lost in the 60s · President

I know it was PITA but it looks DANG NICE.... wink

dashboard · 2K+ Club

first out2.jpg

Had the Elky out for a quick test drive. So that would be out and about on 28 March 2011. Checked out lots of new stuff and upgrades.

Lost in the 60s · President

Looks good out in the sunshine again....

SShink · 3K+ Club

dashboard wrote:

Had the Elky out for a quick test drive. So that would be out and about on 28 March 2011. Checked out lots of new stuff and upgrades.

Yep, definitely out of the Cars Apart Club!

Nice backdrop showing the snow too for official proof.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

mirror upgrade.jpg speaker up.jpg

Here are some of the upgrades. Mirror with outside air temperature, compass, garage door opener, auto dim, new storage box that is the trunk for us Elky guys. Some new speakers in the new kick panels, Stan had to lend a hand there, then there is the cup holder. Not displayed is new carpet, lots of sound proofing, lots of detailing underneath. Then there is the M22, some guys stick deer heads on the wall.

Topped off the gas tank today, no leaks, checked it at ¼ ½ ¾ and full, it is right on the money. Today was a great day for a drive, Steve swapped out the Speedo gear in the trany, for the first time in last 30 years (yes, I said 30 years for you young pups) it is accurate.

It was running so well, and so quite that I did not want to stop cruising. Lot’s of thumbs up, even an Eagan cop and of course truck drivers love Elky’s.

However, it had to end; at 1600, I dropped the Elky off at Metro Upholstery in Burnsville to have a new headliner and more soundproofing installed.