Topic: 1936 Fuel Tank


Bob56    -- 10-20-2018 @ 7:54 AM
  I have some crud in the bottom of my fuel tank. I was thinking of dropping the tank and getting it cleaned out but looking into where the sending unit is the tank itself looks very clean but I can see small pieces in the bottom. In the first picture it appears to be a drain plug in the bottom of the tank. What comes off, just the square part with the slotted screw driver or does the whole round portion right up to the rivets come out. There is paint on it and I can't tell what comes out


TomO    -- 10-20-2018 @ 8:31 AM
  The drain plug looks butchered and probably can't be removed without long soaking in a penetrant or heat. The P/N of the plug is 353057 and I do not have a description of it. It was made obsolete by 1948, the year of my Standard Parts catalog.

You can try using a 8" adjustable wrench to remove it, but if the wrench cannot get a good grip on the plug, I would leave it alone until I received a replacement. If you damage the plug further, you may not be able to remove it and it might start leaking.

Tom


nelsb01    -- 10-20-2018 @ 8:35 AM
  The square plug is what comes out -- although, with years of being in the tank, it may not come out easy. The other 3 bumps are rivets to hold the reinforcing for the plug.
If you drop the tank, you do not need to remove the plug to clean it as the sending unit hole and the filler neck will give enough of an opening to drain any cleaning solution.


Bob56    -- 10-20-2018 @ 9:35 AM
  If I drop the tank how does the curved fill neck come out? I know a spanner wrench will take out the piece going into the tank. Does the tail light assembly have to come off


Bob56    -- 10-20-2018 @ 10:09 AM
  I got it. Sprayed with Kroil and easy peasy


Steve Kennedy    -- 10-20-2018 @ 8:57 PM
  I replaced the tank in my '36 5W this past summer. To drop it, I got the rubber coupler loose from the threaded neck, I think with a screwdriver and lots of prying. The extension is threaded into the tank and will come out with the tank with a big pair of channel locks.

To get the tank out, it was a tight fit, I had to slide it as far left, towards the filler neck as possible, then I used a very thin pry bar, I think I used a small trowel, and after lots of cussing, I finally got the right side to drop down. I also removed the sending unit.

Then off to the car wash and I just kept hosing it down by running the power nozzle through the sending unit hole and letting it drain out the filler neck. After getting more than a cup full of RUST and scale, I decided to just replace it. I figured if it was that rusty, it would eventually just rust through.

I looked at both a standard metal tank and a stainless steel tank, the price difference was only around $150. By the time I bought the tank coating and went through all of that, I figured I might as well just buy the stainless steel tank. After I got it, I found that the holes for the sending unit were not in the same place as the original sending unit. Also, the stainless tank did not have a threaded are to insert the original filler neck. I can't remember just what I did but it was more cumbersome than just scr*w*ng it in like the original. Also, the stainless tank has two holes, one for the sending unit, which of course uses different holes than the original tank so I wound up redrilling the sending unit and did not line up with the access hole in the trunk. The other hole was for an In-Tank fuel pump, which I did not use because it was something like $300. I did wind up installing an external fuel filter and electric pump on the rear spring mount.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably go with the original style tank, and coat it, then figure it will last another 50 years, then it will be the next owner's problem.
Steve in Denver


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