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[GMCnet] was power steering, now fuel tank rehab [message #231185] Mon, 25 November 2013 09:52 Go to next message
scott cowden is currently offline  scott cowden   United States
Messages: 170
Registered: February 2004
Karma: 0
Senior Member
I've been very lucky with my fuel tanks. I had the senders out for the
second time in 11 years a few weeks back. When I bought my coach in
2002, I replaced every inch of rubber fuel line and found over the past
year or so that the line again was rapidly deteriorating and I had 3
separate fuel leaks as this more modern hose decomposed.

When I
inspected my tanks, the combined visible rust flecks I could see were
less than the area of a penny. The rest of the visible metal was white,
in as-new condition.

I attribute a lot of this to liberal use of
fuel stabilizers and consciously keeping my tanks full or near full
when I park it for any length of time. Keeping air out of the tanks is a
key measure.

If I know the coach is going to sit for more than a
couple of weeks before its next adventure, I dose it with Sta-Bil or
Sea Foam at the fill up before parking it.

I was at Jim Bounds
place years back when he had coach there with tanks in a similar
condition to what your video showed this morning. He sent them to a rad
shop that 'boiled,' them to use Jim's term. I seem to recall that they
actually cut a square hole in the top to get better access, cleaned and
sealed the metal and welded the top back on, but that just a near-10
year old recollection.

A good cleaning may be beyond what you can
pull off in your driveway. Ideally, the goal is to remove all the
varnish and junk, beat down the rust scale and seal it to prevent the
continuation of the corrosion.

I don't know what new tanks would
cost, but as I've never seen a fuel tank anywhere that looks anything
like a GMC tank, I don't imagine they'd be cheap as they're custom made
low production numbers units. Cleaning would likely be the more
economical route, but I'm sure our panel of experts has some direct
experience with this.

Scott
'74 x-Glacier
Newmarket ON



> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 09:24:55 -0600
> From: loxley@gmail.com
> To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
> Subject: Re: [GMCnet] power steering and air conditioner belt replacement
>
> During the summer, I evaporated a few inches of gas this way... but the
> weather was much warmer, there was more sun, and the gas was fresher etc.
>
> I didn't mean for there to be a FULL washtub of the stuff. :(
>
> I'm also not thrilled about it being there in the driveway... "And your
> neighbors are putting up with this???" was commented on my Facebook posting
> of the picture.
>
> Just got off the phone with the radiator place. Guy gave me a ballpark
> figure of 250 to clean it out. Dunno if that's a ripoff price or not... If
> a few dollars worth of chemicals and a bit of time building some sort of
> tank/rig gets me to the same place, I should probably do it myself. Two
> tanks would be 500 bucks... now, that was cleaned and recoated/sealed? THAT
> might be more worthwhile... thoughts please. :)
>
> I could lay out some plastic sheeting, if the gas won't eat through it, and
> build a big evaporation pool in the back yard. I suppose I could also take
> my available gas cans and dunk them in the tub to fill them up, or use a
> small bucket to bail it out and into a funnel heading into gas cans, and
> then take it somewhere.
>
> I would like to avoid (a) being cited for some sort of EPA violation and
> (b) spending a ton of money just to get rid of some old gas. I will call
> the state dept of environmental quality and see what they have to say.
>

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Re: [GMCnet] was power steering, now fuel tank rehab [message #231204 is a reply to message #231185] Mon, 25 November 2013 11:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
SeanKidd is currently offline  SeanKidd   United States
Messages: 747
Registered: June 2012
Location: Northern Neck Virginia
Karma: 4
Senior Member
I know this will stir the hornets nest but here we go...
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361176&page=3

Reading how others have improved their tanks....I found ths one, uses a dog dish shaped baffle with a small hole at the bottom front. I was thinking, isn't this what we need? A large flat tank with no baffles is destined to occasionally suck air...

Einstein thought experiment...if this type of "dog bowl" baffle was in our tank, with the fuel sender float outside the dog bowl but the pick-up inside the dog bowl AND plumb a return line to the dog bowl. The hole in the bottom of the dog bowl will slowly drain or over flow keeping a healthy volume of fuel at the pick-up.



Sean and Stephanie
73 Ex-CanyonLands 26' #317 "Oliver"
Hubler 1-Ton, Quad-Bags, Rear Disc, Reaction Arms, P.Huber TBs, 3.70:1 LSD Honda 6500 inverter gen.
Colonial Travelers
Re: [GMCnet] was power steering, now fuel tank rehab [message #231755 is a reply to message #231204] Fri, 29 November 2013 20:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
GMC_LES is currently offline  GMC_LES   United States
Messages: 569
Registered: October 2009
Location: Montreal
Karma: 0
Senior Member
I'm surprised nobody has commented on this. I've thought something similar would be of benefit if converting to in-tank pumps. Problem is getting the bowl into the tank.

Les Burt
Montreal
1975 Eleganza 26ft
A work in Progress



On Nov 25, 2013, at 12:20 PM, Sean Kidd wrote:



I know this will stir the hornets nest but here we go...
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361176&page=3

Reading how others have improved their tanks....I found ths one, uses a dog dish shaped baffle with a small hole at the bottom front. I was thinking, isn't this what we need? A large flat tank with no baffles is destined to occasionally suck air...

Einstein thought experiment...if this type of "dog bowl" baffle was in our tank, with the fuel sender float outside the dog bowl but the pick-up inside the dog bowl AND plumb a return line to the dog bowl. The hole in the bottom of the dog bowl will slowly drain or over flow keeping a healthy volume of fuel at the pick-up.


--
Sean and Stephanie
73 Ex-CanyonLands 26' #317 "Oliver"
Hubler 1-Ton, Quadra Bags, Rear Disc, Reaction Arms,
Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World, New Jersey
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Les Burt Montreal 1975 Eleganza 26ft A work in Progress
Re: [GMCnet] was power steering, now fuel tank rehab [message #231757 is a reply to message #231755] Fri, 29 November 2013 20:36 Go to previous message
Emery Stora is currently offline  Emery Stora   United States
Messages: 959
Registered: January 2011
Karma: 4
Senior Member
Les
I just fail to see any benefit. I think he proposed it in order to keep the input from sucking air. If that should happen I just switch over to the other pump. I haven't found a problem with this and I drive up and down mountains a lot.

Soundalike a lot if work and expense for little or no return.

Emery Stora

On Nov 29, 2013, at 7:26 PM, Les Burt <gmc.les@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm surprised nobody has commented on this. I've thought something similar would be of benefit if converting to in-tank pumps. Problem is getting the bowl into the tank.
>
> Les Burt
> Montreal
> 1975 Eleganza 26ft
> A work in Progress
>
>
>
> On Nov 25, 2013, at 12:20 PM, Sean Kidd wrote:
>
>
>
> I know this will stir the hornets nest but here we go...
> http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361176&page=3
>
> Reading how others have improved their tanks....I found ths one, uses a dog dish shaped baffle with a small hole at the bottom front. I was thinking, isn't this what we need? A large flat tank with no baffles is destined to occasionally suck air...
>
> Einstein thought experiment...if this type of "dog bowl" baffle was in our tank, with the fuel sender float outside the dog bowl but the pick-up inside the dog bowl AND plumb a return line to the dog bowl. The hole in the bottom of the dog bowl will slowly drain or over flow keeping a healthy volume of fuel at the pick-up.
>
>
> --
> Sean and Stephanie
> 73 Ex-CanyonLands 26' #317 "Oliver"
> Hubler 1-Ton, Quadra Bags, Rear Disc, Reaction Arms,
> Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World, New Jersey
> _______________________________________________
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