howdy, folks. i bought a 75 california valiant with 63K actual miles on it. however, the gas tank and trunk pan are a disaster. the rest of it is pretty cherry.

when i get to it, i'm going to weld in some new metal for the trunk pan. it's pretty straightforward.
in the meantime, i'm trying to clean out the fuel tank, which is unbelievably gunked-up. i'm starting off with caustic soda (lye), which i first tried to use to de-rust the tank with electrolysis.
although i saw an improvement, i've decided that the tank needs a good cleaning. i'm amazed at the lack on information available out there (like, add 1/2 cup of lye to three gallons of water, or whatever). one thing i know for sure; i'm really irritated that the meth-heads have made it difficult for people with legitimate uses to buy basic ingredients!

I would be tempted to purchase a new tank too save future hassle. If you ever get all the muck and rust removed from your tank, chances are good the metal has become thin in spots that will soon promote oozing leaks if not sealed. Some seal coatings don’t play well with moonshine laced fuel we have been forced to use, and will cause more problems down line at the carburetor.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

I have a good tank in phoenix, I will sell it cheap if yours is too bad to repair.

thanks! i might need it, but right now it's starting to look better. the wheel well is pretty rotten (rear window leaked, water channeled in, rubber floor kept water in causing rust), so right now i need to get that re-welded. the braces for the tank straps are part of this area, and i don't want to lose a full tank of fuel going down the road!

once i get this fixed (gonna try this weekend, if i can find the materials), my next step is to see how this tank performs. if it leaks, seeps, etc., i'll be junking it, since the stuff to fix the tank costs about $25 and there's no way to know for sure if that would work. i gotta say, the outside of the tank looks really good. i've gotten a TON of brownish-red junk out of there, but i have to admit working with lye makes me nervous. the pressure washer really helped.