Should I Clean the Fuel Tank?

[austinnelson117]

Hello all, I just picked up a 1971 240Z that has been sitting for several years and am in the slow and patient process of getting her in good enough shape to turn the key and see what I get. I have been following directions and suggestions from other discussions and posts I have found. The other day I took off the drain plug to drain the gas tank but nothing came out. So, I poured about a half gallon in to let some fuel drain through the plug to see if any gunk or anything came out with it. The gas came out clean but I did bend and stick a paperclip around as it was coming out to scrape at the tank and when I did this the fuel turned a very slightly brown color and a few small reddish brown grains of dirt or something similar came out. My question is, should I drop the tank and clean it or would I be fine? Some threads I read said that you just change the fuel filter frequently at this point, but I'm not sure if that is in addition to cleaning the tank or instead of. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Austin

[CW240Z]

What are your intentions for the car? Is it a show car or a daily driver? In your position, I would go ahead and drop the tank. Whatever is in there can and will easily get trapped in the fuel lines, which could ruin the fuel pump and mess up the carbs. Keep the contamination in one place. I have already done this to my car, on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is the hardest I would rate it about a 4. You can find kits for re-coating a tank at swap meets around here in Tx. The kit has everything you need, it can be done in a weekend especially now when it's still hot outside. You would be replacing fuel filters every time you started it if you didn't clean the tank because of rust particles. (personal experience) Good luck with the Z!

Chase

[CW240Z]

October 21st is the next DFW swap meet. The company who I got my kit from should be there that weekend selling it.(can't remember the name right now) If you do plan on getting it from them, get the smaller package of tank coating. The one rated for 12-15 gallons is enough to coat a swimming pool.

Chase

[austinnelson117]

Thank you sir! Another question I have that I forgot to mention before was, when then car is in gear it still has like two inches of freeplay. It almost feels like it is in neutral. Every other manual tranny car that I have driven (I can count them on one hand and they were all late 90's +) didn't have near as much free play. I dont know if this is just because it is so old or if there is actually something wrong. I'm only 19 so I really have no experience with cars any older than me.

[CW240Z]

That free play is a normal thing. I know it feels like the trans it about tho drop out of the car, but don't worry it's all good. I drive a 91 BMW everyday, and it makes the free play in the 240z feel even worse.

Chase

[austinnelson117]

And how do I go about cleaning it before I re-coat it? Dropping the tank is not a big issue for me, I've done numerous repairs with my Fords (had to drop the transmission on my explorer 3 times) but I don't see how to get into the tank once it's off. I've also heard people take their tanks to radiator shops to be "boiled out". Do you have any experience with doing this and would that be easier?

[ta240]

doesn't the free play in the shifter just mean it needs new bushings where the shifter connects to the transmission?

2 of these: http://www.courtesyparts.com/shifter-bushing-240z-260z-280z-280zx-m/t-p-568963.html?cPath=7724_7755&

Trevor

Edited September 28, 2011 by ta240

[CW240Z]

The kit has a heavy duty cleaner in it that you pour in, tape up the holes, and shake the mess out of to get full coverage. But, the old-fashion way is to dump a bunch of rocks in there with some rust cleaner products that you can get at O'Rilleys, and shake that up for awhile. It's a workout, but it gets the job done. Ill find the name of the rust killer stuff I used from O'Rilleys. (Rusto something).

Chase

[CW240Z]

doesn't the free play in the shifter just mean it needs new bushings where the shifter connects to the transmission?

Trevor

That could solve most of the problem, but there will always be a bit of free play in the shifter.

Chase

[austinnelson117]

Ok, I did look down onto the shifter and noticed what looked like could be a problem. I believe you when you say there is alot of free play but I'm wondering if I'm experiencing more than normal. There is a little gold rectangle that controls the left and right movements of the shifter and above that is what looks like an upside down "U" that fits over it. When I'm in gear and move the shifter left and right there is a decent amount of gap between the gold rectangle and the U shape. So when I move It left and right it doesnt move the rectangle as it looks like it should. There is a little cylinder that goes through the middle of all of this and it is fairly loose as well. When i push it all the way to the right to put it in reverse it actually has to bend the plastic center console to the side to go all the way over. If all this is normal I apologize I just want to make sure I dont need to do any work down there

[austinnelson117]

Ah ta240 you may have solved my problem. There are no such bushings in it as it is. The previous owner must have forgotten to put them back in. Do they go around the metal rod that pushes through the shifter and clamps on the other side?

[Alex K]

Hi Austin! .

To those reading here's a picture of what we're talking about... Sorry it's not a good picture - it's hard to find one.

The part circled in red looks 'warped'. It looks like someone had it in first, or fourth and then pushed it as hard as they could, or somehow used some sort of force to bend the actual part that connects to the transmission. There is a considerable amount of play in the stick. We noticed if we added some thin washers, it decreased the play significantly. Those bushings ta added looked like it would fix the problem...

We also thought about removing the lever itself, but it seems impossible to take it off. There's some sort of screw just above the red circle that is either fixed, or really stuck. We thought about heating the metal up and forming it back to it's original shape - but then we saw the bushings which I hope will fix it...

Edited September 29, 2011 by Alex K