I Am Depressed...Return to Fuel Tank Plugged

[CountD]

Thought I would just vent my problem on a used tank I bought and reconditioned, and spent many, many hours on the outside and inside. Bough it from a Pelican a year ago and decided to put it into the car as it had the same line set-up as the original tank (same tank). Well, to make a long story short, I spent hours on the outside removing all the undercoat, sanding, painting, etc only to find the return line in the tank that gets piped into the swirl pot is plugged - permanently probably - by the red tank liner the last owner put into it. I had no idea the return line went into the swirl pot so there must have been lots of junk in there and it dried hard when the last person did it - spent hours on trying to get it clear - no luck. Ah well...good to check the function of something BEFORE doing all the cosmetics...

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by CountD

Thought I would just vent my problem on a used tank I bought and reconditioned, and spent many, many hours on the outside and inside. Bough it from a Pelican a year ago and decided to put it into the car as it had the same line set-up as the original tank (same tank). Well, to make a long story short, I spent hours on the outside removing all the undercoat, sanding, painting, etc only to find the return line in the tank that gets piped into the swirl pot is plugged - permanently probably - by the red tank liner the last owner put into it. I had no idea the return line went into the swirl pot so there must have been lots of junk in there and it dried hard when the last person did it - spent hours on trying to get it clear - no luck. Ah well...good to check the function of something BEFORE doing all the cosmetics...

Don't fret. Plugged fuel tank return line can be solved. I did that two years ago on mine. And I did it with the tank installed from under a car hoist. I got myself a small house sink rotor rooter type cleaning device from the local hardware store, "Orchard Supplies" That tool is about 18" long and small enough to fit nicely into the return line tank inlet. It is a kind of stiff steel spiral, like on a larger drain snake. It has a handle on one end. Though it took a while but after repeated going into the return pipe and twisting the snake tool, cleaning out very small pieces of hard brown gasoline gunk the passage finally opened up. It took about an hour's work. But after that we could blow compressed air clearly into the empty tank. Since then my 79 SC ran fine with no fuel problems. So, I would try it. Let us know whether you have been successful.

[CountD]

Thanks for the positive response - I will try to find something tomorrow as I know the drain snake I have is too large. Will find something though to roto-rooter this thing out. Hopefully the hardware store will have something that small - it's really small.

[porsche930dude]

i would try something like those flexable grabber tools or an old heavy steel lawnmower throttle cable and atatch a short drill bit to it . there has to be some way to get in there and drill it out

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by CountD

Thanks for the positive response - I will try to find something tomorrow as I know the drain snake I have is too large. Will find something though to roto-rooter this thing out. Hopefully the hardware store will have something that small - it's really small.

I know, the spiral snake has to be quite small in diameter. The hand tool that I found was just the right size, maybe 3/16" diameter. Anfd I did not use a power tool, just repeated twisting and pulling in and out. I also spread the spiral wire at the tip to grab the gunk better. Ant the tool that I found was a simple sink snake to clear a sink trap.

[wayner]

I had a similar experience. My original 73 door had a minor repair to it but during the project to bring the car down to bare metal I chose to get a replacement door.

I bought it used and the door was solid and rust free as described. After installing it and spending hours levelling it and getting the gaps just right (including hours and hours of block sanding it to the body, the car was sent for paint, and came back perfect.

During assembly of the door glass etc I noticed that the hinge mount was torn beyond easy repair. I wish the seller had told me so that I could have cut it open and made the repair BEFORE paint.

I am more experienced now and know what to look for.

[manbridge 74]

Did a lot of plumbing as a youngster and I'd recommend a kinetic ram technique as something to try first. What's kinetic ramming? It involves filling the return side with fluid -water is fine- and blasting a shot of highly compressed air (140 psi or higher) to blast the slug of fluid through obstruction. It helps to seal the line at return so no air can escape. And leave no air gap between tip of air outlet and fluid.

This might not help OP with hardened Red-Kote but others with this problem could benefit.....

[CountD]

I am going to try all of the above and thanks for all the tips. When your mind gets wrapped up on one thing it's hard to see the whole picture. I am sorry I did not start on this months ago as I need the tank done this week - figures.

3/16 seems about right for the hole - I am going to try that, then the fluid, and then the throttle cable idea sounds great too. I blew some air in there yesterday at 100 psi and it did nothing. Hopefully something will come of this, as the tank is pretty decent now.

[manbridge 74]

Originally Posted by CountD

I am going to try all of the above and thanks for all the tips. When your mind gets wrapped up on one thing it's hard to see the whole picture. I am sorry I did not start on this months ago as I need the tank done this week - figures.

3/16 seems about right for the hole - I am going to try that, then the fluid, and then the throttle cable idea sounds great too. I blew some air in there yesterday at 100 psi and it did nothing. Hopefully something will come of this, as the tank is pretty decent now.

The problem with just blowing air is that it compresses. Fluid does not, making it a highly effective tool for clearing obstructions.

[BK911]

Same exact issue but mine was done by the dumb ass current owner. I cut a pair of 10 gauge wires a lttle longer than where the obstruction was, twisted them together, installed into a variable speed drill, and then inserted in return port at low speed. Took seconds to ream it out. Good luck!!

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by BK911

Same exact issue but mine was done by the dumb ass current owner. I cut a pair of 10 gauge wires a lttle longer than where the obstruction was, twisted them together, installed into a variable speed drill, and then inserted in return port at low speed. Took seconds to ream it out. Good luck!!

Actually the crud that I was able to remove from my tank return line was almost rock solid. Therefore that twisted wire method would probabley have worked on my car only if those wires were extremely stiff. In my case the"sink snake" had just the right stiffness, yet was flexible enough to follow the vcurves of the return line pipe. Maybe using part of the "sink snake" in a power drill would have worked faster.