clutchdust
Millionaire Playboy
I've been debating on how to start this thread, and after thinking, this is clearly the best title.
I'll make this impossibly long story as short as I can. Way back in 1992 the Datsun 240Z project car I've been working on was parked. At the time, no provisions were made for long term storage. Consequently the car sat. And sat and sat. For 14 years the car sat in a field in Pahrump, Nevada. Until I decide to take this little project on.
In case some of you have missed it, I'm that guy that has a half dozen projects going on at once. :clobbered:
So fast forward to 2006-ish, I start working on getting the car running again. Mechanically it wasn't really that big a project since we live in a pretty dry climate. So the first step was to see if the motor would turn over. Not a chance. I pulled the head and found number six cylinder stuck. A little penetrating oil and couple swift whacks with a 2x4 and mallet and it freed right up. I pulled apart the SU side draft carbs and rebuilt them, not a big project considering they only have about 11 parts in them. So I put a new battery in it, changed the oil and replaced the fuel hoses. For the time being I just ran a small fuel tank under the hood. I got the engine running and I'll be damned but it ran pretty well.
Fast forward and I dropped the fuel tank to have it chemically cleaned out. I reinstalled the tank and flushed the fuel lines with carb cleaner and compressed air, filled the tank with gas and set off to tune the engine.
That was a mistake.
The fuel tank was never cleaned well and my fresh gas just reconstituted the funk that remained. That's when the problems started. Next thing I knew I was rebuilding the carbs every other day. Constantly gummed up with crap. Then the intake valves started sticking. That resulted in a couple hammered rockers and related valvetrain crap.
Ultimately I picked up a second engine and decided it would be far easier to simply rebuild the second engine and swap them out. While I was at it, I figured it would be a good time to pop in a header and intake with a Holley 390cfm carb, for simplicity, you know.
Of course, all this would be pissing in the wind if I continued with the same tank problems. I dropped the tank AGAIN and took it to a different shop. The guy there said he had to run it through the chemical solution three times to finally get it clean (ha!).
Flash forward some more. I still have nothing but trouble out of this thing, and the whole problem revolves around the shit in the tank. I have a strainer before the fuel pump and a full size filter after the pump. Even still, I get all kinds of crud into the carb. I have to pull the thing apart every week and clean out all the little ports and shit.
Then today, I finally got it running well enough I though I would take it around the block.
Mistake.
About 3/4 of the way it left me on the side of the road. Engine runs fine. At least when it gets gas. Problem was I couldn't get gas to it. Once i finally got it home I had to punch this rust/varnish turd out of the pick up tube. I had to take a cable from a bicycle brake and use it as a punch to clear the blockage.
It is just stunning how much trouble the gas tank on this thing has turned out to be. I'm almost ready to see if anybody makes a repro tank. But I'll be damned if I'll put another used one in there.
So let this be a lesson to you. Never park a car (boat, RV, truck, jet ski, etc) long term without taking care of the gas.
You've been warned.
I'll make this impossibly long story as short as I can. Way back in 1992 the Datsun 240Z project car I've been working on was parked. At the time, no provisions were made for long term storage. Consequently the car sat. And sat and sat. For 14 years the car sat in a field in Pahrump, Nevada. Until I decide to take this little project on.
In case some of you have missed it, I'm that guy that has a half dozen projects going on at once. :clobbered:
So fast forward to 2006-ish, I start working on getting the car running again. Mechanically it wasn't really that big a project since we live in a pretty dry climate. So the first step was to see if the motor would turn over. Not a chance. I pulled the head and found number six cylinder stuck. A little penetrating oil and couple swift whacks with a 2x4 and mallet and it freed right up. I pulled apart the SU side draft carbs and rebuilt them, not a big project considering they only have about 11 parts in them. So I put a new battery in it, changed the oil and replaced the fuel hoses. For the time being I just ran a small fuel tank under the hood. I got the engine running and I'll be damned but it ran pretty well.
Fast forward and I dropped the fuel tank to have it chemically cleaned out. I reinstalled the tank and flushed the fuel lines with carb cleaner and compressed air, filled the tank with gas and set off to tune the engine.
That was a mistake.
The fuel tank was never cleaned well and my fresh gas just reconstituted the funk that remained. That's when the problems started. Next thing I knew I was rebuilding the carbs every other day. Constantly gummed up with crap. Then the intake valves started sticking. That resulted in a couple hammered rockers and related valvetrain crap.
Ultimately I picked up a second engine and decided it would be far easier to simply rebuild the second engine and swap them out. While I was at it, I figured it would be a good time to pop in a header and intake with a Holley 390cfm carb, for simplicity, you know.
Of course, all this would be pissing in the wind if I continued with the same tank problems. I dropped the tank AGAIN and took it to a different shop. The guy there said he had to run it through the chemical solution three times to finally get it clean (ha!).
Flash forward some more. I still have nothing but trouble out of this thing, and the whole problem revolves around the shit in the tank. I have a strainer before the fuel pump and a full size filter after the pump. Even still, I get all kinds of crud into the carb. I have to pull the thing apart every week and clean out all the little ports and shit.
Then today, I finally got it running well enough I though I would take it around the block.
Mistake.
About 3/4 of the way it left me on the side of the road. Engine runs fine. At least when it gets gas. Problem was I couldn't get gas to it. Once i finally got it home I had to punch this rust/varnish turd out of the pick up tube. I had to take a cable from a bicycle brake and use it as a punch to clear the blockage.
It is just stunning how much trouble the gas tank on this thing has turned out to be. I'm almost ready to see if anybody makes a repro tank. But I'll be damned if I'll put another used one in there.
So let this be a lesson to you. Never park a car (boat, RV, truck, jet ski, etc) long term without taking care of the gas.
You've been warned.
