Gas Tank

I got a 1967 c101 and I'm trying to bring it back to life after 20+ years of sitting. Long story short it sat with no gas cap on it for some reason and the gas tank isn't doing very good. It was really rusted and had almost like piles of junk and garbage sitting stuck to the bottom of the tank. I attempted to clean it with water, nuts and bolts than shook it around. I finally got where most of the piles of gunk where gone but than I noticed some light shining through. There where 4 small holes under where one of the big piles of gunk was. I was looking at getting a new tank but it's almost $250. I was wondering if I could maybe patch it or something? Also if I did patch it I would still need to find a better way to clean it more because there is still alot of rust and junk still in there. I saw there were some different model year tanks that were only like $75. Could I somehow use one of those and fabricate a way to make that fit? Anything helps.

 

I hate rusty fuel systems. It never ends until everything is new from cap to throttle.

 

I don't remember what I paid for my tank but it was worth it. I bought a plastic first from KW. The neck didn't line up with the hole through the side, I exchanged it for the steel one and all is good for 13 years now. I don't like fuel problems, especially when I am sitting on the gas tank. Good Luck.

 

I believe that no matter what supplier has one it will be a unit manufactured by MTS and will be in that price range.
If you bought a replacement tank for another application there would be fabricating work in moving the filler port, sending unit and attachment points but with careful selection you may find a manufactured unit that could be a good starting point.

The shape of the tank and the area it mounts on your 67 is such that a whole new tank could be fabricated out of sheet metal if you have a welder and a few hand tools. The fill port and sending unit flange could be removed from your existing tank and transfered to the fabricated tank.

If the rust is only on the bottom then perhaps the bottom portion could be removed and replaced with fresh sheet metal ?

 

It looks like you have a Convertible Jeepster, not a Commando. I'm not an expert on these models, but there might be differences in the fuel tanks, so that may explain the different prices. There were not many Convertibles made compared to the Commando models.
-Donny

 

I have salvaged very poor gas tanks by soldering multiple (dozens) of pinholes and then also using a pour-in lining product. It is somewhat tedious and requires meticulous cleaning to solder effectively.

Another expedient that has worked for me is sandblasting and then fiberglassing over the leaky areas. It worked well enough, but I don't know if it would pass safety inspection.

 

I used the Hirsch tank liner on my CJ-6 tank. It was rusty inside, but no holes I could find. Once the tank was out, it was an all-weekend process of cleaning, drying and coating. Lots of links here and on other sites about fixing gas tanks. I recall I've described what I did in more detail there.
`70 CJ5 gas tanks?

The body man back at the Jeep dealer would use bondo to fix leaky gas tanks. Not recommended, since today's fuels may soften the polyester resin matrix of the bondo. But you could use bondo or duraglass (better) or fiberglass to cover the holes, then coat the inside of the tank with one of the popular tank slosh products. The Hirsch stuff seems to be popular with the restoration guys.

 

Also, the Kirsch instructions include a rust neutralization step for the rust. Gas Tank Etch | Fuel Tank Rust Remover | Hirsch Auto-hirschauto.com I presume this is a phosphoric-acid-type formula that converts the rust as well as preparing the surface for coating. Whatever it is, its resulting pH is ok for the following coating step.

 

I got the tank for my 67 Jeepster Commando from Just Jeepsters.

Fuel Tanks, Carb, Air, and Accessories |

Scroll to bottom of the first page, they have both the side fill and rear fill tanks in plastic for $205. Plus they have most any other fuel related parts you may need.