So, I then installed the tank, and a clear plastic fuel filter between the tank and the steel line. (again, this is temporary) My line of thought here is that the fuel can eat away at the current failing liner. I estimate about 10% of the tank has liner remaining, that I was not able to remove. Once that is gone, I'll pull the tank again.

I put a couple of gallons of fuel in the tank, and started her up. GAS IN THE FILTER! My lines are not blocked.

I am happy to report that, for the first time in my ownership of the car, I was able to take her for a drive!

Now, it was only around the block, and only in 1st gear, but it was a drive, nonetheless! And the best part - my two daughters (3 and 5 yrs old) were along for the ride!

Once we got back they helped me give the car a quick wash, again for the first time since I've owned the car.

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Guscha, upon clicking your link I think I've found the disconnect - I used the "regular" POR-15, vice the "tank sealer". As I mentioned above, the tank is not perfectly clean inside. As such, I did not use a sealer, and plan on removing the tank again in the future to clean, seal and paint it.

This time around I simply hit it with a rattle can of satin black to hold external rust at bay, as the MEK and handling scrapes had take a bit of toll on the paint.

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Guscha, thank you for the reply! Where did you get the four day drying time? The literature I have for POR - 15 says 2 to 5 hours, depending on humidity.

Howard, thank you for the reply! It looks like an update to the xref is in order.

I got impatient last night and went ahead and painted the float with POR-15 (2 coats). We will see how it holds up. Note how well the Krud Kutter cleaned up the unit, this is just a quick soak and a lil bit of wire brushing. I also cut out a new cork gasket and installed the sender in the tank.

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Any ideas, gents? I'm considering painting the original float with POR-15, thoughts on that?

By interesting contrast, I looked up the Coker Classics (H78 - 15) on my car, and saw they are warranted for the life of the tread.

Good for me, as I know they are at least ten years old and don't appear to?have been driven on, as they still have the flashing and nubs!

I haven't posted in a while as progress has been slow. Several hours of every recent weekend has been spent cleaning out the gas tank. I'll not bore you with the details but I used MEK, gravel, chain, Krud Kutter, a pressure washer, and lots of sloshing and shaking and rinsing to get it to a level of cleanliness I'm comfortable with. It's not perfect, but good enough for now, and I want to get this car on the road!

I found that my gauge float had gas in it, and determined it has several pin holes. I used the part x-ref page here and went to the Ford dealership and picked up p/n COAZ-9202-B. Comparing it to the original, it is much smaller. Am I missing something here? Am I supposed to bend the float arm to fit? Not real comfortable with that...

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I've made reservations online for U-haul, and the drop-down menu didn't have a 1949 Packard available. So I think I simply selected Studebaker, and the U-haul clerk didn't care or know the difference anyway.

That was towing it from KY to FL, and it towed just fine at normal highway speeds.

On the move from FL to VA, I found that renting a trailer from Budget would save me a couple of bucks. I figured the trailers were the same anyway. Boy was I wrong. Accelerating smoothly on the on-ramp the car started to sway, and eventually the trailer was across and in to three lanes. The car was rocking on the trailer so bad that the door sides were bouncing off the trailer fenders. It would not surprise me if the trailer's tires came off the ground. This was in an Expedition, loaded with the wife and three kids. One of the scariest events of my life. I managed to regain control, but had to drive all the way to VA doing not a tick over 55.

So the moral of the story is, not all of the rental trailers are the same. Budget's design is shorter than the particular U-haul trailer I had previously used. There was no way to adjust the car on the trailer, fore to aft, and the tongue weight was wrong. Please try to make a dry run at highway speeds before you head out on a trip.

I read the 30 pages, only to find a very disappointing ending! What happened?

Today I was able to drop the fuel tank - no problems getting it out. Externally, it's in beautiful condition. Inside, not so much...

I still haven't decided what method I'll use for cleaning...

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