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So, I have 1950 with a rusty gas tank, it also needs a new sending unit, which I have.So I am looking for for opinions. Do I spend the 900.00 dollars for a new tank, If so what do I do about the filler tube. Or do I just try to clean up the tank I have. I don't want my heirs to have a problem with my decisions.What are your opinions. I trust you all

David Offenstein

My 2 cents…

If you have access to a new tank, go for it considering your description of condition.

My recent experience (no new tanks being made for my critter) is that you are 60% of the cost fixing all the holes and coating it.

How rusty is your tank? Are we talking about some surface rust, or are there holes? Rust inside, or rust outside? Pictures?? If we're talking about some exterior surface rust, clean it up, paint it and ignore my story below. But I'm assuming you're concern is rust inside if you're replacing the sending unit.

I have a '53 Cavalier and this is my gas tank story.

Before I got my car it had sat for a considerable time, long enough for the fuel to just be a hard layer of varnish on the bottom of the tank.












I dumped a jug of acetone in my tank with some nuts and chain and left it like that for a week. Every morning and evening I would slosh it all about. This is what came out and then how the tank looked. Luckily there really wasn't much rust.








I washed the tank out, treated it with CLR and then with vinegar and this is how the inside looked.





Cleaned up the original sending unit as well, which has been working great.





I cleaned up and painted the outside (black), which I was happy with at the time, but now wish I would have painted it so it looked more original. I wasn't a sticker for those details when I first got my car, I was just trying to get it running and driving.








This was over 2 years ago and haven't had any issues. I did put a fuel filter between the tank and the fuel pump so I could see if it was picking up anything, and just a few flecks, which are probably stuff that just didn't get rinsed out. I wouldn't recommend putting a filter between the tank and fuel pump on a permanent basis unless there is an electric fuel pump, which I wouldn't recommend either.

You can line your tank and while I haven't used POR-15's tank liner I have used their paint and it's good quality. Jay Leno talks with the guy from POR-15 about their products in this video. You can skip ahead to 2:00 for the part about their tank liner.

I enjoy restoring anything I can on my car so I can keep the factory original, to my car, parts as much as possible. So I would clean the tank, and then if necessary line it. But that's just how I roll, I've spent outrageous amounts of time fixing things that could have been replaced.

Like 53 said, the real question is how much it "needs" a new tank. If you're just picking up junk in the fuel, buy a 10-pack of inline clear plastic filters (install one after the fuel pump) and just swap them out when they get dirty. Not exactly a luxury experience, but it takes like 1 minute with just a screwdriver and you'll save approx. $890.

As I recall this guy used about 5 to go a few hundred miles, but there was a fast exponential decay on how fast they got dirty.

I've got a 23rd series as well that came to me without a tank. I ended up finding a company that reproduces a tank that has SIMILAR dimensions. IIRC, it was Rock Valley Auto. Looking at their website, their price was gone up to $1,300 for a custom tank (they had already done a 23rd series tank, so I didn't have to send any dimensions). That said, it really isn't GREAT. It's stainless steel - I like that. It fits OK but far from perfect, the sender is a problem. I would say if you contact them directly and ask for it to be setup for an OEM sender (rather than aftermarket - that's what they'll default to), they might do it (they might also forget). Problem with them was all communication, though. They took my card number and disappeared for a year. One day, I got home, and there was a gas tank sitting at my front door (and a charge on my card I wasn't expecting at that exact moment). There was no prior communication that it was going into production, or verifying what it needed. They sent it without the straps or filler neck (both of which are supposed to be included), which took a bit of going back and forth, but they did finally come.

If I could do it all over again, I would probably do this one from MoparPro. This is based on the correct tank mold and should bolt right up. I would, of course, contact him directly about the sender question (the picture makes it look like it would take an OEM sender), and I'm sure getting a filler neck wouldn't be bad. Rock Valley sent me a long generic neck that I cut to size and clamped with a section of wide diameter rubber hose. MoparPro might also have a solution for this.

If you were lucky enough to get a tank with your car, I'm with them - see if it can be reconditioned and brought back into service. Cheaper, easier, and guaranteed fitment. But it's step one in the four strokes of an engine... whatever your solution is, make sure it's a good one, and certainly worthy of investment.

My personal feeling is to get a new tank if you can afford it. If your current tank is pretty bad then it will just continue to cause you issues. The top of the inside of the tank typically gets coated with rust and varnish, and this continues to drop into the fuel and plug filters and fuel pump. BigKev went through this over and over on his '54 restoration. It left him stranded several times. He finally got the tank refurbished through Renu and that solved his problems.

Renu is a good option. It used to be about $400 to redo a tank, but not sure if that's still accurate. Probably $500+ now.

So if you can do a new tank (or have Renu rebuild yours) then that's something you just don't have to worry about again.