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Took off the gas cap and the inlet has some crusty stuff on the inside of gas filler tube. I smelled the inlet , smells like varnish. Got under the tank and hit with my hand, does not sound empty or liquid . A friend and I are going to let the tank down real slow. Im not messing with the drain plug at all. I cannot hear any gas moving around in the tank. I've got a bad feeling about whats in the tank.

Smart move on not touching the drain plug. Take the tank to get it chemically dipped and cleaned. Then you can evualate if it needs the tank sealing process which I would only do as a last resort.

I had the tank on my 51 boiled out due to some small pin holes that were soldered up by the radiator rebuilder. I cleaned the tank and added the red sealer stuff. That was five years ago and it's still doing fine.

I would agree with not trying to remove the drain I did try to take mine out and not only did it not come out it started to leak. I had it worked on at a radiator shop too and ended up paying about $220.00 for the tank to be cleaned up and cleaned out and seal the drain plug again.

Have the tank Renu'd. Guaranteed for life inside and out afterward and the coating is baked on.

Search Gas Tank Renu on google for more info.

I got lucky I guess. The gas tank has some gas not too bad looking, but had a half bucket of dirt in the tank.no varnish, I flushed it pretty good. Im taking it to a radiator shop to have steamed. $60 bucks is what they charge, then I will use the can of sealer to seal it. What is the best way to flush the gas line from tank to fuel pump?

Gas tank is clean but the gas line going inside the tank is clogged. I pushed a wire into gas line about 7 inches where line goes up, but won't go all the way in to where it curves to suck gas into the gas line outside the tank. I have used a coat hanger and a .035 wire with no luck. Any suggestions. I put some carb cleaner in the line hoping it would dissolve something, what else can I use in the line.I can see the end of the gas line thru the sending unit hole.

Here is a picture from Keegan's blog showing the line inside the tank.

In that flat section across the bottom after the loop a low or evaporated tank of gas could let varnish, rust or whatever build solid & sounds like what has happened. The carb cleaner is a good start and will help soften things. I have also heard of some putting a piece of flexible cable like a short piece of speedo cable in a drill and "drilling" or turning into the blockage. Haven't tried that myself but sounds like it might help. I would use one of the non flammable carb cleaners though if I tried that.

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ok I will try to use a speedo cable in a drill.

As I said, haven't tried it but one issue might be how to hold the cable in some kind of object so it wouldn't kink outside the tank when the drill twists it and the end was held by the blockage.