Fill with water, grind or wheel off the rust. Be careful when removing it not to cause any spark, insulate your tools from the metal with a cloth if necessary, and place the removed tank on cloth, not metal or concrete as you may still cause a spark there too. Once the rust is gone drain the water and let it evaporate for a while to keep water out of the tank when replaced.

 

The draining and refilling with water is an excellent idea. For the grinding part.....go to an auto parts store and look for a 3M brand paint and rust stripper wheel. It's non-metalic and doesnt give off sparks, fits in a 1/4 inch drill or die grinder and works like a champ at removing rust and paint.

 

I started to redo my tank awhile back, but quickly found pin holes when I started to grind. A new repro tank was about $100. I thought it was well worth it, replacing a 40 year old tank.

 

wtf the only thing you can buy on the street is unleaded,, or a spin off ,,,,so buy an additive or replace the seats in the head,,,,,,the best is racing gas at a high price and what has that got to do with dropping a gas tank

 

Thanks for the excellent suggestions.

 

number one,,,why is there cat verts on a 66 car of any kind, and as above where'd you find leaded gas? and as above,,, and I learned the hard way replace the tank and save a ton of issues and money down the road,,, as to removal ,,,my 66 coupe only has approx 10 bolts holding in in place ( not counting gas line) so why fill the tank with water? and add rust to the mix or something else

 

Save yourself the trouble and just replace the tank. My '66 sat up for 9 years, with half a tank of gas in it, and it was not pretty. It all turned to varnish and it literally ate the sending unit away to nothing but a little piece of the rod left. Plus, that smell is REALLY hard to get rid of.

I bought the entire replacement kit from Mustangs Unlimited and had it all changed out in about 20 minutes.