Classic/Antique Car Repair: Clogged fuel line, nuts and bolts, radiator shops

Question
Fuel line on my 1966 MGB is semi clogged, I think the problem is the tank itself.  Any suggestion for clearing this line or removing the line from the tank?

Answer
Hi David,
You should remove the line from the pump and remove the gas cap and blow back into the tank with air form a compressor. This will usually clear the line but only temporarily as it sounds like you either have trash or rust in the tank.
The 66 "B" had a drain plug in the bottom of the tank so you can drain the tank into a clean drain pan. If you see rust come out or trash you should remove the tank and either try cleaning it yourself or check with some radiator shops in your area to see if they clean tanks.

To do it yourself, you should tie the tank up from some place overhead with rope so that the tank is upright like it is mounted in the car and the drain plug installed. Remove the gauge sending unit from the right side of the tank. You can cut out a tin can lid to fit in place of the sending unit and a couple of pieses of cardboard to allow you to use the lock ring to hold pressure on the tin lid. Put about a half gallon to a gallon of water in the tank and a hand full or two of nuts and bolts. Then shake the tank back and forth for a good length of time in different directions as there are baffles in the tank and you want to get the nuts and bolts into each section. and drain the water into a clean pan and examine the water. The water will be very rusty at first. Then repeat the process until the drained water is clean. When you get clean water turn the tank over and shake the nuts and bolts out. Because of the baffles inside it may take a lot of shaking to get all of the nuts and bolts out.

There may still be some surface rust on the upper walls and top or the tank but usually not enough to cause plugging of the fuel lines and collecting in the float chambers. To get the last of the water out you can place the open neck of the tank over the exhaust pipe of another car and let it run until you feel that the tank is very warm all over. Then blow it out with compressed air. It is a good idea to install an inline fuel filter back close to the fuel pump.

This is a lot of work so you may want to check with several radiator shops to see what they charge to clean a tank. Some may want to see the tank first and may want to cut out the bottom and weld in a new pan as there may be thin spots on the bottom of the tank that will soon start leaking.
I hope this helps,
Howard