MG Car Repair: MGB fuel tank, fuel tank, fuel line

Question
On a 76 MGB what is the best and safest way to empty the fuel tank. I want to replace the fuel as the car has been idle for nearly 6 months

Answer
Hi Michael,
The earlier "Bs" had a drain plug but I don't remember what year they stopped putting it in but I am sure the 76 didn't have one. The safest way is to siphon the fuel out as much as you can get out. A final siphon with the left side jacked up and the sending unit out will get most out. If there is not too much in the tank you might just undo the fuel line from the pump and lower it into a can and let it siphon most of the fuel out. I never recommended that someone use the fuel pump to pump all of the fuel out because I always believed that they only had so many heart beats and you didn't want to use them all up draining a tank.

We at the dealerships blamed all of these unimprovements on BLM who we were sure didn't have a clue and destroyed the MG. We knew they had a difficult job of trying to meet the US federal standards. (some of which were foolish)

Howard