Tanked.

22 Sep

It’s the best time of year. A beautiful morning in late September. Just a little bit too cool to wear a hoodie and shorts. A perfect day to turn wrenches out in the driveway. So, with coffee in hand, the early morning sun poking through the leaves of the tall trees and Mr. Brown happily depositing steaming piles of meals past on the dew covered grass, I roll the the combination back on the pad lock and retrieve my tools from the cold concrete cave that is my crappy little garage. I’m preparing supplies and listening to the birds as I eagerly await the arrival of my good friend and second pair of hands. Suddenly, my phone ignites in a frenzy of buzzing and beeping! It’s Greg, “Forgot I have to do something, I’ll be there at 10a.” He texts. “K. Cool.” I reply. Drats. Guess I’ll get started. I pull the seat and frame then dig out what I need to sever the fuel line and slide under ol’ Bessie. After assessing her undercarriage for a bit I clamp off the soft line before the fuel filter using an old rusty pair of vice-grips. Expecting a furious flow of fuel from the nearly full 17gal tank above, I prepare a 6gal gas can with a funnel and slowly remove the filter. Wincing as I loosen the the vice-grips. Nothing. I let it drain for an hour and I might have had an inch in the bottom of the can.

[flickr video=8015779513 secret=f2aa180302 w=400 h=225]

Greg made it over a bit sooner than expected and after poking around with a coat hanger I decided to siphon it from the top. Not smart. Filled the 6gal can quick but the vapor from the lead additive almost made me vomit. While I was gagging I remembered that the new tank came with a 1/4″ plug in its outlet. So we plugged the flow on the old tank, unhooked the filler neck, removed the straps and lifted it from its saddles. Once the tank was out I noticed a large drain plug at one of the corners and we had it emptied in a matter of minutes.

Those old steel Toyota wheels I’ve been kicking around since 2004 finally came in handy. Two made a perfect stand for a tank weighing about 80lbs and one made a great fulcrum for emptying.

Shortly after draining the tank, stovebolt.com member Olblue3600 stopped by to say hi. Unfortunately he was fighting fuel troubles of his own so he couldn’t bring his 3/4 ton.

Now back to the cab…

After a quick vacuum and wipe down with the new tank installed.

Artsy shot through the filler hole.

Filler neck attached.

Underside with tank and new line installed.

New lines and pump in place.

Temporary seat.

With the temporary seat in place, everything connected and 5gals of fresh fuel poured in, it was time to fire her up. After a chug or two she started right up and started leaking just as fast. Apparently the top and bottom halves of the fuel portion of the pump weren’t quite tight enough. Once tightened, I dialed in the carburetor and took her out for a spin by way of a gas station.