Model A

[tonto1]

My brother-in-law has a stock Model A with a 15-20 year old amateur restoration. It's been setting in his garage for the last 7 years and now he wants to get it going again.
One of the reasons he quit driving it was, it has rust in the gas tank, and  of course, every time he drove it, the filter stops up.
Any suggestions?  
He also has a transmission problem, but I think I'll get this part going first.

[GPster]

Unfortunately the Model "A"s had no fuel pumps and relied on gravity to feed the gas. The up-flow carb is not what I'd feel very safe putting an electric fuel pump against and even though the old timers were quick to say that because the carb was a side-flow type the gas would just run past the choke  out the aircleaner and onto the ground that doesn't strike me as the safest situation. With the gas tank actually being a part of the body you actually would have to disassemble part of the car to clean it out very well and unless there's some new type of sealer I can't imagine how you would get the sealer all over the inside of the tank with it still on the body. Now for some ideas. Get a boat gas tank and figure out where to set it so you've got gravity flow from it to the carb and run the car on it. Get an electric fuel pump and go from the bottom of the tank to a strainer to the fuel pump and back into the tank. Let it run that way and maybe the circulation will discharge the rust and catch it in the strainer. If it gets clean you can then try the car the way it's supposed to be. Now the rust will settle to the bottom of a strainer. If you made a strainer/reservoir assembley (like the glass bowls on old carbs only lots deeper) and mounted it on the firewall. You could run the gas out of the tank into the top let it fill and the heavies settle in the bottom and have an outlet off the top to gravity feed the carb. The bigger the size of the reservoir the more time the heavies would have to drop out. So much typing, nap time coming. GPster

[tonto1]

I like your last idea. I thought the tank was part of the body and would be a pain to remove.
Thanks

[Dirk35]

Rust in the tank....yes, itll be a pain to remove, but honeslty.........you really want to do it right so you dont have to do it again in a couple of years!  DOnt be lazy for a easy short term fix. The rust will just come right back along with more posibility of rust through pin holes if you do not stop it from coming back.

Also, if you like me, and say...."well, Ill just do it easy so I can drive it and will fix it properly later"...... We all know how easy it is to NOT ever get around to doing it "Right" later.

Id do this just like we do EVERY single antique tractor tank that my dad restores.

Id Pull the tank, take it to car wash and clean it out VERY thourghly, soap-rinse-drain-repeat. Take a bottle of Dawn Dish Soap when you go, put more water and some bolts and nuts (various sizes and pleanty of them, or rocks and the dawn in, add water and shake to losen all rust scale. Then repeat the soap-rinse-drain with presure washer.

Let Tank dry well for many days in the sun on a hot dry day.... it wont dry well when its raining outside.

Then go to your local Farm Impilment sotre and get this thick white coating and put inside to stop it from rusting back. Its the consistancy of Honey and bright white. Do full coating inside and follow the directions.

[ram-rod]

take the tank off and fill it with nut and bolts and shake thats great
heres another way you fill the tank full of diesel fuel and build a syphon out of two feet of 1/2 inch copper and six feet of clear poly tubbing jack the car up on the diagonal making the outlet the low side and bend the copper tube towards the pick suck start the syphon and vac the crude out into a white plastic bucket then install a suitable cartridge filter in the fuel line    good luck and dont swallow the diesel