My 318ti parts shell came with a decent fuel tank, being plastic I do not have to worry about rust, but after being in my car for almost 14 years, I am worried about the crap in the bottom of my tank.
My thought was to take the good tank I got from the shell and get all squeaky clean and then once I go under my ti to repair the floor, drop my tank and put the cleaned out one in it's place.
what would you guys use?
Boiling hot water.
I don't know about plastic tanks, but metal tanks do well enough with the chain technique: With the tank empty, dry, and aired out, put a chunk of chain inside. Add soapy water. Tape off all holes. Shake, rattle, and roll the tank around. Rinse. Repeat.
I just went through this with the tank in my TVR. Of course, it was metal, but they are not reproduced and I got a lot of great suggestions on how to get the rust, varnish and other crap out of it. But what I ended up doing was pressure washing it. When I was done, I put it in my parts cleaner to get the water out. It cost me nothing, and did a GREAT job.
I wouldn't expect to find a lot of junk in a plastic tank, but I'd think the pressure washer trick would clean it out pretty well.
so taking it to the carwash and having it at it for 4 mnutes might be the ticket?
mad_machine wrote: so taking it to the carwash and having it at it for 4 mnutes might be the ticket?
I would say that is the GRM method.
Don't let the carwash folks see you doing that. They get touchy about such things ... 
Should I just pour some boiling water in the tank, let it sit, and then let it drain out the drain in the bottom? This is for the plastic tank in the miata...
Joey
Just realized it was a metal tank...and very rusty. So I switched tanks. Not to hard on the miata.
Joey
I buy a quart of acetone or laquer thinner, dump it in, and put two handfuls of #2B limestone gravel from the driveway in it. Swish profusely and dump into an old paint can. The solvent can be used to clean paintbrushes or more parts later. The big gravel is easy to be sure its all out, and limestone doesn't fall apart easily or leave grit behind.
Once you get all the gravel and most of the solvent out, just hose it out with a garden hose and let the sun bake it dry.
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