Fuel tank problems

[rossto1965]

Hi,

I purchased my first Roadster about 2 weeks ago. I live ouside Philadelphia. The car was in Virginia outside Washington DC. I had it checked-out by Datsun Dynamics in McLean VA. Being adventerous and a little nieve I drove the car 135 miles home, including a good stint on I-95. I made it home in good order, the only problem coming from the lock nut on the clutch operating cylinder coming loose and slowly loosing my clutch. Got that fixed roadside with the help of a phone call to the seller. Thanks Jim.

Anyway I have been driving my new toy, my wife calls it the "other women", around having a blast. Last week when pulling out from a stop, I noticed a decrease in power. The car struggled along for a mile or so, then came back to full power. Then in another mile it lost power again. It also stalled out at stop signs etc. and had trouble getting up hills in 3rd that days before it had handled in 4th.

When I got it home it seemed to run fine in the garage (I suspect most do). But it seems that under load or iding at a stop it has problems.

After some consultation with several gear-head friends and Mike Kerr, a Datsun guy on the west coast, they told me to look at the fuel system.

Last weekend I replaced the fuel filter, and blew some compressed air back from the filter to the fuel tank. I started it up and went for a drive. It ran great for about 5 minutes, then the low power returned.

When I got back home, I opened the fuel tank access pannel to take a look. The inside of the tank was a rust/orange color, and the fuel pick-up looked pretty corroded too. There was also a fair amount of dirt in the bottom of the tank. There is probably no more than 3 gallons in the tank at this point.

So what's the next step? What else should I check before going for the fuel tank clean and coat?

I checked with one place called Gas Tank Renu and they are looking at around $300. There is a poorly repaired hole in the tank so eventually i would like to get that fixed anyway. Also considering putting in a fuel cell in case I want to go racing some time in the future, but that maybe to much $$ right now.

Tom Ross

Thanks!

[Russell Roach]

Tom,

Fuel Safe makes an enduro tank that is about 100 dollars more than what that shop quoted you and will have you set up for racing.

Russell

[Minh]

I had the same problem with my automatic Toyota Pickup on long trips. After miles of smooth driving the passing gears fail to engage with sputtering ignition. It fail everytime to get into 4th gear on flats and 3rd up hills. It dogged up hill. Miles later it fail to get into 3rd gear on flats and 2nd uphill.

It went away after I changed the oil and tranny fluid.

I guess the motor oil was getting thin from heat with poor compression with old rings.

The tranny I guess it was either thin, low, foaming, or all the above.

Hope this helps...

[S Allen]

Yeah, rust in the tank is a real performance issue. You should be able to find a local radiator shop that will boil it out for you, repair any holes and then seal it for less than $150.00. I can have one done here on the Left Coast for $125.00. Surely there is a rad shop back east that can tackle the job for a lot less than $300.00. If you think you want to tackle it yourself the eastwood company sells a kit but I would look for a shop to do it. I had a 240Z that would run along fine until the fuel filter got plugged and then it would die. I would let it sit for awhile and then take off until it died again. The tank is not hard to drop just be careful of the gas. Look in the Yellow Pages for a local radiator shop.

Steve

[rossto1965]

Yes, I am definitly considering replacing the tank with a fuel cell, as I have aspirations to do Historic racing in the future. The hitch there seems to be the cost of installation. Any tips on getting a fuel cell into a '70 2000. I know there are several levels of cells available. What is required to go Historic racing?

Tom Ross