While I was waiting for paint to dry, I bounced back and forth between cleaning up the inside, pulling the gas tank, and cleaning 25-year-old dried mud off the underside.
The gas tank looks to be shot. I drained a couple gallons of "fuel" out of it. Well foul, nasty smelling, dark amber colored liquid that burned the skin when it got past my gloves. After all the liquid was out, I tipped the tank over and heard the thud of a tank full of rusty sediment. There are a couple rusty spots along the seam that look to have been leaking, and a few other spots that look to be rusted enough to seep. Not full-on leaks, and I couldn't smell anything from inside the cab, but there is an accompanying rust hole on the floor pan under one of them (pic below). My guess is the outdoor carpet strips the PO used to hold the tank off the floorpan held onto some moisture and rusted from the outside while the inside was rusting out with the fuel left inside over the last 20+ years.
I'm researching my new tank options. I think this one is probably past saving. I noticed another fuel separator in my extra parts bin, and the hoses are all labeled, leading me to think that this might not be the original tank. It looks to be in great shape, other than the holes and rusty innards. A bit of a, "besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" sort of thing.
The hole isn't huge. It looks like I could grind it out, make it a circle, and plug it. Or, cut it out and patch it. There are several spots under the tank cover that have some degree of pitting rust, but nothing else rusted through. Fixing everything the right way would likely require repainting the whole floor front to back—a much bigger job than I want to tackle right now. I think if I knock the rust off, clean it all up, and hit the bad spots with some POR-15 or Rust Bullet and deal with it later. I want to drive this thing before I start that kind of project.
