Progress today
Scrubbed front fender – ready for prep & paint.
Cleaned windscreen. Polished screen with headlight compound. About 4 passes total front and two on the back, working in small areas: about 2 hrs effort. Pretty good clarity now with a slight gray smoked effect. Sufficient for the moment (compare to before).
Disassembled gas tank. Removed filler cap, fuel level sensor unit, fuel petcock, and fuel hose/filter assemblies.
Cleaned filler opening on tank and filler cap surfaces.
Replaced fuel filter with glass aftermarket unit. Attached 3/8″ adapters with teflon plumber’s tape. Clamped tank end. Hose was clear.
Emptied about 1/2 gallon of nasty black liquid from tank. Found about 2″ of sludge/tar at the lower end where the fuel petcock/screen enters. Level sensor coated with sludge. Pickup tube/screen coated to 2″ from bottom. Petcock almost immoveable and full of tarry sludge. Scraped/brushed and cleaned both assemblies with solvent.
Fuel level sensor assembly (after cleaning)
Petcock assembly after external cleaning, new inline filter
Disassembled screen and petcock.
Petcock and screen cleaning in progress
Removed o-ring and valve handle. Pulled tar out of both screen tubes and petcock body using dental pick. Soaked petcock body in Gunk can (thanks Dan!), about 2 hrs. Final cleanout with QTips. Valve action now crisp and easy.
Used fingers to pull out gunk from tank within reach of petcock hole. Added two hands full of pebbles and half gallon of gas and swirled/shook tank for about 30 minutes. That got another pound or two of tar out. Rinsed/swirled several times with water/pine cleaner, then Xylol (xylene), then gas. Lower end of tank needs further cleaning.
Next
Soak tank innards for 24hrs with pine cleaner solution. Flush tank, seal/coat. Reassemble.