50 Commodore Six is starting to upset me

Unknown

Okay, finally got to spend some quality time with my hudson. I finished up the shock project, swapping in modern Gabriel Springfileds in all four positions. THey feel great, or at least I think they do, and the stock ride height seems just about the same.



Unfortunately,..... the test drive had to be cut short. Here is my problem....



When I drive my hudson, it seems when it is warmed up, it feels like I run out of gas (with a full tank) it starts to sputter, and wants to shut off. This seems to occur under light and medium acceleration. It is annoying, and I think I know my next steps...



I think from sitting for a time, the tank got some sediment in it. I plan on going thru with the twin H conversion, swapping all of the intake/exhaust components,m rebuilt carbs, etc.... I got a new rebuilt pump from last nationals (Pittsburgh) from Dave K on it, and run two filters. This is driving me crazy. I am going to drain the tank and drop it. My question is, what's the best way to clean and seal the tank? any suggestions on products to use to aid in the process, any ideas as to what to do to make this not happen again?



Any help from the more experienced Hudson guys would be appreciated. THe tank was down several years ago, but all problems now point to the tank as the culprit.

Unknown

See my web site for a few recommendations.



Good Luck

Jon B

First, you're sure the culprit is sediment in the tank. You mention the filters. Did you check them to see if they're full of sediment. Or check the sediment bowl (if you have one)?

Club Coupe

You may have a small hole in the fuel line that is letting air in and causing the problem. If you have not already done so, I would recommend replacing the entire fuel line. In 55 years, it has more than done it's duty.

[Deleted User]

Check the brass screen in the carb inlet. my 54 would do something similar after the tank was cleaned. I found that the screen was 70% stopped up. The car would idle fine but would not accelerate, due to the restriction caused by the plugged screen.

BJ--TN

rambos_ride

Have you put a gauge on and checked your fuel pressure at idle and under load?

Unknown

I have a fuel pressure guage in-line on the coarse filter. I am going to check the screen, see what is going on, maybe, just maybe. The filters look okay, nothing out of the ordinary, just had the down and cleaned them a while back, while I was working on this last fall.



I think it is a sediment problem, I have been able to remove a twin nozzle piece from the carb, when it is acting this way, you can actually see that one of the nozzles isn't spraying fuel to a bank of cylinders, I can remove this piece, and blow it out, and it resumes normal operation.



The fuel line looks good. I was under the car and traced all of it, but When I take the tank out, I will be inspecting everything on this car. I was actually thinking of swapping tanks, We got several stepdown tanks around, 48-53, which I think all of them will swap, I will try to find a clean tank, and maybe clean and flush, and seal another one, and see if I can eliminate the problem.



Ken, i wil check your site again, i guess I forgot about the other million of useful items on there, you already helped me with shocks, and seals, I just must have forgotten.



I'll keep you all posted as it progresses today. I might spend some time underneath the car today, doing some detail cleaning and painting, as well as draining the tank, and dropping it.

hudsonguy

When I first got my '49 Super Six out of storage several years ago, I had the same problem, and it turned out to be the rubber fuel line that goes into the fuel pump. It was all rotten inside, and basically plugged itself almost completely. From the outside, the hose looked just fine.



Your symptoms also sounds like good old 'vapor lock', which can be treated many different ways. The method I've used to eliminate it altogether is similar to what you plan to do. Multiple filters, electric pump (although I only use mine for cold starts). The only other thing I'd recommend that works 100%, but is not all that easy to do, and that's to install a return line back to the gas tank filler neck. As long as you're doing the tank, etc., it wouldn't be all that difficult to do now.



Good luck,

Doug

Club Coupe

Before dropping the tank you might want to narrow down the possible causes of the problem by running a fuel line to a 2 or 3 gallon gas tank in the passenger floorboard and drive the car to see if the problem persists. If it does, the problem is not in the tank or lines.

Uncle Josh

If/when you drop the tank, and get it all drained out, get some kerosene in there to soak up the remaining gasoline. Then drain and clean with baking soda/water.

Then cut a 4in dia hole in the top, directly over the pickup site. That will let you get in there and scrape tar, wire brush, get rid of the pickup-screen vestage etc. You can get to the left side of the baffle thru the sender hole.

Clean with dilute muriatic acid, wash with soda/water, dry with shop vac, coat with tank sealer, available from 'Eastwood' or local parts house.

JBWeld or solder the patch back in the 4 in hole and you have a clean tank.

Make sure you have a plastic/paper filter between the tank and the fuel pump.

Jon B

Or, just find your latest Gas Tank Renu place, ship it there, and let someone else undertake the headaches!

Unknown

Jon B wrote:

Or, just find your latest Gas Tank Renu place, ship it there, and let someone else undertake the headaches!

haha, I like this one the best, so far...



I dropped the tank today, the sender is out, and looks iffy--- It stopped registering tank levels this last go round (since the car has been out of storage) The pick-up tube looked clean on the outside, and pretty bad on the inside. I am going to try to clean this out the best I can. The inside of the tank looks like it needs cleaned. It has a bunch of tar like stuff (redish) all over the bottom. It needs to come out somehow, and cutting a hole on the top of the tank is not going to fly... ( I would prefer not to) but thanks for the suggestion. I am going to take a look at what eastwood has to offer, hopefully they got some chemical stripper or something, and I am sure they got sealer. I replaced rubber hose that goes from the fule pump to line last summer, after the nationals, along with a rebuilt pump from Dave K. While I have the tank out, i might spend a bit of time running new line to the front, even though it seems to be in great shape, I need to eliminate all possibilities. (and line isn't that expensive, and fairly easy to run) I also want to spend some time with some wire brushes, a scraper,adn some paint, and detail the underside a bit, make it look cleaner, while I am under there. I will keep everyone posted!

Club Coupe

Suggestion: check with a radiator shop to see if they can dip the tank, boil it out or whatever they call their process. Also, once you are finished cleaning the tank and coating with sealer, make sure that the sealer dries and sets up. If it is damp you are risking the sealer coming off and you're right back where you started. Personally, I would go with Jon's suggestion and avoid a messy, nasty job.

Unknown

Most radiator shops will do the work for you and boil the tank out. The best time to catch them is at the end of the week so the tank can sit in the vat over the weekend. To keep them on their best side though, remove as much of the undercoating as possible from the outside of the tank as it will make a mess out of everything. Good luck!

Unknown

I just got my tank back from a local radiator shop today. Dipped and sealed $55.00. Kanter wants approx. $65.00 for their gas tank sealer, they supply the acetone and muratic acid. Eastwood wants $48.00 for theirs and you buy the acetone and muratic acid (twice what you need) from a paint store.

[Deleted User]

Club Coupe wrote:

Before dropping the tank you might want to narrow down the possible causes of the problem by running a fuel line to a 2 or 3 gallon gas tank in the passenger floorboard and drive the car to see if the problem persists. If it does, the problem is not in the tank or lines.

This maybe a stupid question but I assume you run the fuel line from the 2 gallon tank to the feed line of the fuel pump correct? Niels

Club Coupe

Correct. In essence you are "replacing" the stock gas tank with the smaller tank.

Unknown

hmmm, maybe it isn't really worth while to do muh to this tank. If my local radiator shop can do this for about the same money, I probably shouldn't even bother running to eastwood. I'll give em a call tomorrow, before running down to eastwood.



Also with regard to th porta tank, we made one that you could install underhood, connect right to the fuel pump. It was a nice portable unit, 1 gallon, but you had to be careful not to run it out, then you kind of "deflated" it.



Thanks for all of the help!