Ok, I am finaly going to drop my 350 in to my 82 Z28 that I am slowly bringing back from the dead. My last concern is the condition of the fuel tank. Without droping the tank I have no way of knowing how much gas is in the tank or what condition the inside of the tank is in. So here is some history the car has been sitting on a farm since 96 and the fuel gauge shows 1/3 tank. What can I expect inside the tank? Would I be better off just replacing the tank? Or Do you think it would be ok if i just emptied it and cleaned it. Or can I just siphon the tank dry and refill it? Thanks for the input..

 

I've HEARD that fuel will start to do funky things if left sitting - could be separation of it's additives, water condensation in the tank eating away at stuff, I don't know for certain what, but I wouldn't take chances, if it was me... Better to be safe than sorry - taking the tank off and cleaning it out would be cool, cheaper than replacing it outright - don't you wish they were torpedo fuel tanks! (flushing procedures ensure it's nice and clean!)

 

There may be no need to replace the fuel tank, but I would strongly suggest replacing the fuel and the filter. You may even have to replace the filter more than once as insurance against damaged injectors, regulator, and fuel pump.

That situation is somewhat familiiar. I have a 1996 car that has 4,100 miles, has been parked for several years, and has not been filled with fresh fuel since about 1997. I run it periodically and had treated the tank with StaBil, and simply add some fresh fuel preiodically.

 

You need to replace that fuel, because after 7 years, I bet it's not fuel anymore...
Just pump it out with one of those hoses from pep-boys that has a copper fitting at one end with a metal ball inside. The way these hose works is you just deep it into your tank, and shake the hose up and down until fuel starts coming out the other end.
Or if you have an electric water pump...
The fuel filter is also a must.

 

Old fuel smells so bad lol...

I had some 10 year old gas in my motorcycle, It wouldn't even light it on fire!

 

My car sat for 4 years in a driveway, uncovered with 1/4 tank of gas in it. Maybe I got lucky but I didn't have to drain it.

I added a bottle of Heet to it to get rid of any moisture buildup, and put enough gas in it for 1/2 tank. I just didn't bother tweaking or fine tuning until I ran a couple tanks through it and changed the filter....it just happened to work in my case.