My '81 FI Spider picked up a leak in the filler hose and when I drained my gas tank, I got a good look in the fuel tank. I decided to replace the intermittent (and rusty) fuel sender and also saw what I thought looked like a marginal gas tank (crud at the bottom and some minor rust instide).

Seeing how a new tank was very inexpensive compared to the hastle of reconditioning a tank, I decided to replace it along with my fuel sender, fill hose and associated vent lines.

When I received my new tank, this is what I saw inside:









Which doesn't look a whole lot better than the one I was replacing......

Is this minor rust to be expected in a new tank , or did I get a bad one stored improperly?

Is there a 'Do it yourself' coating that should be used? Even on a new tank?

I also noticed the new tank has no baffle separating the tank like the old one that had two compartments: one with the fill hose, one with the fuel sender. The new tank is one single compartment. So that will definitely increase the turbulence during a fill up as well as on bumps and while cornering....not sure if that baffle is important in an accident too?

I've got an email into the supplier with these questions, but figure I won't hear back until Monday and just wanted to keep the weekend progress going if I could.

Any thoughts would be appreciated....but I'm almost considering leaving in the old one, as the Fuel Pump had no residue in it.

Stored improperly sounds right. I'm sure your vendor will rectify this situation at no cost to you.

AriK wrote:Stored improperly sounds right. I'm sure your vendor will rectify this situation at no cost to you.

Vendor has a new one on its way to me....he stores them properly in environmentally controlled part of the building, but checked his stock and found one other showing similar rust, so he's contacting the manufacturer.

I also just ordered one. Haven't looked inside yet. hmm...

really nothing to worry about. i'm pretty sure that 90% of NOS tanks will have that corosion inside.