Fuel tank and pump, electrolysis on tank? New pump?

[slojim]

Haven't started the gn in too long.  I tried this week, but I didn't get any fuel.  My tank has a little rust inside, not too bad.  It's the original tank with the plastic baffle.  I'm thinking of trying electrolysis inside the tank while I have it out.  Anybody ever try that?
I need a new fuel pump.  The old one was a walbro gss242, 190lph.  They seem to be obsolete, I can upsize to a gss340gen3 or a racetronix 255lph.  I have an fpr and a hot wire kit long installed. I've never touched the return line and I didn't think the 255lph size needs that.  The sender is ok and I don't plan to replace anything extra until I know the car starts.  Am I missing anything?

[ULYCYC]

Electrolysis works ok for very mild surface rust. But after if not treated it will rust even more and faster.
Used to use a product called Kreem coat on motorcycle tanks. Its a 3 part system that lines the tank and works great. Not sure how cost effective it is on a 18 gal tank since it's costs about $40 to treat a 5gal tank.  New Buick tanks are around  $125.
The Walbro pumps you mentioned are all about the same rating. Only difference it the inlet how the sock sets up. All are good for around 500hp. Not sure what the new flavors are these days since Walbro are old school but work great.

[Steve Wood]

There are some companies that specialize in cleaning out fuel tanks.  I believe they use something to line them with after getting them clean to prevent the rust from reappearing.  I know there is one near Houston.

I am with Ed, nothing special required with the pump.  I would check with Cotton or Mike Licht.

[Steve Wood]

https://fullthrottlespeed.com/collections/fuel-pumps-and-accessories/products/1986-87-turbo-buick-v6-3-8l-hp-255lph-fuel-pump-installation-kit

[slojim]

Thanks.  That place is on the north end, a pretty long haul for me, and considering I can get a new tank for $200 give or take, not the choice I'm making today.  I called around me, no one seems to be interested in cleaning.  That is ok, I'm excited to try hydrolysis and all I'm trying to do is get it started before I make bigger decisions. 
Yep, I've got a pump from full throttle and from racetronix pulled up.  I note the racetronix ones say they are e85 friendly, while the tpi/walbro ones do not.  Seems likely they would be, but they call it out on their bigger models

I'll take some pictures.  Finding tsp took 3 stops

[Steve Wood]

Takes about twice the size of pump than the usual 10% ethanol.  E 85 is very corrosive as well.

[Scoobum]

255 with 80's took me well into 6's in the 1/8th with race gas. The 340 might need a larger return line. Some get away without it. Guys on the other board are saying some of the E85 they get is lower. It's a crapshoot. If you're gonna run E85 I'm fairly certain you need bigger lines...and possibly a 450 pump. Cruz and other vendors sell the larger lines. Racetronix is here in Canada in Scarborough. Expect the shipping to be a little slower getting to you.

[slojim]

I've no intention right now of running E85 - I just figured the encapsulated windings would be a little more robust and the overall construction maybe a little more corrosion-resistant to regular gas.  I considered a 340, and maybe the whole sender, but I'd have to run a return line, and I don't have injectors to take advantage of the extra gas.  So for now, I'm probably just going to get the walbro 255, probably the kit off of FTS.  The kit is 2x the bare pump, but all those little parts fell apart when I pulled the pump.  It appears the correct gas tank is at rockauto, SPECTRA PREMIUM GM307C.  My electrolysis experiment took out a lot of rust, but it visually looks the same with plenty of scale, so for <$230, I guess it's time for a new one.
I am sorely tempted to get a cheap fuel pump off of rockauto - they run from $11 to $50 generally with a full install kit minus the $5 sock - I just want to start the car and see what else is needed, and when highway stars has the short rubber fuel lines in stock I''ll want to drop the tank again and replace mine - but I wouldn't be comfortable driving with an under-rated pump. 

[slojim]

here are some before pictures of my gas tank - the phone is upside down in the hole, facing 4 different directions - so your seeing the inner roof of the tank above the plastic baffle.
The last picture is looking down in - note, this orange baffle rust stain came out during electrolysis.

[slojim]

here's a pic of my electrolysis rig.  My wife was super uncomfortable I'd electrocute the dog, so I only ran it 8 hours while I could keep an eye on it.  I think I used a cup and a half of washing soda in the full gas tank.  I did get orange goo coming up, and I did have to replace a little bit of water. 
You can't see it, but I used an old steel edger blade, due for replacement, as my sacrificial anode. 
I read about flash rust - holy cow - the edger blade rusted up in like 2 minutes, well before I even had the fuel tank drained.  Anyway, once I emptied it, I fogged it with WD40. 
It was a neat experiment/learning - but I can't call it succesful - I probably needed to go for 2 days. 

[slojim]

and the results - look a lot like the before pics.  as I said, the orange stain is gone, and I dumped out a lot of rust - covered the bottom easily of a 5 gallon bucket. 

[Scoobum]

I you wanna run a cheap pump, then I have videos on how to change head gaskets.

[slojim]

for all my plans of limiting $ until I can get it started, looks like I'm headed down that road.  I took a hard look at the hanger/sender - it's serviceable, but there's rust up in the tube that I can't get to.  So I'll be replacing that - looking like the racetronix 255 G7 sender assembly.  My bigger problem is the tank.  RockAuto has them for $165 shipped - but they have confirmed to me that they can't confirm I'll get what I order, and I'll be responsible for shipping back EVEN IF it isn't properly baffled.  Lot's of people have them for $240 plus shipping.  It looks like O-Reilly can get one today but it's in a warehouse so I can't look at it, Autozone has one an hour away, and PartCatalog in Austin has 10 on the shelf - and I may be driving to Austin in a few weeks anyway.  I'm calling OReilly

For posterity sake - I'll note this here about fuel lines.  I considered whether I should replace the rubber lines over the tank with SS braided teflon since the rubbers are out of stock currently, or even upsize the return line - and saw a lot of discussion on conductive vs non-conductive liners, and a lot of opinions on whether it was worth it or not based on experience or risk tolerance.  But I looked up the manufacturer spec sheet, and they suggested it for applications over 2 meters/sec flow of flammable liquids.  In a 5/16 ID line like AN6 sized, that is a hair over 340LPH - that explains to me why there are different experiences - most folks are not flowing that much, but many are. 

[nocooler]

I would replace the old rubber with a quality rubber high-pressure fuel line. You can buy it by the foot at parts stores. Get the correct clamps as well and you won't have problems.

[Scoobum]

That rust is gonna be everywhere. Swap in a new fuel filter. I'd pull the injectors and have them cleaned.