I'm trying to clean out the very small sump at the bottom of
an antique (1914) fuel tank. The tank is fairly clean, has been
coated with the cream colored coating back in the 1980s. It's
also in the car and cannot be removed without removing the body
from the frame. The very small sump is cast iron and is sweated
onto the galvanized steel gas tank shell. The sump has a bottom
drain that unfortunately is plugged and sealed; it has a side
port where the fuel shut-off is located. The shut-off valve is
remotely
operated via a long shaft that exits to the side, near the running
board
and the valve is currently removed from the car.
There appears to be some metallic and/or non-metallic debris in the
bottom
of the sump (sump outside diameter is about the size of a hot dog bun
and about 1/2 as long) and while the tank is empty and the drain valve
is
out, I'd like to clean it out. I'm leery of using a vacuum due to
fumes
and possible ignition. A magnet would simply stick to the side of the
sump (the 4" diameter fill cover is off-set and it's not a straight
shot down
into the sump) when trying to remove any magnetic material.
I'm toying with the following ideas.
1. Use a flexible hose and some sort of angled air fitting that would
"pull a suction" or siphon to pull the debris up from the sump and
exit
it from the sump to the outside. Essentially a non-electric vacuum
2. Insert a magnet, inside a piece of PVC pipe, and try to remove any
magnetic material while at the same time keep the magnet from
"sticking"
to the cast iron sump.
Any suggestions?
Steve Hammatt
Mount Vernon WA USA
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