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Refurb old fuel tank

V

vandenburgh

Contributing Member
I was thinking about repairing my leaky vintage 6gal original omc fuel tank for use with my 63 Johnson (I had been using motor with new plastic 6gal tank, but would like a 2nd tank for longer trips). Tank seems to leak near connection assembly at tank when it builds pressure in tank(pressure in tank, not in fuel line, doesn't leak simply when bulb is hard, but when vapor pressure in tank is building). I think it is a bad gasket (part #5 in diagram). So I was going to replace that, but figured I should probably also replace part #12, and #17 (need 2), given ethanol content in gas/potentially degraded old rubber. Maybe also hand cut a new gasket for fuel cap?

http://www.marineengine.com/parts/j...&manufacturer=Johnson&section=Fuel+Tank+Group

my question is does this sound like a good plan? Given parts shipping cost & transit time/assembly time, would like to replace all suspect parts at once as they are relatively cheap parts. Does anyone have experience fixing these tanks and thoughts on which parts tend to fail on the old tanks? Also, how do the old metal tanks generally perform vs new plastic ones, pros/cons of old (assuming it is repairable) vs new? I like price of repairing old if it only needs $10-15 worth of parts vs $50for a new one. Comments?
 
Those steel tanks are far superior to the plastic junk mage today.-------Those 2 pins are valves and one lets air in and the other lets fuel out.-----------Pop out the plug and replace the o-rings in there.------The little o-ring is no longer available and hopefully it is not leaking.
 
Question...on the 2 pins you suggest replacing o rings, is that part 322598 (#17 on diagram in link above?).

Which o ring are you referring to as unavailable? just so I can take a good look at whether there is any leak around that area, cause if there is sounds like I would be out of luck on plan to refurb. Thanks.
 
Part #17 and I see part # 20 is available too from marine engine.----------These steel tanks are far better than the plastic junk !!
 
Great, thanks! I will replace parts #17 and #20 along with gasket that seals assembly to the tank and go from there unless there are other part you recommend I do at the same time.

Also, apologies for the following very basic question, but would be interested in opinions...my fuel line assembly hose is very stiff and may have slight leak where fitting and hose connect, so was going to replace. Is it ok to use auto fuel line and hose clamps to reassemble existing bulb and fitting parts or is it recommended going with new assembly or using specialty marine line? If new assembly, which ones are decent? My 6hp yamaha from early 90s has a nice flexible line (it is black) where the one that came with my old Johnny from PO is this stiff grey line, which I really don't like (don't really care if black or grey, just want a decent flexible line. Any recommendations?
 
Got to your marine dealer and get some new fuel line there. Small SS hose clamps are fine, but I like to use Zip ties on my connections.
 
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