Fuel tank removal

That was the problem with the father in law the machine attached to the old boy ceased to go ping,with a cyclic beat, thereby indicating his immediate and immanent demise with a more constant noise more like piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii∞  until such time as they had to admit defeat and turned the machine that goes ping off!

I have an invested interest in ping things as I have a clock in my chest, a pacemaker to the uninitiated. Even the ping at the end of a microwave cooking cycle has me checking & big electromagnetic devices have me worried & I give them plenty of space. I used to love playing around with big things that buzzzzzed uncontrollably.
Rock concerts are out, the pacemaker is normally “listening”to my heart rhythm & if the beat of the music is around the operational window & is “louder” the bloody thing locks on to that. It’s quite unseemly for a septuagenarian to be frigging uncontrollably about the concert hall clutching his chest, shouting “turn the bloody racket down”.
Right, what were we on about? Ah your rust ridden receptacle.
Someone mentioned hydrochloride acid, I’d go with phosphoric, not as aggressive. l seem to recall another conversation where one of our number, possibly MGB281 had a further recommendation.
These are easier to clean out once finished with & although there was some discussion at the time, more straight forward to dispose of.
Wasn’t that your area David?
M

Wah!! where did that picture of your electrical test bench come from. I missed that first time round. There’s a lot of electromagnetic stuff going on there & there stuck in the middle is a variable speed motor. That lot would make my heart race, is it turned off so I can get nearer & have a proper look, I’m worried about having a closer look at the picture just in case you’ve left it on.
M

Were you able to fish much of it out with a magnet on a line ?
  I've recently switched to using the magnets from inside old PC hard drives for all sorts of jobs as they are so strong. They make normal welding clamp magnets look like they are barely magnetic at all.

Thanks for the suggestions, but have any of you guys had a chance to have good look at layout of these tanks? I don't mean to be offensive and I know your all trying to help, but if you saw what a shit of a job this is you'd probably be as pissed off with it as I am.
I wouldn't waste my time buggerising about with magnets on sticks or strings, due to the awkward shape of the tank you wouldn't have a snow balls chance in hell of cleaning the tank out that way, you couldn't do it whilst it's till in the car. it will be a bugger of a job with it out of the car, but at least you could tip it up and shake it about as you flush it.
Your tying to perform keyhole surgery and getting access around what amounts to blind corners is only going the be an exercise in futility.

If worse comes to worse I'll cut the bastard up and buy a new tank!  And if I can't get one I'll make a proper one out of Alloy, at least I'd make it fit the space and with an inspection hatch on the far side in order to clean it properly.
I see no point in doing a half arsed job an the amount of muck in the tank that would be left behind will only total endless fuel pumps.  And even if it did get all the rust it won't get all the other crap that looks like there might be flakes of paint or some such crap lurking in there

The tank is a seriously strange shape, the “designer” must have been hoping for some rapid cornering to slosh the fuel from the slope back annex to top up the main body.
When I got the car I was disappointed with the fuel consumption until I hit the switchbacks on the moors road & out of nowhere I ended up with another third of a tank.
It’s a toss up, you’ve already had a heart attack & wouldn’t want a rerun of that, so choose the route that will give you the minimum of heart ache.
Your so pissed of with it by now, so to cut the bugger up would give you great satisfaction. That has to be balanced against the strife involved in buying a replacement; not the cost of the tank as much as the carriage involve in transporting all that air half way around the world.
Even though it would be good quality air.
There’s one for £20 in Tenbury Wells, it’s collection only. Or one in Italy for £140, carriage £172.
Where does the tank interfere with the bodywork?
Is it pulling away from the aperture & catching where the cover bolts on? Try a couple of ratchet straps , if you can get get them around the back, one side to side the other top to bottom. Bring them up slowly & it might just pop out.
As always, best of luck.
M

I'm going to be removing the tank from my doner car this week, so I'll let you know how it goes. 

I did try to clean our tank by draining it and poking around with towels but I had to replace the pump (again) after a few months 😅. 
I  really have learnt that there are no short cuts. 

At present the tank is much wider than the hole it is wedged in side to side top to bottom, the can only come out bottom first to allow it to roll away from where to filler neck and the pump/gauge mounting penetrate the bodywork. currently it's such a tight fit you would have trouble sliding  a feeler gauge in anywhere around it from the sides to the top. once you start to roll it out with much force, it wedges in hard against the multi skinned flange of the centre tunnel the holds the gear selector cables, this is something you wouldn't want to cut as it is a major stiffener of the car and is at least 3 plys of steel welded together so bending it will be not only difficult but even more so to straighten it again, Once bent I don't like the chances of ever getting good seal with the fuel tank cover again. this flange would have to move a real lot.

Plastic tank had been around for over 20 years by the time our cars were being built and the tank expansion issues were a known problem, so why didn't the stupid dumb bastards take this into account when designing it? if ever I meet the friggen incompetent dribbling idiot responsible there will be serious medieval style pain and suffering applied to his naughty bits and his teeth will be pushed so far back he'll need to stick his tooth brush up his arse to clean them!
 

Something displease thee sire, might I procure a heated fustian roll for thy troubled head? And maybe a draft Dry Sack?
Ah sire thy feet, are they not too hot, those patens appear to be gripping thy toes.
The Mistress, does she not find your retaining thy overalls & thy toe protector boots on in bed?
My, you are vexed.
M

If you can’t get it out could it possibly be that installing a replacement might just be equally challenging?
The magnet, chemical cleaning , or copious fill and emptying with a neutral fluid such as water with much swirling around might be the preferred solution. Sometimes low volume with slow movement can convey particulates to one place ( bit like sewage drains)..
Can you get all the crud in one place? If so could you seal the crud in a resin?
Basically anything rather than damage the tank.

No you can't see most of the inside of the tank and swirling it about effectively with the tank still in the car would be pretty well impossible,then of course you will need to get all of the water out! Although a few bottles of metho tipped in to the tank will remove a small amount of water by burning it of as the car runs, but the amount of water your talking about will need to be removed.
Installing a brand new tank won't be so bad as it won't have expanded yet. After all they got the one that's in there in a the factory, they didn't build the car around it!