Morris Minor Owners Club

My 1957 Morris 1000 saloon with 948cc engine just stopped running yesterday. Turns out that the fuel filter is clogged with debris and gunk; you can't even blow air through it. The carburator, likewise, has debris and gunk in it. My mechanic says that it can only be coming from the now-50 year old petrol tank (what? accumulated sludge from fuel impurities, or degraded rust flakes?) and that the solution is to remove the tank, empty and flush it and then re-coat the inside surface of the tank with some kind of liquid rubber lining, reinstall the tank, flush all the fuel lines, rebuild the carburetor, refuel, and voila!

Does that sound right to you folks? Have you had any experience with this problem? Is relining the tank really necessary? Sounds expensive...Is there any simpler and cheaper solution to the problem?

well yes possible.
i would replace the filter with a new one, that is an inline one.
clean the filter in the petrol pump, and clean out the carb.
you can drain the petrol tank.
and if it is the tank then probably as cheap to replace it.
i must admit i have never felt the need to change the petrol tank anyway.

There are lots of tank sealers on the market . I use one from Paul Beck Vintage supplies in all the tanks of vintage motor bikes I restore, even if they're not leaking as it holds all the rust that's inevitably in the tank .

Thanks. Is "cleaning out the carburetor" the same as "rebuilding" it? Do I need to go so far as to rebuild it, just because it got this sludge in it, or can I just clean it out?

Don't coat the inside of the petrol tank!!
The fuel filter is there to catch all the debris so it needs to be replaced occasionally. Swill out your tank if there is a lot of muck in it.

AFAIK the tank has a strainer on the pick up pipe (mine certainly did)so if you rubber coat it, you may as well throw the tank away as you'll probably not get any fuel out of it.

as for the carb - strip and clean it, but you ought to get a new gasket kit at the same time. You can't make carb gaskets from normal gasket paper as it needs a slightly different material (normal gasket paper is porous with petrol)

I've heard of a lot of peopel who coat the tank, then a few years later get odd looking crud blocking up their lines, filters etc... This is down to the coating breaking up/ peeling off over time and of course, there's only one way for it to travel.

It's probably better to chuck a pint of meths in every once in a while - Will boost the octane slightly IIRC, and absorb any water without leaving a peelable coating behind

Packedup wrote:I've heard of a lot of peopel who coat the tank, then a few years later get odd looking crud blocking up their lines, filters etc... This is down to the coating breaking up/ peeling off over time and of course, there's only one way for it to travel.

Been there, done that. I'll never coat the inside of a tank again.

It was a brand new, handmade tank & it was fine for the first few years. Then I'd get fuel blockages if the tank went down to 1/4 or so, especially on a long fast run on a motorway. Drain the tank & bits of the coating would appear as flakes in the fuel .

The stuff is still floating around but I've fitted a filter onto the pickup so I don't get the blockage problem.
One day I'll remove the tank & clean it out with gravel or nuts or whatever.....