Cleaning out gas tank 1958 Ranchero

[Pamlico]

Thanks for all the replies. This is what I did....
Once I got it out and got the float assy out, I could tell it was only rusty where little pools of water had settled--not too bad.
I could also tell it did not have a sock on the inlet--one less worry.
After cruising YouTube for solutions, I got 4 bottles (1 gallon total) of "the Works" toilet bowl cleaner and poured it in with the tank sitting pretty much level. I let this percolate (at outside temp) for 4 hours. When I checked on it, the metal looked like it had just been stamped! I dumped out the cleaner in an environmentally friendly manner (as far as you know) and took my garden hose to it for a water rinse. Then I spent about 30 minutes with soap and water cleaning the outside of the tank. Well I wish I had done that part later because after 30 minutes I looked back in the tank and it had "flash rusted". The bottom was orange! Next I poured a gallon of WD-40 in the tank and sloshed it around good for a few minutes. Then I poured that out and put in a little over a gallon of fresh non-ethanol gas. I sloshed this around for a few minutes and then poured it out. That was all I did except I reached in through the float hole and filler neck hole with my extendable magnet and snagged what few little specks I could see.
If I had to do it over, I might would skip the water rinse altogether.
Then it was on to the fuel line. I blew it out with compressed air and some rusty crud came out. Then I did 2 courses of carb cleaner followed by more air. I decided to pull the line between the fuel pump and carb and found more crud.(See I had the engine fired a few times after getting water out of it---that's another story.) Then I took the top off the Holley 94 and the bowl was about 1/3 full of orange mud. So there was nothing to do but rebuild the carb (actually cleaning it out real good). At this point, I only have to check out the fuel pump and I can hopefully start again with a freshened fuel system.


Jeff