RRod

My 65 L79 restarted just fine after one year of storage following some precautionary prep steps (discused at length in another thread) and it seems to run well.

It was stored with a fresh full tank of zero-ethanol marina Chevron Premium in my temperature controlled garage w/o any fuel stabilzer (I did not plan on storing it as long as I did).

However, just before restarting it, I siphoned out and replaced about 5 gallons of the one-year-old marina gas with fresh E-10 Chevron Premium from my local Chevron station (I put the old gas in some of my other cars in one gallon increments). Now, just 2 tankfulls later of the same E-10 Premium, I noticed that the inlet sock in the tank is a dark charcoal color.

Unless I'm delusional, I seem to recall it used to be more of a medium-dark tan color from before and during the storage period.

Unfortuately, I did not seal the two-way vented gas cap's inside hole with duct tape during the storage and lost about 0.5" level of gasoline level due to evaporation. Although my garage is dry, it's RH does average about 50%, so some water vapor may have been pulled in. My understanding is the sock is to minimize any water in the fuel tank from flowing to the carb so I'm wondering if the recent color change might be due to a bit of water in the tank that the sock trapped? The tank itself is fine with no internal rust or leaks.

I can not seem to find anything here or on the internet about a fuel sock suddenly turning dark ..... any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

wmf62

i cannot imagine a sock to be a water separator, only a sediment filter. if there is no deterioration, then i would venture a guess that there is simpy a reaction to additives in the gas.
Bill

MikeM

The fuel sock turning dark is not unusual but sometimes they will pack up with debris. Also, the sock is not a water separator for fuel. Some fuel evaporation is normal too.

If you keep the car stored inside and the gas cap on the tank (without tape over the vent) you shouldn't have any problem with excess moisture in the tank.

If you had excess water in your gas, your car wouldn't be running "just fine".

Vet65te

RRod - I bought my 65 Coupe in '85 and it needed a body-off in the late 80's and then sat for a little more than 20 years. I know I replaced the tank sending unit 'sock' when everything was apart but can't remember what color it was to begin with. Here's the shot of that same sock after taking the Coupe out of it's 20-year hibernation. I expected the old/dark sock to be petrified but it was still pliable. The main problem was it was saturated with the miniscule rust flakes sloughing off the inside of the old tank.

Mike T.

RRod

Thanks for the photo Mike .... I take it that you did not run it after the 20 year hibernation.

mikem350

They all turn dark..don't sweat it
Yes it is just a sediment filter

Vet65te

RRod - Actually I did run it first. That is after replacing the old gas. There wasn't that much in there but I siphoned it out and added fresh fuel. Then attempted to fire it up. While cranking with the hood up, I started to see droplets raining down on the windshield. Turns out the old fuel sitting in the fuel pump had deteriorated the diaphragm and the pump had a pair of tiny vent holes and voila...instant geyser.
After replacing the pump I did get it running but it sounded lousy. Turns out the tank had deteriorated and miniscule rust particles made it through the in-line filter I had in place and were causing the problem. Cleaned out the carb but knew in my particular case, that the tank was a tosser. Check out the pic showing the small rust flakes.
New tank solved the problem. By the way, that old sending unit sock was still somewhat pliable and had a fair amount of imbedded rust flakes in it but obviously a lot of them made it through. Since your 65 has only been sitting for about a year you should be good to go.

Mike T.

mikem350

I found another source of rust flakes...the fuel line itself!!

Had a customers 77 vette rot the line clear thru..from the inside out. You would not believe what the sender looked like too..thanks to heat, ethanol and 100% humidity in FL.

The 77 up vettes have a rubber bladder in the tank, so thats where the rust came from

RRod

Upon further reflection here at age 92, I must have been delusional. One of my sons visited the ranch yesterday and assured me the sock was dark for many years before storage.

But thanks everyone for your help and answers.

RRod

A quick follow-up question please about storing my 1965 for 6 to 8 months at a time from now on with a fresh full tank of premium and no driving or running of the engine. I won't be driving it much anymore as it's getting harder to get in an out of the car at my age unfortunately.

Can I replace it's original properly functioning vented cap ... which I always use during running season .... with a non-vented cap during the 6 to 8 months dead storage periods from now on for better gasoline quality preservation (with a full tank of gas)?

I've read the 1962 and earlier used a non-vented cap, but I assume the tank must have been vented in another fashion. However, I was wondering if a pre-63 cap would fit on the '65 during it's downtime?

But more importantly, are the mid-year C2 gasoline tanks (in good condition) designed to safely handle a sealed static condition and the internal pressure fluctuations that go with it in a dry garage that may vary from 45 to 75 degrees F, unlike small non-vented 2 to 5 gallon gasoline cans?

Thanks

JohnZ

All '63-'67 caps are vented, with a "large" opening; the only other cap that will fit that (large) opening and isn't vented would be a later '70-up? C3 cap, I think - some C3 guy can verify which years are both large and non-vented. C1 tanks from mid-'57 through 1962 were vented, and use the "small" opening with a completely different family of non-vented caps.

Realistically, I wouldn't worry about it - just fill it up, park it, and drive it when spring comes; I've been doing that for 40+ years. Contrary to the popular "internet myths", gasoline does NOT go sour overnight.

56Heap

Nobody mentioned this but from what I understand it's not good to mix non-ethanol gas with ethanol gas in the quantity that you did. Something about water separation from the ethanol gas.... No ???

DansVettes

Its called phase separation. Ethanol requires a certain mix ratio minimum (= to or greater than 10%) or phase separation occurs which is where the ethanol separates from the fuel.

RRod

Although I found a C3 '71 non-vented cap that fits, your point is well taken. Plus my original 48 year old gas tank (albeit in good visual shape with no internal rust) may still hide some structural weakness which may ultimately lead to failure and leakage from the repeated slight internal pressure swings experienced during 6 to 8 month annual downtime periods if using a sealed gas cap during storage.

I'll think I'll leave it's properly working vented cap as-is and maybe consider adding fuel stablizer to full tanks of E-10 Premium just before storage periods in the future (my nearby marina fuel supplier recently shut down operations due to the state legislature outlawing motorized watercraft on the lake to save it's crystal clear water and protect it from invasive species that may hitchhike to the water from trailered powerboats).

Thanks

wmf62

although i used leaded gas when i parked it for 17 years, i did add marine stabilizer. i may have been lucky, but i started it up after those 17 years with the same gasoline...
Bill