Looses power Q's

[Mike Culpepper]

My '72 started loosing power the other morning going to work,(first time ever to do this). It ran good for about 7 miles then all of a sudden bogged down, then recovered for a few seconds, then bogged down again. If I let off the pedal and coast for a second or two I could go another few seconds, then same thing. Couple of times it died on me, but I could start it up again a little later. The truck has a 350 crate engine with a Q-jet 4bbl. that's about 1 yr old. Seemed most likely a fuel filter or pump the way it was acting, but I don't have any time to work on it now so my wife had it towed to the chevy dealer(closest mechanic). They replaced the inline and Qjet filter and ran it for another 4-5 miles, and it quit again. Pulled the NEW inline filter and cut it open and it was clogged with rust and cr#p. THey said the gastank has a bunch of rust in it. THat sounds plausableto me. ANyone else had this happen to thier truck, out of the blue?

My questions: I know none of y'all can see in this tank, BUT in your experience..........If the tank IS full of rust, would I be better off just replacing the tank and sending unit, or is it worth it to try and clean the old tank out?

ANy tanks to avoid? I have looked at LMC, brothers etc.....

Any tips or tricks to replacing one of these?
THis truck is a daily driver with no short term plans to re-build the truck.
Thanks,
Mike