and noticed the coating on the inside of the tank has blisters in a couple of spots and the coating on the rod for the fuel gauge wire was half gone do I need to pull it off and recoat the inside

 

I used to do my shovel tanks and the last time i did it it started bubbling and peeling and i prepped it right. Anyways it was a nightmare. The crap kept blocking my petcock and i would clean out tank and drain . I even removed it and put bbs in them and shook the hell out of them .Long story short.Be careful and dont take any shortcuts cause it could be much worse in the long run.