I need to reseat an old fuel tank into its steel saddle, previously it was plug soldered (old Land Rover) and had rotted in the joint to leak through two holes, both at the upper level of the saddle. I have wire brushed it and will braze the leak but then I want to glue it back into the saddle in the hope that the epoxy will seal the joint, fill any thin spots and prevent further corrosion but which glue?
AJH
Suitable fire precautions I presume. You need to fill the tank with an inert gas beforehand, as you won't "clean" it adequately, even with a steam cleaner. The best filler is water, so long as you can arrange it so that you're working right at the top. Otherwise an inert gas purge (MIG welder gas, nitrogen or CO2). Don't use dry ice, you can get shrapnel once you start heating the tank.
Plain epoxy will do it (West System "junior" pack is an excelletn thing to have in the workshop) and I'd add a fibre filler to this for strength and crack resistance.
Inside the tank you'd need a petrol-resistant epoxy. These are available from places serving old Brit motorbikes, as petrol tank "slosh" sealers.
It's been open and out side for 6 months now since I took it off and desoldering it with a propane torch didn't result in problems, I can flush it with CO2 though.
Is 600ml going to cover and area 1000m by 450m? Which fibre filler, I was thinking about just laying a thin fibreglass mat over the tank and sandwiching it.
That's belt and braces isn't it? They seem quite expensive.
AJH
car body filler/'Liquid metal'/'chemical weld' works well IF you can thoroughly clean the surfaces
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember andrew saying something like:
It's not unknown for a tank in just that situation to still go bang.
Just in case.
Reminds me of the bloke who decided to cut a large empty calor gas cylinder in half with an angle grinder...
Yes.....
Last time I didn't do anything of the sort, I was savaged by one of Calor's lawyers...
West System Epoxy 105 with 205 Hardener and 405 fibre filler (10% by volume)
If you buy the junior pack you get all 3 items (and some other bits n bobs)
Axminster Power Tools sell it by mail order.
In message , Andrew Gabriel writes
There is a book by Peter Gurney called "Braver men walk away" it is mainly about bomb disposal but one item covers an unusual explosion when a guy in the 1950s, ish, decides that he is fed up having his gas cylinders stolen from his garage and decides to use a welding torch to put his name on them. Not sure how they figured out the reason, unless they had a medium on the staff!
try a live 22 round with a junior hacksaw...
I've always wondered about those 'sculptures' you see at various fairs, shows etc. made (at least in part) from old gas cylinders and what precautions the makers took when cutting into the cylinders or welding bits to them...
I recall a friend and I welding a patch on to a holed petrol tank many moons ago - I'd put a temporary patch on it and had it sat full of water for a while, but even so it was a bit on the iffy side!
(I'm looking for suitable petrol-resistant epoxies at the moment too, to fix a broken breather cap on a 5 gallon can)
cheers
Jules
I've certainly had car body filler before that claims to be petrol resistant - I suppose it's open to debate whether that means it'll stand full immersion for long periods, and whether it might be prone to failure if there are any vibration issues involved.
cheers
Jules
I re cast one using the low melting point plastic Peter Parry pointed me to on this group (he also supplied the sample), and it has held up for over a year now. Sorry I cannot remember the name but will look it up if necessary.
AJH
Interesting idea!
In my case, it was just the top of the cap that broke - the sides with the threads were still intact. A coke bottle cap fits quite nicely (and tightly all by itself) over the remains, so I think if I can find a suitable glue to bond the two together it'll be better than the original (which wasn't, IMHO, really up to the job anyway!)
OTOH, your approach would be a good excuse to try casting something ;-) (my last attempts were as a kid, trying to make new toy car tyres in my parents' open fireplace using clay moulds. Results weren't particularly successful, but I had fun and never did burn their house down)
cheers
Jules
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Jules Richardson saying something like:
Unscrew the valve, fill the bottle with water, grind away.
My first car - must have been in the early 60's. Mate and I went of to climb in the Cuillins and camped at Glen Brittle - some of you may know the road.
Very rough in those days and we woke the first morning to a strong smell of petrol and ominous drips.
The tank was unshipped, a billy can of petrol recovered and a patch for the corroded area made up of a bean can lid and some black glue from a tube that said "can be cleaned up with petrol" !!
We managed to scrounge enough petrol to get to the nearest petrol pump and the patch saw us back to Edinburgh at the end of the holiday.
Ahh, nostalgia!!
Rob
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