So I noticed a few holes in the gas tank of our new family toy. Looking around, it seems a new one would set me back about $350, not an option. Seems a bit much for some sheet metal origami. So I bought a slice of 18g steel and got to work. Now let me see if I can find out how to post pictures.

 

 

 

There's more pictures in an album in my profile. Checking and fixing leaks at this point. Then paint/undercoating.

 

nice work im impressed

 

Yes very cool. I've got two used tanks for my 57 that I'll be testing and I'm sure sealing soon. At this point, I'm not sure which is the easiest fix. How do I view your album? I primarily view this form via a phone and I don't easily see the link

 

retro ranger, thanks.

mbat, not sure how it works on your phone, but I got it to come up on my phone by clicking on my name and viewing my profile. Albums are on the right. I've got a windows phone so it's like the bastard child of smart phones. Yours may be different.

Tomorrow will be day 3 of re-welding pin holes to seal the thing up. With copious amounts of tape, I got my cooling system pressure tester to fit on the filler neck so I can pressurize it and spray with soapy water. Some type of gas tank sealer/liner may be in order, or maybe I can get approval from the boss (wife) to get an oxy/acetylene torch and braze it shut. Still glad I went this rout. I'm getting plenty of practice honing my welding skills before I attempt to make new rocker panels.

 

Got it thanks. Had to view it as full site. Your car looks to be in better shape than mine. Same Banff blue color. The tank pictures look awesome! You maybe made airfoil sections on airplane wings in a past life? One tip I've learned the hard way on brazing. Keep atmosphere inert as possible, don't clean with oxide abrasive (most are Al Oxide). Use flux

 

Thanks for the tip, I knew oxygen was bad for welding, but I hadn't considered the oxygen from al/ox abrasives. I've got limited experience welding and no formal training (except from google university). I'm hoping this inspires someone to try to take on a task they wouldn't have considered before. Any guy you would pay to do a job has 10 fingers and 10 toes (hopefully) the only difference is experience. The only way to get experience is to get dirty.

mbat, get some pictures up of yours and we can compare rust holes.

 

Haha, I will definitely get some pics up. Also on the braze, the lowest temp stuff will be Ag Cd based and you don't want to be near the fumes. Keep gaps and holes as small as possible as the average silver braze will only fill approx .005 gaps.

I have a long road ahead of rust repair via plasma cutter and MiG welder!

 

Put up a photo album of the pics from when I brought it home. Early fall 2007. It's amazing how long I've gone without working on this car!

 

Do you have all of the parts not shown in the pictures, like the interior panels? When you get to putting it together, if you need a specific picture of something to see how it looks, I would be more than happy to help. And if you ever decide you don't want your plasma cutter, I would be happy to give it a new home.

 

Awesome thanks! I might have some extra parts or leads that might help you also. Name is Mike. Send me a pm for my email.

 

So here's what I've learned about fixing pin holes:
1. plumbing solder and a pen torch doesn't work
2. mapp torch didn't help either
3. mig welding the pin holes just moves them around

And now for the good news:
got an oxy acetylene torch! a dab of mig weld on the pin hole and melt it in with the torch. problem solved. I also learned the size 2 tank has the wrong fitting on it for the acetylene regulator, had to upgrade to the size 3 for another $100.
only 100 more holes to go.