[DeTomaso] Fuel Tank Guard question

[Barry Seib]

Tom
Actually the factory shield is two sides of aluminum sheet with asbestos in
between. It's likely very good at insulating the tank, especially in a fire.
Might give you a few seconds more time to get out. You could add paint or
more reflective material to the outside but you should not separte the
sheets and expose the asbestos sandwiched between. You do NOT want to
disturb the asbestos as the fibres are very hazardous if ingested by
breathing or eating. They cause cancer. The hazardous fibres are dangerous
especially/even when they're too small to see. Don't mess with asbestos. It
is an excellent insulator of heat transfer at high temperatures (headers).
I'm not sure we have a lot that's better at the job, but we have found out
that it is very harmful to us when it's loose in the air we breath or on our
skin when we eat or bathe. As a result it is banned from most uses now.

Barry

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Tom Borcich tborcich at msn.com
Sat Sep 25 15:06:34 CDT 2010

Just removed my fuel tank guard so I can seal the inside of the fuel tank.

Is the guard aluminum or galvanized steel? It seems to be two layer with
something in between the layers to act like a heat shield?  Not sure if I
should just
clean it up or paint it.

Is there any reason to add some additional heat shielding matt to the tank
side of the shield? I
would assume the heat shielding material today is better than what was
available in 1972.

Tom