[DeTomaso] Aluminum gas tank repair and question
jderyke at aol.com
jderyke at aol.com
Sat Sep 13 20:45:39 EDT 2014
Richard, ANY rigid fuel tank- aluminum, steel or stainless- can be repaired, but it takes welding to do it right. In your case, TIG-welding new pieces in to replace the corroded stuff. Corrosion of aluminum comes from water or certain acids that logically could not have gotten inside the tank. Water in the form of condensation can. What you describe is exactly what people find in the float bowls of carbs (aluminum and zinc) in CA where alcohol is routinely added to gasoline. Likely, the disintegrating fabric held water against the tank until the water could worm-hole through.
Some radiator shops do this fix, and a few hot-rod or restoration shops. I've done it a few times without explosions in the back yard. I'd call Don Byars or some other well-known restoration shop in your area. As you know, getting the tank out is nearly as bad as the fix! The safety aspect requires flipping and bracing the tank so the cut-away area to be repaired is uppermost, then fill the tank with water up to within an inch or so of the repair area. After that, its almost like body work.
You're right- the fiberglas wrap in early pre-Ls was a visual band-aid for the DOT who were crazy with mindless directives back then. Don't bother re-fiberglassing- a good heavy coat of spray-epoxy paint made for aluminum will give more protection than you ever had before. After all, the thing survived a rear-ender! Or, a repro steel tank from a number of vendors is only 8 lbs heavier (If I remember from Ted Mitchell) than an aluminum one that no one can see. Good luck- J DeRyke
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Barkley <rlbpantera at earthlink.net>
To: detomaso <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Sat, Sep 13, 2014 4:44 pm
Subject: [DeTomaso] Aluminum gas tank repair and question
I'll start with the question. The US Panteras were retro fitted here
with a wrap of fiberglass, supposedly for safety reasons. Something I
read made me think that the European cars with aluminum tanks were
never wrapped. Anyone know if this is true? I removed all of it when I
started looking for the leak. It is only one layer thick (0.03") and
rips very easily. It seems impossible for me to believe this would have
any benefit in a crash severe enough to rupture the tank. So I'm
considering not re-coating it and just painting it, probably silver.
Any thoughts are welcome.
Now the story and repair. Zonkey's aluminum gas tank started to leek a
few months ago which came as a big surprise as it was clean with no
sign of corrosion 14 years ago when I did the restoration. The car has
been apart for the last 5 years as a result of a rear ending. I'm now
starting the re-assembly and repairing the tank is the first thing on
my list.
So last week I pulled the tank and looked inside. Everything was very
clean except for a few patches of some very strange stuff in spots on
the bottom of the tank. It was somewhat granular, sort of like clumps
of very large salt crystals stuck together. It crumbled easily with a
little finger pressure. I didn't think much of it at the time as I was
pretty sure the leak was somewhere other than the bottom as it had
stopped leaking with 3 gallons or so left in the tank. Under each clump
was a discolored spot which turned out to be corrosion. I have an in
tank electric fuel pump to feed 4.6L Cobra Mod Motor and the pre-filter
sock on the inlet was gone. I suspect the the material from that was
somehow transformed into the strange clumps which trapped water causing
the corrosion.
Anyway, I decided to repair the leak with the POR-15 tank sealer:
[1]http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fu...ank-Sealer_p_64.html
It is a three step process, cleaning with their strong cleaner, acid
etching with "metal ready" and then sloshing the tank with their
sealer. When I started the process I thought I had one very small
pinhole. The cleaning step revealed two more smaller pinholes. However
the etching brought out a total of 7 pinholes. All had grown larger,
and all of them were in a corroded spot. I'm confident that the POR-15
will be more than sufficient to permanently seal the tank although I
may add a couple layers of fiberglass on the bottom to strengthen it
and prevent possible corrosion from the outside.
Richard
--
-----
Sincerely, Richard Barkley
To Ski or not to Ski, that is the question!
Richard Barkley (310) 373-6695 (home)
E-mail: rlbpantera <atsign> earthlink.net
ZONKEY'S home page: [2]http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera
References
1. http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fu...ank-Sealer_p_64.html
2. http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera
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DeTomaso mailing list
DeTomaso at poca.com
http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
-------------- next part --------------
Richard, ANY rigid fuel tank- aluminum, steel or stainless- can be
repaired, but it takes welding to do it right. In your case,
TIG-welding new pieces in to replace the corroded stuff. Corrosion of
aluminum comes from water or certain acids that logically could not
have gotten inside the tank. Water in the form of condensation can.
What you describe is exactly what people find in the float bowls of
carbs (aluminum and zinc) in CA where alcohol is routinely added to
gasoline. Likely, the disintegrating fabric held water against the tank
until the water could worm-hole through.
Some radiator shops do this fix, and a few hot-rod or restoration
shops. I've done it a few times without explosions in the back yard.
I'd call Don Byars or some other well-known restoration shop in your
area. As you know, getting the tank out is nearly as bad as the fix!
The safety aspect requires flipping and bracing the tank so the
cut-away area to be repaired is uppermost, then fill the tank with
water up to within an inch or so of the repair area. After that, its
almost like body work.
You're right- the fiberglas wrap in early pre-Ls was a visual band-aid
for the DOT who were crazy with mindless directives back then. Don't
bother re-fiberglassing- a good heavy coat of spray-epoxy paint made
for aluminum will give more protection than you ever had before. After
all, the thing survived a rear-ender! Or, a repro steel tank from a
number of vendors is only 8 lbs heavier (If I remember from Ted
Mitchell) than an aluminum one that no one can see. Good luck- J DeRyke
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Barkley <rlbpantera at earthlink.net>
To: detomaso <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Sat, Sep 13, 2014 4:44 pm
Subject: [DeTomaso] Aluminum gas tank repair and question
I'll start with the question. The US Panteras were retro fitted here
with a wrap of fiberglass, supposedly for safety reasons. Something I
read made me think that the European cars with aluminum tanks were
never wrapped. Anyone know if this is true? I removed all of it when I
started looking for the leak. It is only one layer thick (0.03") and
rips very easily. It seems impossible for me to believe this would have
any benefit in a crash severe enough to rupture the tank. So I'm
considering not re-coating it and just painting it, probably silver.
Any thoughts are welcome.
Now the story and repair. Zonkey's aluminum gas tank started to leek a
few months ago which came as a big surprise as it was clean with no
sign of corrosion 14 years ago when I did the restoration. The car has
been apart for the last 5 years as a result of a rear ending. I'm now
starting the re-assembly and repairing the tank is the first thing on
my list.
So last week I pulled the tank and looked inside. Everything was very
clean except for a few patches of some very strange stuff in spots on
the bottom of the tank. It was somewhat granular, sort of like clumps
of very large salt crystals stuck together. It crumbled easily with a
little finger pressure. I didn't think much of it at the time as I was
pretty sure the leak was somewhere other than the bottom as it had
stopped leaking with 3 gallons or so left in the tank. Under each clump
was a discolored spot which turned out to be corrosion. I have an in
tank electric fuel pump to feed 4.6L Cobra Mod Motor and the pre-filter
sock on the inlet was gone. I suspect the the material from that was
somehow transformed into the strange clumps which trapped water causing
the corrosion.
Anyway, I decided to repair the leak with the POR-15 tank sealer:
[1][1]http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fu...ank-Sealer_p_64.html
It is a three step process, cleaning with their strong cleaner, acid
etching with "metal ready" and then sloshing the tank with their
sealer. When I started the process I thought I had one very small
pinhole. The cleaning step revealed two more smaller pinholes. However
the etching brought out a total of 7 pinholes. All had grown larger,
and all of them were in a corroded spot. I'm confident that the POR-15
will be more than sufficient to permanently seal the tank although I
may add a couple layers of fiberglass on the bottom to strengthen it
and prevent possible corrosion from the outside.
Richard
--
-----
Sincerely, Richard Barkley
To Ski or not to Ski, that is the question!
Richard Barkley (310) 373-6695 (home)
E-mail: rlbpantera <atsign> earthlink.net
ZONKEY'S home page: [2][2]http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera
References
1. [3]http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fu...ank-Sealer_p_64.html
2. [4]http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera
_______________________________________________
Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
DeTomaso mailing list
[5]DeTomaso at poca.com
[6]http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
References
1. http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fu...ank-Sealer_p_64.html
2. http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera
3. http://www.por15.com/POR-15-Fu...ank-Sealer_p_64.html
4. http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera
5. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
6. http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
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