Gas Tank Repair

[jp5Touring]

So I restored a used gas tank a while back  that turned out pretty well I thought.  I think I could of just bought the MVP one at $369. and be done with it, for what I have into the restored one.

 

My question is what to do with my old one. The tank has some rust and appears to have a fiberglass patch. Is it time to send it to the recycler and just be done with it.

Or strip,patch and paint the thing. It does appear to be a tii tank that are kinda hard to come buy, I think ?? 

Thoughts, opinions please. 

 

 

 

[2002iii]

Doesn't look too bad on the outside, but hard to tell with paint. I would strip the paint off and assess the damage more. Then decide if it is worth fixing yourself or selling to someone else to restore or just beyond worth fixing and destined for the scrap heap.

[Son of Marty]

Yeah strip the paint off and have a good look at it, before grinding or welding on it put a pound or two of dry ice in it and have a couple of slow beers to let the c02 purge the gas fumes.

[jp5Touring]

I had the last one striped for $40.   I could throw $40. at it and see what I got. 

[2002iii]

1 minute ago, jp5Touring said:

I had the last one striped for $40.   I could throw $40. at it and see what I got. 

For $40 I hope you mean sand blasted, a can of aircraft paint stripper is like $10.

[Mike Self]

If you can still find a good radiator shop, they should be able to strip and repair the tank.  Some years ago a sharp piece of metal got kicked up on the highway and punctured my '73's gas tank.  Removed it, drained it and then took it to a radiator shop.  They purged the tank (ran a hose from a running car's exhaust into the filler pipe) and then soldered a penny over the hole.  It's still there.

 

Have you priced a tii tank new (presuming they're still available)? I think yours would be worth saving unless it's terribly rusted inside.

Mike

[jp5Touring]

2 hours ago, 2002iii said:

For $40 I hope you mean sand blasted, a can of aircraft paint stripper is like $10.

I had it dipped wanted the inside to be a clean as possible also. Turned out like new.

Plus I didn't have to do a thing.

 

1 hour ago, Mike Self said:

If you can still find a good radiator shop, they should be able to strip and repair the tank.  Some years ago a sharp piece of metal got kicked up on the highway and punctured my '73's gas tank.  Removed it, drained it and then took it to a radiator shop.  They purged the tank (ran a hose from a running car's exhaust into the filler pipe) and then soldered a penny over the hole.  It's still there.

 

Have you priced a tii tank new (presuming they're still available)? I think yours would be worth saving unless it's terribly rusted inside.

Mike

Thanks Mike, No one near me repairs them.  My Son is a pretty competent fabricator so if need be.

I thought tii tanks were hard to come by and this is the rarer of the two I'm guessing.

I Might have to put it on the list of things to do.

 

thx people

[BarrettN]

I have used the electrolisis method of rust removal by filling the tank with the washing soda solution and using pvc caps with holes in the center as "wheels" and rebar as the axle as the anode. It worked really well, it got into the seams between the two halves of the tank. The rust on this tank was moderate, it hadn't gotten to the point where the rust spreads the two halves apart. If you do use this method there is a softened residue where the rust was that has to be scrubbed or wire brushed to be removed. It comes off easily, after cleaning it out and drying the tank it is susceptible to flash rust, so I use phosphoric acid to keep that from happening. It may sound like a lot of steps, but I was really happy with the results, all rust was gone. I used red coat tank coating as the last step. 

[Conserv]

On 4/3/2021 at 7:20 PM, jp5Touring said:

I had it dipped wanted the inside to be a clean as possible also. Turned out like new.

Plus I didn't have to do a thing.

 

Thanks Mike, No one near me repairs them.  My Son is a pretty competent fabricator so if need be.

I thought tii tanks were hard to come by and this is the rarer of the two I'm guessing.

I Might have to put it on the list of things to do.

 

thx people

This is the earliest of the tii tanks, with a twist-in pickup. It was used in round taillight tii’s, U.S. 1972 models from VIN 2760001 through VIN 2761963.

 

”Type I. VIN’s 2760001 through 2761963 (most 1972 models): tank (46 liters) = 16111107596; pickup (twist-in) = 16121107413; pickup seal = 16121105332; fuel sender = 62161354267; fuel sender seal = 62168782015”

 

Regards,

 

Steve