A Cautionary Tale

[InfilTR8]

Are these fuel tank sealers impervious to ethanol gas (gasohol, or whatever other name they are using)? The ethanol gas mandated by law in my area eats up fibreglass and epoxy, as proven by boaters.

Has anyone chosen to use a polyurethane (plastic, just like extra gas cans) tank as a replacement? Has any company made a direct size/shape replacement? If not, a generic rectangle box shape might suffice, couldn't it?

Hate what gasohol is doing.

Ima TRyFixTR8 my first Triumph

[FI Spyder]

The POR-15 says it's good for Stage II fuels with high alcohol content.

http://www.por15canada.com/can/tanksealfuelpreserve.asp

It's been raining so I haven't been able to make the frame for the tank rotisserie. I've sprayed the under side of car (pictures of areas above) with Pro Form wax based undercoating. It stays tacky which I didn't care for but it bonds at a molecular level and is good for exterior or interior and should creep into cranies and stay flexible and not harden and crack like regular undercoating.


TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

As you can see rear axles wasn't too bad but needs painting. The alloys are 14" that Launie gave me. (He was a member here a year or two back before he abandoned his project and went over to the dark side (Fiat FI Spyder). I plan to paint the off plane surfaces body colour (yet to be determined) and use them on Yellow TCT.



TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

I've made a gas tank rotisserie out of some scrap lumber and two engine stands I have. As they are not parallel (canted up) I used some wheels I've had lying around for years (over twenty[:I]). While it doesn't rotate easily 360 degrees I can get some good rotating/sloshing action then more carefully reposition the tank to get the top section. Now I just need some warm sunny days as the solutions work better when warm (the next 5 days are sopposed to be good. First one is POR-15 Marine Clean to get out the gas and varnish in the rust and failed sealer out. The silver extension is aluminum I picked up at the recyclers for $6 To joine the stands together so I can draq it out for emptying. Tomorrow is POR-15 day so after that I will try it out.




TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[REPLIC8]

That's a fine bit of engineering. Should make your job much easier, nice to see another twin hole tank being saved. [:)]

Andy
1981 UK SPEC TR8

[Shauniedawn]

I wish that was the extent of the rust problems i EVER HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH WITH uk CARS! (Bloody caps lock).

I think you could've had a much more elaborate design for your tank roller [:p]

I bet you had fun making that.

Shaun

[FI Spyder]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Shauniedawn</i>


I think you could've had a much more elaborate design for your tank roller [:p]

I bet you had fun making that.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Acutally wasn't too bad, a couple of cuts on some 1x2 and 2x2 for the ends to clamp the seam. Had to recut the one set 2x2's as they were a bit short after I got to fitting stage. Some drilling for the carriage bolts. Then screws to attach the plywood ends (free scrap from Home Depot) the drill holes and bolt it to engine stands. The aluminum tubing has a simple drill hole but other end I cut out lower side so it would slide over caster mounting bolt in engine stand. A bit of a hassle but I will use it when I do Yellow TCT's gas tank as well. Much better than trying to slosh around by hand but the proof will be in the doing.



TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

Well it was sunny and warmer today so I cleaned the tank with Marine Clean and hot water (twice) to get out the varnish and residual gas. It worked rather well with the sloshing and rotating. The shop lights kept the tank very warm for maximum efficiency. I Sealed the filler hole with a thin wall Zip lock type bag and a chocolate pudding cup over that. This was secured with a strip of stiff vinyl I had lying around and used the filler hose jubilee clip to cinch it tight. The bung that was previously inserted meant I didn't have to undo the sealing rings eveytime I wanted to empty or flush out, handy. My only concern now is the POR-Strip going to take out the previous sealer with out having to cut open the tank to scrub it out and having to get it welded shut as I don't have the A/C set up for my welder yet. [B)]





TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

I've been spraying the POR-15 Stripper in the fill hole and gas vapour line which coils into the gas tank. The stripper softens the failed sealer but a brush helps scrape it off the surface. I can't get a brush into the small line so I reamed it out with a 14 gauge electrical wire with some of the insulation folded back. When no red/brown is wiped off the wire I know it is clean. Took about 10 trys.


While soaking the fill hole and vapour line I have the brake lines installed on the rear axle. I am replacing the flex brake line with braided. While the rear axle has been painted with POR-15 with final coat of POR-15 Chassis Black (UV resistant) the original orange factory paint splash shows through on the diff. plate.


Installing the rear suspension bushings I hand filed the corners and wire brushed to debur so the bushing doesn't catch.


While the hard poly bushing went on with no problems the softer coloured ones trapped air and so I drilled a small hole in it so the air could escape as it was pressed into place.


Soft bushings where pressed into place with a vise.


I am using hard black poly bushings at the rear axle and softer coloured bushings at the body end to isolate road noise and differential whine from the passenger compartment. It is suggested to use rubber at the body side but the softer poly should work as good or better. The other half of the sets will be used on Yellow TCT. The springs had a touch up of POR-15/Chassis Black but the original red and white factory spashes were retained as the paint was good in that area.



TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

I've sprayed in the tank about 1 1/2 liters of POR-15 Stripper (contains Methaline Chloride like most strippers). I put in some nuts and bolts and about 3 litres of roofing nails to help loosen the sealer as I rotate it as the stripper softens the sealer but doesn't disolve it (takes just seconds on paint.) I've had it soaking about a week as I rotated it every so often for a couple of minutes at a time. (wish I had an electric motor hooked up to it.) Today I drained it and flushed it out with pressure washer. It's taken about half of it off and even removed the rust on same amount. Two "fir balls" of gunk and nails as well as some on the individual nails. The stuff has the consistancy of well chewed gum. I found that a heat gun can burn it to carbon (on nails) the the stripper more easily releases it from metal. I was going to repaint the tank anyways so am going to strip paint/coating off the tank then go at it with the heat gun to burn the sealer on the inside. Then stripper and nails and some rotating should get the balance out.




TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

After over a month I can see the light at the end of the tunnel..... and it's a train coming the other way...nooooo!

Just kidding. The failed epoxy is out of the tank. The toughest part was the baffle where the nails tended to not fall into. I bought a 90 degree flex cable for my drill to loosen the thickest epoxy in the baffle and around it's sides. See picture below. If I knew how long this would take I woud have rented a cement mixer if the tank would have fit in and it would have been done in a couple days to a week. A week before the Van Duesen Car Show (that I missed) I called the only rad/gas tank place in town and he couldn't do anything I wasn't doing. He (I) could have cut a hole in the tank to get access to wire brush it out then weld it back up but that would have been expensive (or time consuming for me as I don't have that electrical ciruit approved yet and I have no experience on my welder yet so I didn't want to do that.

Tomorrow is suppose to be showers with good days after that so one more day of turning, then flush it out. There wasn't much rust under the sealer. The tumbling nails (and nuts and bolts) get rid of the rust leaving a nice shiney clean surface so all the Metalready will have to do is etch the tank and leave a coating of zinc then the sealer and then four days of curing (moisture activated like their other products.) While that's happening I can paint it and put the braided brake lines on the front brakes etc.

Over the hump, it's all down hill from here (I hope).




TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[FI Spyder]

Today I sealed my tank. After stirring the quart container containing a clearish thick liquid with silver that sat on the bottom I brushed some in the inlet hose with an old tooth brush in case it didn't get in there. I then sealed that up the regular way and poured the rest into the baffle using a plastic hose and funnel. I sealed it up and with the tank off the rotisserie I slowly rocked it at both ends then put it on the rotisserie and looked inside. There was a little bit on the low end and I thought "This is never going to cover, I'm going to have to go into town and get another quart at least, maybe two. I decided to give it some time and slowly rocked it around for ten minutes and took a look. To my surprize it was pretty much all covered. The stuff seeks bare metal like an Alien seeks Sigourney Weaver. After turning for about half an hour with one side of the rotisserie lower then the other I pulled the drain cock and let it drain into the container for half and hour or so. You can see how much was actually used. It's biblical (recall the loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes)how those POR-15 guys can stretch their paint and sealer.



The stuff reminded me of something we used to use called liquid solder. Here's shots of it on the baffle and inlet tube.





Next time I do it (on Yellow TCT?) I wouldn't put the dregs of the can in. I wouldn't do it on a tank that didn't have a bung and drain plug in as it would be impossible to drain out as the openings are not on the low part of the tank and it would be impossible to drain all of it and your not supposed to allow it to puddle.


TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[jbsjim]

That looks really good. Should last forever. I'm always unhappy when I realize my old 63 MGB has a gas tank drain and my later cars do not. It's a handy thing to have. Jim

[FI Spyder]

A shot of the curing gas tank. It's supposed to take 4 days but the weathers been cool and could have used more warm air assist. The foam on the top is truck top gasket but I'll use double thickness to replicate thickness of original material.



A shot of the fuel pump for the FI guys. You'll see the pump mounted offset to the left to accomodate the straight fuel hose (not preformed) so it doesn't contact the car body. I used some of the above gasket on between the rubber ribs to give a better grip for the clamp.





TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[Beans]

That's one very thorough job on that fuel tank [;)]

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