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General TR “Fuel Tank, No Leaks Great Condition”

CJD

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Or...

....how do you know when it’s time to change your fuel filter?

This is after just 500 miles with my wonderful Ebay fuel tank. It’s no wonder it leaked, contrary to the add!

qnzCpon.jpg


pjMp07X.jpg


Makes you think twice about running without a filter, huh!
 

dklawson

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Those are iron oxide particles added to the tank to plug any pin hole leaks that develop. They are sort of like the sodium silicate that firms used to include in antifreeze.

On a more serious note, that's why I didn't buy a used tank for my Mini when it developed a pin hole leak. You never know what you're going to get.
 
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CJD

CJD

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Saddest of all, I stalked Ebay and Craig’s list for 3-1/2 years for that rust bucket.
 

Dr_Mike

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One solution to "pin holes" is to use a tank liner, after chemically cleaning the tank. I had my old tank patched when I took it out 20 years ago, but decided to do the chemistry as well before putting it back. Still a long wait before I fill it, especially as I just noticed ( where was I?) that the filler hole is way out of line with the hole in the body! (like an inch or more). It looks as though i will have to tilt the tank backwards to line it up. Strange, since it is from the same body. But then just about everything else has trouble getting straight, though not the hand crank which fits precisely in centre of the radiator holder. Joy!

But getting the bottom hose connected with the Moss pieces was another sort of wrestling and cursing.. PO had used a flexible hose and i can see why!
I think I shall describe the whole process as the "Triumph Two-step"... one forward and two back.
 
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CJD

CJD

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I absolutely love working on cars, when the parts are available. It just gets frustrating when you find yourself paying for parts that should have been recycled, and still needing to find the part again, and again,...

I honestly think about 1/3 of the budget on this TR2 restoration went into unusable parts. I hate to do it, but I think I'm going to draw a line on 30 years old for future projects. That seems to be where the difficulty in obtaining parts gets severe.

Edit:

PS...most likely don't know, but my daily driver Jaguar got totaled 2 months ago in a hit and run. Real bummer, as I drove that car for 12 years and loved it. Anyway...I bought a much newer used Corvette to replace it, since the kids are graduating and hauling soccer players around is no longer a factor.

I bring this up, as I started frequenting the Corvette forums. I have never seen a worse group of individuals as frequent that forum. One guy posted that he loved his new Grand Sport Corvette...and was immediately barraged with posts of how stupid he was, and accused him of being a troll for Chevrolet.

I bring this up, as I want to say the Guys and Gals on our BCF forums are wonderful in comparison. In this post alone I have had 3 of you offering help with my fuel tank problems. You all are great, and I am proud to be a part of this community, where all are helpful and friendly!!

And...I deleted all my favorites to the corvette forums!
 

bobhustead

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After fashioning a vacuum cleaner extension so as to get all the dry bits out of my ebay "good used tank", I clogged filters after a couple hundred miles. Tank in place, I then put a long clear hose on a slurp gun, sucked up the particles I could see, rocked the car around and did the slurp gun routine again many times. Only clogged two more filters and am now on an annual filter change routine. Still get rust dust sediment in the filters, but not enough to clog.
Bob
 
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CJD

CJD

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I cleaned that tank a ton. I think every chip that broke off was plugging another leak!

I saved the rust bucket, as it has decent fittings...that will transfer to the patched TR2 tank...which had every fitting rusted off of it.
 

BobbyO

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For those who have an otherwise good fuel tank with a pin hole or holes, you might try aircraft fuel tank sealant. These are sealants designed to MIL Spec and are used to seal aircraft fuel cells. They come in a two part epoxy and can be spread over a relatively large area and bond with steel so it can be placed on the outside of the fuel tank. Definitely could cover the entire bottom of a TR fuel tank if needed. I have used it on a couple of occasions with great success. To find it, go online and search "aircraft fuel tank sealant".
 

dklawson

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For those who have an otherwise good fuel tank with a pin hole or holes, you might try aircraft fuel tank sealant. These are sealants designed to MIL Spec and are used to seal aircraft fuel cells. They come in a two part epoxy and can be spread over a relatively large area and bond with steel so it can be placed on the outside of the fuel tank.

Very interesting. I have not heard of an external tank sealant. I have recently tried the epoxy tank liner sold by Caswell. However, I only applied it a few months ago. I reserve judgement/comment until it has been in place for at least 5 years.

Does the aerospace industry and military have to deal with fuels with ethanol?
 

Dr_Mike

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The material I used was an internal sealer from Eastwood . Time will tell if it was effective. It required a chemical rinse of the tank before dropping it in and swishing around.. The tank welder had offered to do the same sort of fix after he welded it (20 years ago), and I had another product for a different car before that. They say the Concorde crash could have been avoided if they had used something like this.

I don't kn ow about Ethanol resistance. Good question.
 
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dklawson

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The material I used was an internal sealer from Eastwood . Time will tell if it was effective. It required a chemical rinse of the tank before dropping it in and swishing around.. The tank welder had offered to do the same sort of fix after he welded it (20 years ago), and I had another product for a different car before that. They say the Concorde crash could have been avoided if they had used something like this.

I don't know about Ethanol resistance. Good question.

I don't wish to drag this thread into another long discussion of tank coatings as there have been plenty of those on this and other boards. However, I will comment that the Eastwood product appears to just be a re-branded version of Kreem. I have used Kreem, POR, and Red Kote coatings before and have just tried Caswell epoxy. The POR and Kreem products require almost the same prep before application though the coating chemistry is quite different. Red Kote requires the least prep work. On the same tank... the Kreem coating failed after about 5 years, the POR after 6, and the Red Kote after 2. I reserve comment on the Caswell until it fails or at least 5 years have passed.

I assure you I am careful and always follow manufacturer's directions for application. In my experience, tank coatings are temporary with some being better than others. They can help save a rare, expensive, or marginal tank but I have yet to find one I consider a permanent fix. Would I coat more tanks? Absolutely. However, as I said, I don't consider DIY tank coating a permanent solution.
 
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