Re: gas tank rebuild story
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Re: gas tank rebuild story



I'd think that Probably the full tank that kept it from blowing, and still quite lucky there wasnt a path to the fumes in the filler tube to the gap in the tank. Mostly Empty tanks are the scary ones to have around fire. Vaporized gas is quite explosive.

Rich Kinsley wrote:
I was on the Volunteer Fire Dept in Harrison, NE back in the mid-90's. Some school kids ran a Blazer in a ditch and in the process of trying to get it out they caught it on fire. The whole thing almost melted. The gas cap did melt. The tank was full of gas and was still intact afterwards. It didn't blow. Amazing!

Rich Kinsley '64 Dodge Polara 4dr 318poly w/goodies
=====================================================================
Douglas J wrote:
I guess I can believe the cig butt in the full gas tank. Liquid Gas burns, vapor explodes. Long as we are telling stories. Going back to when I had the tank wagon business, my first truck had an OLD Brownie tank on it, which had to be repaired on a regular basis. I took it to a place in Sioux Falls SD to get it repaired. They would open the compartment top (it had 5), open the valve in the back and spray around in it with a garden hose for a few minutes. then close the valve,, find the leak, and with the lid open (about 10 inches diameter) strike the arc and patch it up. Oh, they would "rinse" out the the other compartments too. After I saw it once, I started dropping off the truck and comming back later to get it. One day, I came back for it, and there was a semi tanker sitting there and some guy was welding on it. I went in to pay for repairs, and mentioned to the guy that even the big ones get leaks. Yeah, he says, "that came in here leakin like a b@stard. But they weld nice when they're full". Me an that old Dodge wasted no time gettin outa there. We also had a welding shop across from our gas station, and he used to weld up gas tanks all the time. IIRC, he filled them with water and brazed them shut. Wouldn't be for me. Guess I'm a coward!!

Jake
'63 Sport Fury 'vert







To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx
From: stevec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: gas tank rebuild story
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:39:07 -0500


They taught us how to repair tanks in school but with all the horror stories
they told while demonstrating the process I've never even tried it.  The
instructor had a large soldering "iron" which was in fact about 1 1/4"
square with a conical tip on one end, a shaft and wooden handle on the
other.  He would heat the iron with a torch some distance from the tank,
then use the hot iron to apply flux, then solder to the tank. Of course the
area to be repaired had been cleaned and prepped.

My ex brother-in-law (admittedly not the brightest light on the string) was attempting a repair on his '66 Satellite, and decided to use epoxy in lieu of any kind of heat in the name of safety. In order to plug the hole, he
decided to thread a screw into the hole in the tank, then epoxy over the
top. The screw wouldn't quite go in, so he grabbed his trusty drill, and...

The car and the garage were a total loss, along with siding on adjoining
houses. He escaped with minor burns but his buddy was scarred. On the other end of the spectrum, I once worked for a guy who worked in the
motor pool when he was in the Army.  As he told the story, they were not
supposed to smoke in the garage, and kept all the jeep gas tanks filled to the top of the neck. If an officer came into the garage, he said they would ditch their butts into the tank and replace the cap. I never quite bought
the story but he swore by it...

Bottom line, use extreme caution whenever working with a gas tank.

SC



-----Original Message-----
From: Gary [mailto:mopar413@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 1:52 PM
To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Tom Watters
Subject: Re: gas tank rebuild story


The idea of using exhaust is the safest and best way to weld a gas tank.
Just be sure to let the exhaust run a few minutes before welding. I use a
brass rod. Gas weld.
---- Tom Watters <tomwatters@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Soldering Gun or Iron. Pretty good idea. No Spark, can control fire. I'll have to remember that.

Dodger7998@xxxxxxx wrote:
For what it is worth I have welded on gas tanks before, have found that it can be done with the right precautions,,,,,,,what has worked for me in the past was the water rinse, and then to put a hose on exhaust of a running vehicle and pump it into the tank, I said weld, but was really brazing with brasse rod, have also known of friends that use a soldering iron and soldered the holes shut, but that is not my method of choice,,,,,,,, In a message dated 1/26/2010 7:48:45 P.M. Central Standard Time, spigot2039@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:


A while ago we had a long discussion here about repairing gas tanks, which we concluded *can* be done--if done correctly. If not done right....I'm forwarding the below story from the current Rock Auto
Newsletter.
Thanks,
Gary H.

============

"A friend of mine visited a car wash after we had just upgraded the exhaust system on his 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T. The exhaust caught on the wheel positioning guides for the automated carwash, pushing an exhaust clamp into the gas tank and puncturing it. In a matter of a few miles he went from a full tank to barely making it up his driveway
before running out of gas.
"My friend had just purchased a MIG welding setup, so we decided to fix the hole by welding it shut. We removed the gas tank, filled it with water as much as possible using a garden hose, and rinsed it carefully. We couldn't fill it completely with water due to the positioning of the fuel filler neck, but figuring we were safe, we settled down on his front lawn to weld the hole shut.

"As soon as he pulled the trigger on the welding torch there was a sound reminiscent of a fighter jet blasting overhead just over the treetops. I had been standing, but when the noise stopped, I was laying on my back and couldn't recall how I'd gotten there. My friend was also flat on his back, welding torch still in hand, looking stunned. His neighbors came outside and were all looking around
wondering where the thunderous noise had come  from.
"Apparently the small space in the tank that was not full of water had sufficient fumes in it to ignite causing the explosion. The 16 gallon gas tank had emptied itself completely of water in a fraction of a second, leaving only steam wafting out the filler neck hole. It had also doubled in size, expanding like a balloon, but fortunately hadn't blown to pieces. We avoided any injury beyond the
ringing in our ears and wounded  pride.
"Needless to say he bought a new gas tank and we never attempted to weld a gas tank again.

"Matt in  Washington"


----
Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and
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--
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


----
Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person --
directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to
the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy,
reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar
topic.  Thanks!
1962 to 1965 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html and
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/general_disclaimer.html.
----
Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person --
directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to
the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy,
reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar
topic.  Thanks!

1962 to 1965 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html and
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/general_disclaimer.html.

----
Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks!

1962 to 1965 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html and http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/general_disclaimer.html.


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Rich Kinsley '64 Dodge Polara 4dr 318poly w/goodies


----
Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

1962 to 1965 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html and http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/general_disclaimer.html.



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