Board logo

Soldering fuel tanks
Chris_R - 30/10/04 at 09:51 PM

Just out of interest, has anyone soldered a tank together?


Cheers,

Chris.

Mark Allanson - 30/10/04 at 10:18 PM

I welded mine, I think you would be ok with copper or brass, but you would really struggle with mild steel

Hellfire - 30/10/04 at 10:54 PM



I've found soldering very unsuccesful, especially on plastic. It either runs off, or through the material you're trying to solder.

I've not attempted trying to solder aluminium as welding seems a better practise.

Using brass or copper would cost the earth and weigh down the rear of the car, but would no doubt be succesfully soldered.


Chippy - 30/10/04 at 10:59 PM

It actualy works quite well. The trick is to tin all the surfaces that you are going to join first, and then solder together. Tinmans solder gives the best results, as it is very hard. One advantage is that as you use a great deal less heat, you do not get the distortion that welding gives. Way back all fuel tanks were soldered, mind you I am talking of WAY, WAY back.

Chris_R - 30/10/04 at 11:34 PM

Was Interested to see what everyone thought as I bought The Car Builders Manual today (foreword by Uncle Ron) which suggests using solder to patch steel tanks with a large electric iron, or when fabricating them from scratch using a gas blow torch. It also recommends 20 swg if you're making your tank from steel or 16 swg if you use alu.

Hugh Paterson - 31/10/04 at 09:39 AM

Suppose you could always try yer hand at brazing it in lieu of solder, once again less heat than welding, works a treat on thin tinplate strong joint too.
Shug.

mangogrooveworkshop - 31/10/04 at 11:01 AM

Considering what it carrys I will go with the stainless glued together by shug with his super trooper tig.....
Steve keep up the good work keeping shug practicing.

MikeRJ - 1/11/04 at 11:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
I welded mine, I think you would be ok with copper or brass, but you would really struggle with mild steel


Did you MIG it or use gas?

Mark Allanson - 2/11/04 at 07:48 PM

I used MIG, I used it very hot to avoid any leaks, I got a little distortion, but not enough to worry about. I love using sexy ahotalene, but I don't have the kit anymore, rentals got too expensive for occasional use. We don't even have it at work now!

Hugh Jarce - 6/11/04 at 03:05 AM

I used to frequently solder up cracks in my BSA and CCM MX tanks. I would first empty out any petrol and then purge the tank by holding the neck over the end of the exhaust of a running car for a few minutes.
I would then solder with tinman's and a blowlamp. Always worked perfectly on steel tanks. The aluminium ones were also soldered using some sticks of trick stuff who's name I can't remember.