Hi chaps, im now pulling my hair out i thought id have a go at making my own steel fuel tank, and it all seemed to go well till i put some air in it and fond lots of tiny leaks. now i mean small leaks as ive blatted over the top of most of the welds again. it seems hopless to seal it up with my crap welding. is there any kind of resin or simular i can pour inside the thing to seal it up???? a m8 said there was some kind of stuff you can get to line the tank and stop it rusting inside, which may help and seal any small holes........cheers

Frosts make some fuel tank repair stuff that you just pour in and it seals any small holes.

http://www.frost.co.uk/

David

Ahhhhh, your a star. cheers for that

Trouble with MIG welding is cold start, when the wire first hits the job the metal is cold so you get a porus weld.

If you grind back the weld then start again with a continous bead you should be okay. Trying to fill in tiny holes merely repeats the problem.

Yes you can buy stuff that you pour in and swill about, however be wary of this. if it fails to bond to the metal then after a few months you may find it starting to break up and getting sucked into the engine. Been there, done that and spent hours cleaning carbs, fuel pumps etc then throwing the tank away.

If you have made a decent job it may be better to find someone with a tig welder or gas set and get them to remelt the welds for a few drinks.

Regards Mark

Here is our petrol tank ....




Our second attempt was much better, we bought it.

Yep, in my experience (have made a few) migging steel tanks is a "right first time" job.

You need to get the welds bang on first time. Just remember to always start the next weld around 10mm back over the end of the previous weld, this keeps the cold lapped bit over the top of already good weld. When you get all the way round to where you started, again overlap the previous weld by 10mm ish.

Also remeber to set the welder up so you can go really slowly and take your time, it's easy to set a mig up so that it rushes you along, you don't want this!

I made mine. It's not a work of art like the aluminium ones but it passed SVA and holds about 5 gallons. As Nat says, don't just try to blob the holes up. Nice one Roadkill Have it powdercoated, that will block the buggers up

if you know anyone in the aircraft industry or services, you need a tin of PR1005ch , put in in the tank & swill it around, completely fuel resistant

Yep. trying to mig a tank is a pain. You can use epoxy resin to seal holes, do the inside swirl thing and then it wont rust either.

Thanks lads, was thinking that it was my bad welding then. i thought that it was worth having a go but now im thinking of buying one. humbug