DON'T do This to Your Car!

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quapman

Damn Yankee
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I got my very first A-body last Friday, so I'm all excited to start tearing into the project and un-do all the stuff the guy before me did wrong. I'm loving the fact that this car is almost 100% rust-FREE, so I figured I'd attack the rusty spare tire well. Taking the rubber plugs out of the holes is my first move and being a B/E body guy, I just jab a screwdriver in betwwen the plug and the hole. The first one(rearmost) comes right out. The bigger, front one gives me a little trouble, so out comes the rubber mallet.

Yep, blew a hole right into the tank.

Duh.

Duh.

One more duh.

Drained the tank through the line up front and took it out. Hopefully, someone at work can weld the non-factory hole for me without blowing themselves up.

Nothing like ruining an original, no rust gas tank, not to mention a perfectly good Sunday morning!!! (Pea-sized hail came down an hour later!)

Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
 
Ugh...that sucks.

No real sense repairing it. You're much better off getting a new tank anyways. I'm willing to bet it's full of rust scale, & crap.
 
quapman said:
I got my very first A-body last Friday, so I'm all excited to start tearing into the project and un-do all the stuff the guy before me did wrong. I'm loving the fact that this car is almost 100% rust-FREE, so I figured I'd attack the rusty spare tire well. Taking the rubber plugs out of the holes is my first move and being a B/E body guy, I just jab a screwdriver in betwwen the plug and the hole. The first one(rearmost) comes right out. The bigger, front one gives me a little trouble, so out comes the rubber mallet.

Yep, blew a hole right into the tank.

Duh.

Duh.

One more duh.

Drained the tank through the line up front and took it out. Hopefully, someone at work can weld the non-factory hole for me without blowing themselves up.

Nothing like ruining an original, no rust gas tank, not to mention a perfectly good Sunday morning!!! (Pea-sized hail came down an hour later!)

Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
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**** hAappens. my fan flew thru my original radiator on my Dart Sport. a new gas tank will run ya bout 200 bucks. plus a 60$ sending unit if u need a new one. and yea theres probly gunk built up in there
 
Sorry about your bad luck but look at it this way you now can clean the inside and outside the tank.

If I was you I first take the tank to a radiator shop and have them boil it out and this will remove any fumes and gunk that may ignite.

I don't know for sure if this true or not but a fellow was telling me that he wanted to repair a small hole in a Mercedes gas tank. Took the tank out and had it boiled at the radiator shop. Went to spot the weld the hole two days later and it still ignited. He said that it made a barrel out of the gas tank! Scared the carp out of him LOL!
 
There are other ways to seal it. Especially being at the top of the tank. Wellding is not a good plan. I would epoxy a plug in it without draining the fuel if possible.
 
Make it round with a brass drift punch and run a 1/2 in. tap in and use a manifold plug with sealant
 
When I was in Vo-Tech auto shop class (a looooooong time ago!) they had me patch the tank on the 65 Corvette that belonged to the guy that ran the school. They had me sand the surface around the leak then use a screw with an O-ring all smeared up with epoxy to plug the hole. Then smeared more epoxy over the head of the screw. It was on the bottom of the tank & it sealed it up.
 
quapman said:
I got my very first A-body last Friday, so I'm all excited to start tearing into the project and un-do all the stuff the guy before me did wrong. I'm loving the fact that this car is almost 100% rust-FREE, so I figured I'd attack the rusty spare tire well. Taking the rubber plugs out of the holes is my first move and being a B/E body guy, I just jab a screwdriver in betwwen the plug and the hole. The first one(rearmost) comes right out. The bigger, front one gives me a little trouble, so out comes the rubber mallet.

Yep, blew a hole right into the tank.

Duh.

Duh.

One more duh.

Drained the tank through the line up front and took it out. Hopefully, someone at work can weld the non-factory hole for me without blowing themselves up.

Nothing like ruining an original, no rust gas tank, not to mention a perfectly good Sunday morning!!! (Pea-sized hail came down an hour later!)

Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Click to expand...


WOW! What a dumbass! :-\"
 
Woodys_Cuda said:
No real sense repairing it. You're much better off getting a new tank anyways. I'm willing to bet it's full of rust scale, & crap.
Click to expand...

Nope, no rust or crap inside, just a little surface rust outside. The rest is actually still Shiny! This car only has 77k on the odometer.

Not sure I want to spent $$ on a new one either.

How mush to ship one of those west coast tanks, russ?

Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Frank!
 
quapman said:
Not sure I want to spent $$ on a new one either.


Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Frank!
Click to expand...


Sorry, I couldn't help myself! :bootysha:

BTW- I got a new tank for my Road Runner from a place in MN for $139.00! If you want the info e-mail me and I'll see if I can find it! :-D
 
Sounds like something I would do.

IU would replace it with a new one too just for safe measure, plus probably a good time to replace all the dry rotted rubber brake lines near the tank too.

I need to do this myself as well with all new rubber/seals/tank/sending unit.
 
You could try silicone ... Before anyone laughs, my original Duster tank had a pin hole on the bottom 25 years ago and we put silicone over it and it never leaked.. You could try that real good black stuff that comes in the smaller tubes (NAPA has it) Clean it good w/ brake cleaner first .. If it's on top I'd bet it would work like a charm..

Good luck,

Kenny
 
I've replaced the gas tank on any old car I have ever purchased. It's piece of mind for me. It's your call in the end. Just my thoughts.
 
Don't forget to put a new pad ontop of the tank when you mount it. The old ones are trash after 30+ years. I used a 1/2 inch peice of rubber that I cut to fit then glued it in place.
I would also say just get a new tank that way it wont be in the back of your mind when your driving.
 
On top of the tank, no biggie. Just about anything yuo can do to patch it up will probably be fine. I like the tap in a real plug idea, tho...
 
OK, I've decided NOT to weld as I'm not in favor of blowing the tank or myself up. I've found MANY stories on the net about how to properly purge the tank of flammable gasses and I'm just not going to run exhaust fumes through it for 1-2 hours with gas at $3.54 a gallon. (If that even works, eh?)

I'm too cheap to buy a NEW tank before repairing this one, but can supply my shipping address for anyone who insists that I need one.

I'm a Mold Maker and have been in tool & Die for over 20 years, so the pipe plug in sheet metal is not for me. Plus, if it sticks up too high, I'll never get the drain plug back in the trunk floor. If it works for you, excellent.

I'm going for the J.B. Weld sandwich. J.B. on the tank, then a little more J.B. on a small sheetmetal patch, then slap the patch on the "holy" area. I'm thinking of adding more J.B. or maybe even a Mat/Resin patch over the whole area later. I want to allow cure time before any additional covering.

Once installed, I will be able to monitor the patch easily through the factory drain hole in the trunk, so if it doesn't hold I will know soon enough. Being a southron (sic) car, it only took me about ten minutes to get it out (not incluing the 1/2 hour drain time), so another round of R&R shouldn't be a big deal if I go "New Tank" later. Being from the rust belt, cars like this just make me smile...Original J-bolts, fuel lines, straps, etc., all easily turned & removed.

Will post pics of the proccess soon.
 
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