Posted by Tom in Indiana [32.166.249.116] on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 00:09:21 :
In Reply to: First experience with POR-15. posted by Tom in Indiana [166.198.45.43] on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 01:35:23 :
Well, the coated tank held up to test #1 today. It's still hanging from my open garage door, and since it was actually DONE, seeing it there gave me the motivation to grab the "leaky" tank and start on it. I know 99% of people say they never weld on a used gas tank. I'm the 1%, either through fearlessness or stupidity. The tank had been sitting vented and empty for a year, and I couldn't smell any hint of fumes, so I decided it was going to be welded. Today.
I have always had very, very low self-esteem and self-worth, so the possibility of me being blown to bits kind of even sounded nice, as bad as it sounds. Where the previous owner had modified the tank to make it driver's-side fill, it was lead soldered together with a piece of iron pipe as the fill spout. After plugging all of the orifices and filling the tank with water, I found it to be leaking around both the fuel line outlet and the fill tube. The fuel line outlet was a five-minute job. No leaks (with water. I'll recheck with fuel later) there now. The fill tube took a ton of "scratch welding" to get all of the lead off and out of the way. When I hit the molten lead with the air hose, it splattered all over the other, coated, tank-it didn't even faze the POR-15. I scraped it right off with a fingernail. Tough stuff, indeed! Anywho, after an hour of welding, another hour of grinding it all back down and cleaning the area got me to where I'm ready to start filling the pinholes, cracks, and so on around the fill tube. I hate welding anything twice due to the brittle factor, but it's a fuel tank, not a boiler. I'll let you guys know how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have both tanks back in this weekend. :)
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