Cutting the top of the fuel tank to access inside

[gtrboyy]

EfiHardware sell weld in bulkheads....good if plan to keep car & might need to get hands in there again.

Not yet bough one but will probably guy a couple if ever get to fuel system stage of next build.

 

[losh1971]

modern fuel is that corrosive without the plating the weld will rust threw with in weeks even if you weld it liquid tight.

That's weird my bike tank is not plated and it's not rusty. I had to repair a steel tank once and I had to carve it into four pieces and sandblast it and have it welded back together. I had it running for years and it never went rusty again. Guys that do gas installations carve up steel tanks to fit a gas tank along side the petrol tank. I've not heard of getting them plated again. To even do so is not easy as I enquired about it years ago and the platers said it's too hard to do as they can't successfully drain all the liquid.

 

[vc commodore]

If you are curious how to seal up a tank after cutting it up, maybe contact this youtuber....In the posted video he has cut open a fuel tank and added in a sump.

He admits he didn't like the way he did it, but names the place that did the finished job

The portion showing it is around the 15 min mark

 

[Draimond]

What about a bolt on cap with a gasket?
No welding needed?

 

[Sandst4rm]

What about a bolt on cap with a gasket?
No welding needed?

I was about to suggest this, just get a sheet of like 3mm steel and a cork gasket like the one they use on the pump.

You would need to put threaded inserts on the tank though most likely, like rivnut or something.
Otherwise Everytime you want the access panel off, you have to take the pump out and reach inside to grab the nut on the other side lol...

 

[shane_3800]

That's weird my bike tank is not plated and it's not rusty. I had to repair a steel tank once and I had to carve it into four pieces and sandblast it and have it welded back together. I had it running for years and it never went rusty again. Guys that do gas installations carve up steel tanks to fit a gas tank along side the petrol tank. I've not heard of getting them plated again. To even do so is not easy as I enquired about it years ago and the platers said it's too hard to do as they can't successfully drain all the liquid.

I'm with you on this one Losh.

From what I've seen, in fuel tanks the fuel will push the oxygen out fairly fast and there's no oxygen to corrode stuff.

 

[Draimond]

Check these buggers out! No idea where to get them from but they exist. These waterproof nutserts would work great on the fuel tank, not sure if that seal will last but it doesn't necessarily have to with a thick cork gasket over the top.

Probably worth pointing out that the top face of the nutsert sits about a mm off the metal it's clamped through. But again, a thick cork gasket should do the trick.

If the area of the fuel tank that the nutsert is being inserted into is really thin. You could always find some really light sheet steel to double it up and just put black sealant in between the two layers. Nutserts do benefit from having at least 1.2mm to bite down on.

If you're worried about the nutsert spinning, you can always hit it with 240 grit paper to rough the contact area up, then coat with etch primer and put a dab of lock tight on to give it a bit more grab.