Moon tank...remove the dents or leave the dents

After several years of gathering, managed to get all the right pieces. Tank is an original, not a repop but it has several dents and my Deuce is not high tech but not a rat rod either. Leave the dents or get them worked out and is that an option?

 

they show character...leave em.

 

hmm...thats a good question. They dont really take anything away from the tank...by that I mean they arent big enough to affect the way it was designed to operate. I think I would leave them for now....looks like it would be easy enough to pull apart later and fix if it really bothers you.

 

Leave 'em. Mine's all dented up and stuff too- but it's old. If you want a perfect one buy a new one or spent the real big buxxx and get a pristine vintage example. It doesn't sound like you want to do either, so leave it. I wouldn't knock you for it.

 

Hit it again! I'll lend you the F'ing "HAMB'er"

 

i'm not exactly sure how you would get them out...you would have to get them through the gas filler neck. you may just make it worst..i say leave them

 

Leave them!

 

I would leave them. Nice piece.
Gives it some "history" and doesn't hurt the looks... '22

 

Leave them.

 

Garage Queen perfect, all shiny and new, is nice. Dents are cool. I'll take cool over nice any day.

furyus

 

Don't think there is a practical, noninvasive way to fix it. Run it as is.

 

I've got one that isn't as nice for my Lyndwood rail, I plan to buy a new one and add the old filler neck.

 

For me it will depend on the build. Mine is worse then yours but will suit my build as my whole car will be a little the same. If you are spending heaps of $ or hrs in body work, putting on really nice gloss paint, flash wheels etc I'd be hunting up a perfect one.

 

If you are building a driver than I say run it. Once you get some rock chips on the grille shell it will look perfect.

 

Put down the mouse ,pick up a hammer add a dent and mount it on the car, You know make it your own

 

If you plan on running it up front, and driving on the road, it is going to end up looking up like this anyway. The tank is authentic, and so are the dents. I say leave it alone.

 

Definitely leave them. Adds character

 

At the local cruise.........
'Yeah, and that dent was from when it was on the front of 'Winged Express', but then they went to the 'bullet' so we threw it on the Lakes car. Thats where the other dent came from, then I needed one for this car, so...........'

 

Looks good to me!

 

Now thats funny

 

I so hate patina paint[fanzy word for screwed up],but thoughs small dings are fine in a alum tank. lev'm

 

Wow , you got a good answer from all , leave em.

 

I took one that was in much worse shape and made it look almost new. I bought a length of 1/4" round rod and made several pry tools that allowed me to access each dent through the fill hole. and slowly work them out from inside the tank. You have to work slowly as stretching the aluminum from the inside is easy. If you've ever watched one of those dent removal guys that use pry bars and work the inside of a dented fender without removing the paint it's the same kind of deal. After you get the dents out then work the whole outaside of the tank with fine emery cloth and a scothbrite pad to restore the brushed finish. It's a lot of patient work and when your done you'll probably wish you'd of left the dents in.

Frank

 

Fix them.

 

You should add more dents and some dirt so it looks more like you just found it somewhere. Like in an old barn or something.

 

I have one just like it that I bought on the hamb board a couple years ago.
I'm gonna put it on my sixties styled "A" roadster.
Leave the small dents and dings...it adds character and shows the rod to be a driver. Not a trailer...garage queen. The cool factor is there with a few dings in my opinion. (Don't listen to Frank) he's just a GOLDCHAINER at heart!!!!

 

You don't have to tear up the dented tank, sell it and go from there.

I believe Moon still sells the old style filler bung.
If not in the catalog, perhaps on the back of the shelf in a dusty box.

Take note that some of Moon's little tanks use a radiator cap and they may fit a standard gas cap.
That bung may be an available part.


I'd try to machine a new filler neck similar to the old one.

Another way around it would be to machine a threaded filler neck, make a simple round cap and JB Weld a gutted cap over the aluminum round cap.

Seal it with an O-ring or small oil filter rubber gasket.

Just got done making a couple of threaded aluminum bungs, base, retaining ring and caps.

They work well.

 

Racecars and race parts have a rough life. It just shows the the part has some history or, at least fell off the work bench. lol Either way I'd leave it as it is.

 

If I bought a new one I'd put some dents in it, it would show up the rest of my heap otherwise !!!!

 

I wsa thinking ne of the Painless Dent removal tools...

and it seems Frank made his own...

either way is fine. If I had the time I'd probably fix it, but would be fine running it like that as well.