Wanna cut the gas tank out of the model A but it recently had gas in it, what's the best way to de-fuel it to cut? Gonna use a plasma cutter on it. Most radiator shops quit doing gas tanks around here.
I don't have to say this can be dangerous, do I? A friend of my brother's lost his life cutting a gas tank. But if you must, drain (naturally!!) then fill with water. Leave the cap off and the water in as you cut. Watch out for steam, it burns!!
fill it full of soapy water and try to clean it out as good as you can. then fill it with water again and put the gas cap on, turn it over and start cutting. Leave the water in it while you cut. Mine had not had fuel in it for atleast 5 yrs (may have been 10) and I was still nervous as hell when I did mine.
I saw this trick about 45 or so years ago.This is not a instruction but the way I do it. I repair several fuel tanks a year. What I do after the drain and clean. I fire up the old pickup truck and put the filler neck on the exhalst pipe and let the engine run for about 30 min. then as the filler is still on the exhalst and the truck running I do my repairs. No oxygen no fire..... Be careful....Bobby..
Drain wash with hot soapy water rinse drain get some chunks of dry ice, crush, pour in tank add warm water when fog comes out tank is full of carbon dioxide. Worked for me ( I used about 2 lbs of dry ice in old JD tractor tank. Poured dry ice and water in tank, put gas cap on, and then welded up the rusted bottom while the fog was coming out.)
Run a flexible exhaust pipe off the tailpipe of another car and crank it up, let it run about five minutes and start cutting. I do this for welding/cutting on gas tanks, carbon monoxide contains no oxygen and can not burn or explode. I also rinse them out before doing this with water. I have welded on pump gas and racing fuel tanks using this method and it has never even puffed or attempted to.
I just repaired a gas tank that recently had gas in it. I soaked in the moll***as sulution for a few days, it cleaned all the rust out, then I soldered it with no gas fumes what so ever. Do a search.
I got screwed on a used gas tank once and last.When I tried to repair a gas tank the damn thing kept making new holes.The inside was so pitted that the flame from my torch kept causing the paper thin spots to blow out. I finally threw it out and bought a poly tank. I should have dumped it in the SOBs driveway that sold it to me!
Did mine last year, Soap & water a couple times, shoot a fire extinguisher in it. It worked but I worried the whole time.
I worked in a radiator repair shop for 3+years every tank we repaired we ran a steam jenny through for 20 minutes or so DO NOT PLUG ANYTHING while cutting or welding!!! to test after you flush the tank tape over all but 2 openings in the tank stick an air nozzle in a lower opening with low pressure you just want a little air movement out of your other hole. Now place an open flame near the exhaust, IF the exhaust air should ignite DON'T panic remove the flame source NOT the air line the flame will simple blow out you won't blow up.You can leave the air running while you do your cutting.but remove all covers on openings.I did forget to say we pug all but 1 hole that the jenny nozzle was in at the top of the tanks highest point so all water flushed out from there.if you can get away with it in your are use the local car wash and run a wash cycle through your tank.for tanks that are badly pinholed sandblast the outside and use solder youl be surprised at what can be saved this way with a little practice! to test your tank plug all openings and use a hand pump to put no more than 2 lbs of air into it NEVER!!! more than that,then paint the entire tank with a soap and water mix if there's a leak youl see a string of bubbles.We did almost all our repairs by soldering in this manner.roughly 4 lbs. of air will turn a 60s chevy pickup incab gas tank into a nice round ballon ! and no I didn'T do it!we did well over 100 tanks while i was there with no problems the exhaust gas thing also works but do you realy want to work in exhaust fumes ?
Pull sending unit out. Knock hole in corner of tank (to drain water out) Flush tank out real good with water (draining all the water out) then get a radiator hose and hook it up to your car and let it run for at least a half hour. Pull it off exhaust, plug holes with rags leaving carbon monoxide in tank, and immediately solder penny over your drain hole and them repair your leak. Do not let tank sit and then weld. As the gas fumes will come back. I've been in the radiator business for over thirty years (before EPA put me out of business) and have fixed hundreds of gas tanks.
Thanks for all the suggestions on this, just found a radiator shop here in town that will clean it out.
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