Solder Your Gas Tank?

I just got done soldering the gas tank on our 56 merc. Will solder work to fix a lot if pin holes. Tell me before i put her back up there... thanks
wingnut

 

It will last forever if it was cleaned good. I know a guy that used to fix tanks with gas in them still in the car. He used a great big soldering iron that he would get hot with a torch, and he would solder on a penny to plug the leak.

 

I soldered a hole in the side of my tank that looked like a small screwdriver went through it. I put a couple layers of fiberglass over it too and it hasn't leaked yet.

 

Those big old soldering irons really work well. Actually Mr. Lage (our most excellent sheetmetal class instructor) made us call them "soldering coppers" rather than soldering irons because they were made of solid copper. I used a big honking soldering copper to fix a Jeep Cherokee radiator. Can't remember if it was half a pound or a pound, but it was big. Heat them up, pound or file them to a precision paint. Dip them in the pit of a block of sal-amoniac (sp?), rub on a little fresh solder and they are the brightest, shiniest soldering tools imaginable.

Hey, I'd make sure all of the gas was all out and maybe even filled with water. I really don't want to read a post about how someone blew himself up or was blinded or something like that. Fire and explosions are all fun, but only at a distance.

 

I did an old Model T tank awhile back. So far, works good; lasts a long time.

pigpen