I won't use power tools or open flame on a tank. I gash it open with a chisel when it's filled with water, then use tin snips. If I can't handle it with those tools, I ain't touching it. Once it's open and thoroughly washed inside, it's game on.
I have seen it used and used the exhaust trick myself, not my brother or cousin or my cousins brother, ME. I'm not a biologist and all the thinking some have done would make my head hurt. We didn't have to go anywhere to get anything, just things we had in the shop, Didn't have a steam cleaner or dry ice or any of that, Just a hose to put over a tailpipe and over the inlet, Wish I knew the times I did it that it wouldn't work.
My point was not really about brothers or cousins or friends of friends. You just want to muddy the water. Wrong ? Hardly.
Exhaust fumes are just another way to displace an explosive mixture, if done properly it is perfectly safe. I have been on site where many 300 barrel oil tanks were welded on using this method, and they had just been emptied of raw unrefined condensate, just as explosive as gasoline. It is fine for you to teach a method that you believe in, but to come on here and tell people that a method that has been used successfully all over the world for yrs. is unsafe is just silly.
Buncha touchy fucks on this topic, huh? Logic, it's not just a word in the dictionary. Niether is emulsify, or safety, or saw (vs torch or cutoff wheel). This isn't in the dictionary at all: http://www.honestcharley.com/hot-rod-parts/28-31-model-a-ford/cowl-cover-1930-31-smooth.html What's a good A gas tank worth? I don't think too much less, and the labor savings may logically cover any cost over the sold price of a good tank. Maybe you can find this part for less?
Bingo. I learned this method form an old welder with his own shop in Cohocton, NY in 1972, when he welded a crack in the fuel tank in my '70 Ski-Doo, which was part of the frame underneath the engine, with a filler tube than ran up through the hood. He drained the tank, flushed it with water, and ran a flex pipe that was slightly smaller than the filler tube from the exhaust of a Wisconsin V4 on his portable welding trailer down to the bottom of the tank, fired it up and let it run for two hours and started welding. After about 10 minutes, the remaining water started steaming out around the flex pipe. He also welded reinforcing straps under the rear axles of our three M35 deuce and a halfs that were cracking under load, similar to the braces used on drag race 9" Fords but underneath with the drop-in pumpkins on the trucks using the same method- but he did remove all the wheels and tires and put them on the the other side of the shop, well away from any heat source (look it up)- around '66
Never thought this would reach 4 pages but it seems to be a topic worth discussion. I am taking the tank out tomorrow and I will post how things go. Lots of great advice here. I still don't know what route I am going to take but I will let you guys know.
I've done two of them both with the exhuast trick,worked perfect.I called my buddy that has a race/resto shop for advice and he does all his tanks that way.It's not just luck,it leaves no explosive fumes in the tank,pretty simple.Good luck
I know a company that installs, removes and repairs tanks at gas stations and tank farms. They have a truck loaded with CO2 bottles to inert the tnks for welding and transport.
And probably more conflicted than before asking the question. Because this is the internet were everyone is a self appointed expert and proven science - common sense and years of experience count for nothing.
Hell, by now I could have drove to this guys place and done it MY way Myself! and it woulda been finished already exactly the way I said Ive done it,, with absolutly no problems. Some people can over think the most easiest of tasks, its a wonder they get anything done
Man, they count for plenty in my book. Takes a bit to be able to spot a self appointed experts but its good for some laughs. As time passes, ", common sense" becomes less and less common. Mark Twain noticed this and now here we are a century later. Common sense and dinosaurs will be in the same sentence by next century. This widespread internet spewage of nincompoopery will be what fuels the thoughts and stunts the growth of those that follow.
If all you need is the cowl cover and you're going to cut an A tank you don't need a good tank... I bought one at a local car swap meet last week, with pinholes in the tank, for $20 (he dropped from $35); I saw a nicer one there for $75. I guess what you need in quality depends if you're building a driver or a street rod.
The Jalopy Journal
