Has anyone ever repaired a rusty fuel tank?

dang

dang

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My E3 fuel tank is rusted through the side but I checked it out more closely today and it's only on the top panel on one side. It's the side that faces rearward, which I thought was strange, but it's isolated to that one area. It looks like it could be repaired. Anyone ever done anything like that before? Braze a piece over the top?

rusted_tank.jpg
 
I hate to admit it, but I did a quickie repair back in about 1996 that's still holding after 23 years.

My coupe's fuel tank sprung a leak at the same point (corrosion below the center seam). I used a hand held wire brush to clean off the loose rust, bought some two part tank sealing compound (which is about the consistency of modeling clay), and worked it into the hole. It was something like this stuff:

DXS_16709.jpg
 
jmackro said:
I hate to admit it, but I did a quickie repair back in about 1996 that's still holding after 23 years.

My coupe's fuel tank sprung a leak at the same point (corrosion below the center seam). I used a hand held wire brush to clean off the loose rust, bought some two part tank sealing compound (which is about the consistency of modeling clay), and worked it into the hole. It was something like this stuff:

DXS_16709.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for admitting it! :) I may try this method with a metal plate if the tank cleans up okay.
 
dang said:
My E3 fuel tank is rusted through the side but I checked it out more closely today and it's only on the top panel on one side. It's the side that faces rearward, which I thought was strange, but it's isolated to that one area. It looks like it could be repaired. Anyone ever done anything like that before? Braze a piece over the top?

View attachment 64845
Click to expand...

As Markos suggests, I would hire this out to someone with experience in making sure there are no vapors in the tank before brazing.

Given the outside, you probably will need to think about rust inside the tank too. I had rust inside my tank, and used a product called Evaporust on mine. The stuff needs about 12 hours to work, and because I worked with only a gallon of Evaporust, I had to reposition the tank several times in order to get at different areas of the inside. It took about a week elapsed time.
 
THE ONLY PRODUCT
"POR15"!!!!!! I GLUED MY FUEL RETURN LINE WITH IT
ITS IMPERVIOUS TO EVERYTHING
SET A STRIP OF METAL ON IT
ITS DONE FOREVER
DRIES HARD A ROCK YOU CANT REMOVE IT ONCE ITS THERE
 
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