A2 Emissions Fuel Tank Update

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m75
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A2 Emissions Fuel Tank Update

Unread post by m75 » May 9th, 2018, 8:44 pm

OK, today I finally yanked the tank from the truck, pulled all of the valves, fittings, etc and drained the residual gas, which had been there at least three years. Surprisingly, the sheet metal beneath the tank was dirty, but in good form, just a dent from beneath that I straightened back.

I took the tank to a local radiator shop that had previously said they would handle gas tank cleaning and repair. Apparently times have changed, as they did not want the business and would not recommend another location. The residue in the tank was deep and nasty....

Took it home, started scraping and brushing the bottom exterior of the tank which looked OK when I started. As I removed more and more of the surface crud, started finding the dreaded pin holes and mild rust-through.

Since it appears to be wide-spread across the bottom shell, would someone have an A2 emissions tank in good form for sale? I will take the tank to one more shop that might be able to help, but I'd like to be sounding out a replacement if that isn't going to pan out in my favor.

18 May: Another wrinkle. When removing the tank fittings, I removed the four pan-head screws that held the fuel pickup fitting in place. I noticed a lot of cruddy sealant that had been used. The J-tube was solidly rusted into the steel bung. After a short time I realized that this bung was apparently supposed to be permanently attached to the tank, not screwed in. This was apparently done (again) by a previous owner. So, new pickup, lock ring and sock filter ordered. Due to the rust condition, I took the bung to the machine shop to see if they can work their wonder to free the bung, which needs to be soldered back on the tank.

And, I still haven't heard back on whether the tank is repairable from the pin hole epidemic. Stay tuned!
Last edited by m75 on May 18th, 2018, 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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rickf
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Re: A2 Emissions Fuel Tank

Unread post by rickf » May 9th, 2018, 9:07 pm

Red River used to have NOS A2 tanks, Don't know about now since people were buying them to cut the bottoms out and use for floors.
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Mark
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Re: A2 Emissions Fuel Tank

Unread post by Mark » May 9th, 2018, 11:42 pm

I had a gas tank leak in my street car, took it to a radiator place, they put a liquid coat sealer on the inside, that fixed the leak, hasn't leaked yet, have 300K miles on the car
mark


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Vzike
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Re: A2 Emissions Fuel Tank

Unread post by Vzike » May 10th, 2018, 8:59 am

On one of my buying trips, I found an A1 fuel tank, sitting on the ground in the guys wet back yard. It had a rust through on the bottom, full of rust and scale. The top cover and the fill cap were off. Clearly it had been that way for a long time.

The guy gave it to me. I took it home, cut out the rust through and welded it up. Took it to my local radiator shop. He boiled it out, soldered up a couple pin holes, recoated the inside of the tank, and primed it. It came back looking like a new tank. $120.

The down side was that he always cuts a couple 1" holes in corners. He used those to flush and circulate the acids and sealer. He solders in a plug when he's done. You could not even see the patch when he was done.

I'm pretty convinced that you can repair almost any fuel tank!

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