It is
already well over a month ago that I collected a car load of freshly coated
parts from Habraken in Best. And amongst these parts was the fuel tank for the
car. When I removed it from the car it was in rather mint condition, both outside
and inside ...
But time
hadn't been kind to it. This is how it looked when I pulled it out of the shed over
three years later ...
The
outside still didn't look too bad, but the inside was worse. But it looked like
it was only surface rust. As there were no signs of something resembling serious
rust damage it was sent of for paint removal, shot blasting and powder coating
together with the other parts. But with the strict instructions to give me a
call if they found a leak. But no call came and it looked rather nice from the
outside when it returned with a fresh new black coating ...
Which
meant I could start with the last stage in the tank's refurbishment, coating
the inside. For this I used a special 2-pack epoxy coating from Tank Cure. As
the tank had been put in an oven to remove most of the old paint and muck, I
didn't expect there would be much grease or dirt left inside. There was only a handful
of blasting grit inside, which was easily removed with a vacuum cleaner with a
slim hose attached to it. After which the actual treatment could be carried out. I
decided to use the full treatment just to be safe; degreaser, rust remover and coating
...
But not
before I found myself this odd collection of items to plug the various openings
in the tank ...
As the
instructions clearly state that after degreasing and rust removal the tank should
be thoroughly flushed and dried I waited for some sunny and warm weather to aid
the drying. But while flushing the tank after degreasing I found there was
water coming out of somewhere. Turned out to be a very small hole in the lower
part of the tank! Luckily the instructions also state that the epoxy coating can
plug small holes. So I taped over the hole and carried on with the rust
removal. But not before I had a good look inside the tank ...
No visible
problems! After draining the rust removal after a few hours turning the tank
over regularly it was time for the final flush with water. Sounds easy, but
with the temperature reaching 30°C it was rather hard work shaking the tank
with some 15 litres of water inside. But every disadvantage has its advantage.
Due to the very hot weather the tank was dry within a few hours. Time for the
final stage and the actual coating. Thoroughly mixing the two compounds, pour the
mixture in the tank, turn the tank for 20 minutes and finally drain any surplus
fluid . All rather easy, except for the last part. Getting the surplus fluid
out turned out to be a bit messy. But at least the tank's outside wasn't affected.
Time to put the tank aside and let the coating cure properly. And this is how it looks now. Not a very smooth finish but most importantly all areas of the
tank have been coated ...
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