Hello Rick,
My in place gas tank repairs worked perfectly. I refilled the
tank yesterday without ever having to remove it. Permatex makes
some stuff that will stick right to gasoline wetted surfaces, but
I couldn't find any locally, (12020) but I did get their Radiator
and Gas tank repair kit. I drained the tank, let it dry well,
cleaned the area around the HOLE with BRAKE-CLEAN, sanded down to
bare metal with Emery Cloth, cleaned the brake-clean again then
wiped it all dry. Next I waited to be sure it was dry and clean,
then broke a chunk of the stick off. It's a two part epoxy stick
that you knead until uniform in color and texture. Formed it into
the recommended conical shape and shoved it into the hole and
smoothed it out around it to make about a 1" diameter patch.
It says it cures in two hours so i waited overnight, then added
1/2 gallon of gas back into the tank. That hole was fixed, but
there was another teeny tiny hole nearby! So small it would
probably take a month to leak a pint, but still obviously not
DRY, so I mixed some more compound and spread it around that leak
too. .. I waited another 4 or 5 hours, checking for dryness, then
painted the patched areas with black rustoleum. after that dried,
i poured another 5 gallons of gas in the tank and have seen no
indications of anything moist at the patched points....
VICTORY... ..
Total cost,
Permatex < $6
Brake Clean ~ $5
5 gallon gas can ~ $16
-- < $30 including tax.
and i still have the gas can, most of the brake clean, and most
the patch stuff. ..
way less than the cost a new tank, even it would have come from
CANADA. ..
by the way, do those new tanks come with a drain plug?
Best regards,
Bill L. mailto:pythias at pacifier.com
Mount St. Helens should have used earth control.
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