Fuel tank rust dilemma

[musigenesis]

Cut off wheels throw sparks and hot slag. While I know diesel is not flammable like gasoline, it would still bother me to have sparks around it.

I've survived one explosion (natural gas)and set myself on fire twice (welding), enough to make me cautious. Walking thru fire is not much fun ether.


I'm thinking set some trash or oil on top of the tank on fire, then what?

Good thing I'll be using my electric shears.

 

[kidharris]

Good thing I'll be using my electric shears.

You going to weld those patches?

 

[musigenesis]

You going to weld those patches?

No, I'm going to weld bolts with the heads cut off onto the floor around the openings, and nut down a single large sheet over all four openings (like I did with my center trays) after I clean and paint everything. So the only welding will be on top of the floor, shouldn't be anything melting down through (I'll have my welding blanket over the tank, just in case).

 

[musigenesis]

The deed is done

It probably looks like I was close to cutting my fuel pipe here, but I only cut through the floor with my cutting wheel with two slits in a v-shape, over a spot where I felt around first to make sure nothing was underneath. I was then able to bend the triangle up and snap it off to make a starter hole for my electric shears. The side-to-side cuts were with the shears, and then I just scored the outside edges with my cutting wheel and bent the pieces off.



Tank is very dirty but the paint on the tank (at least the top side of it) is immaculate. Underside of the floor is rusty here but not too bad. With these holes I can reach everything (including the inside of the chassis rails) to clean and paint it.



The one-piece patch for this will have the original hole cutout for the tank sensor, but I'll have a cover piece screwed to it with a rubber gasket, so I can access the sensor later if need be.

 

[Native-SKO]

Looks like the surgery was a success!

 

[musigenesis]

Looks like the surgery was a success!

Ha, I naturally want to say "... but the patient died".

 

[banman]

Looks good -- glad to see you've finally cut back to a place where the metal gets solid!

It probably interferes too much with your interior build plan but consider making one or two large access plates there instead of welding anything back down over the tank.

If you ever have to drop the tank in the future it will be easier to have a larger access...

 

[musigenesis]

Access panel(s)

Made a single panel to cover these four openings, attached with headless bolts welded to the floor. Cut a hole in the middle to match the original small access hole in my floor and bolted a small hatch over that. After everything is painted, I'll reassemble this with a rubber gasket for the small hatch.

 

[musigenesis]

Looks good -- glad to see you've finally cut back to a place where the metal gets solid!

It probably interferes too much with your interior build plan but consider making one or two large access plates there instead of welding anything back down over the tank.

If you ever have to drop the tank in the future it will be easier to have a larger access...

Already put down one large panel over these holes, as you can see. I really didn't want to be welding over the fuel tank - I was even a bit nervous about welding these posts on.

 

[banman]

cover plate looks good.

 

[musigenesis]

cover plate looks good.

Thanks very much.

 

[rjheaton@aol.com]

Yes,there are things to consider. 1) the fuel line to engine. 2) the electronics for the fuel sending unit. 3) current Capacity of fuel tank.
If you remove the tank then you avoid the fire danger!
I would recommend removing the tank.
Remove the flooring in a single unit
Do the necessary repairs
Replace the fuel tank with a newer and larger one, and don’t forget to replace the fuel sending unit with a new one.
If you have all the tools and help on hand it should only take about three days.
If you need other help feel free to ask.

 

[sportyrick]

Built a second diesel tank for a truck once, it had a tiny pin hole leak, tried to mig it shut, it didn't blow up but did go vaaarrroom, was junk, all swelled up, had to make another one out of my pocket, diesel will explode. If worried about surprises you can fill any tank with exhaust from a small engine or even your car and it can't explode.......no oxygen no kaboom. I fix fuel tanks from 300 gallon diesel to 3 gallon motorcycle all the time....with fuel in them, no oxygen!!!!! Repaired a huge loader fuel tank where they backed into it and punched a fist sized hole in it, half full......no oxygen no problem. Run a steel flex exhaust pipe from any engine and you won't have a problem, just give it time to exhaust all the oxygen.

 

[musigenesis]

Yes,there are things to consider. 1) the fuel line to engine. 2) the electronics for the fuel sending unit. 3) current Capacity of fuel tank.
If you remove the tank then you avoid the fire danger!
I would recommend removing the tank.
Remove the flooring in a single unit
Do the necessary repairs
Replace the fuel tank with a newer and larger one, and don’t forget to replace the fuel sending unit with a new one.
If you have all the tools and help on hand it should only take about three days.
If you need other help feel free to ask.

Uh, I'm not replacing my tank. My dilemma was mainly how to get to the underside of the bus that the fuel tank is blocking.