Fuel Tank Refurbishment

[nthomas1]

I'm about to drop the fuel tank out of my Series 2 Coupe.  I'll know better then what condition it is.  In anticipation of some work being necessary I've been doing some research on refurbishment/replacement options.   If I was rebuilding to concours standard (which I'm not) I might go for a new tank, at £700 or so.   Another option is a do-it-myself refurb.  There's plenty of good advice in the forum and elsewhere on the web as to how to go about it.  An in-between option that I stumbled on is to send the tank for professional refurbishment.  I came across the company Hartlepool Radiators when googling. There's a picture of a refurbished Fulvia tank on their website.  I contacted them for a quote and got this response: 

"We would refurbish your Fulvia tank with our Renu process as the photo you
saw on Google. We cut the tank open and shot blast back to bare metal inside
and outside to remove any rust, carry out the necessary repairs and coat
inside with a rubberised lining. The tank is baked in the oven at high
temperatures, cooled and tested and then coated with Renu outside and re
baked. The price is approx. £280+VAT and turnaround time approx. one week.
We can send our couriers in to collect (£20-25+VAT each way), or you can
send the tank to us."

Does anybody on the forum have experience with this company, or have views about the refurbishment process that they describe?

[Caracad]

Sounds like a good option. I have heard of the company, they have been around for a while.
Might in fact be better than a new tank as they coat the inside. New tanks are untreated steel inside like the originals.

New tanks are more like £400, not £700, so the price difference isn't that much.

[nthomas1]

Thanks for the correction on the cost of a new tank.  Omicron quoted me £520 and, having recently relocated from the USA, I may have mentally converted that to a dollar number to get to my erroneous £700!   Are there preparations that can be purchased to coat the inside of a new tank do you know?

[Paul Greenway]

I had a problem with my fuel gauge not working and upon checking the sender unit in the tank the garage noticed much sediment, rust and other debris in the tank. Upon my approval they dropped, the tank, jet flushed it out, re-painted it and sealed it before refitting. They completely refurbished the carbs, rolling road tuned the car, fitted new fuel pump and fuel filter & re-configured the timing a number of times in order to achieve the ideal set up.

I thought they had resolved my fuel starvation problem - see separate post- and for over 300 miles they had, however the issues (although nowhere near as bad) returned and now the car is back with them.

The total cost for this work was £774 all in which I thought was reasonable so a tank refurbishment should be considerably cheaper assuming of course that my current issue is not tank related!

[Dilambdaman]

   Are there preparations that can be purchased to coat the inside of a new tank do you know?

Several tank sealant preparations on the market - Google "Tank Sealant".
This is the one I've used with success on the Dilambda and the Fanalone.
http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-fuel-tank-sealers.html

Robin.

[lancialulu]

I have used Frosts and after opening the tank up because it blocked the fuel delivery pipes I saw that it did not do a good job at sealing all the surfaces. I would not recommend this product. My metal man says he thinks product has changed, with the previous sealant working very well. It did not adhere well to the rustier parts of the tank.

[Neil]

Tim, I wonder when it changed, I applied the Frosts product as part of the kit they sell 4 years ago and not had any issues since and seems to have done a good job, including the filler pipe from the cap to tank and a tank from a 1960 850 Mini (not used since), I checked the delivery pipes and return were clear before the product hardened.

[lancialulu]

Neil. Not sure. my filler pipe was fine, but rusty metal on the inside (you would not know unless you opened up) did not provide a good surface for the product to coat. The tank I was doing was an early fuel injected type where I was not aware of a "pot" around the drain hole where the supply and return pipes feed in/out from. As I had drained the majority out of the filler hole I left the residual to drain out of the drain hole. A very expensive mistake and one that Frosts were unwilling to admit any liability. Their instruction were very general with no warnings real particular designs of tanks. I did keep checking the pipes were clear and had a test pot to see when the stuff was going off but it seemed to take an age and I went in for some supper and after that it had set.

[Dilambdaman]

The secret of success with this stuff is to open the tank up before treatment to ascertain the condition of the metal. If it's rusty then it needs blast cleaning. This is what we did with the Dilambda tank and we checked the Fanalone tank similarly. The other essential is to take time over the treatment to make sure that every surface of the metal is fully coated. Don't skimp on the amount of material used and turn the tank over and over and round and round for a long time. The 23 gallon Dilambda tank had two six inch square holes cut in it, used 3 cans of material and took two of us to rotate it for almost an hour! The Fulvia tank was much simpler. As Tim points out it is necessary to understand the internal construction of the tank and to ensure that any internal pipes and outlets etc are clear after treatment.

So, not a five minute wonder cure but effective if done thoroughly.

Robin.

[nthomas1]

Many thanks for all who have given advice.  I'm now in good shape to decide on next steps.

[Parisien]

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipement_auto/1003629490.htm?ca=11_s

Of interest?


P

[nthomas1]

Thanks Frank, will give it some serious thought.