Varg In Jeep's Clothing

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

 

Thanks guys.

I forgot to add, it's 36 pounds.
I was expecting more.

 

ima crawl back to my cave now.....seriously that's nice stuff there.

 

My skills are feeling so inadequate right now.
Awesome work....pleasure reading this thread...

 

Whatcha got there Bob is a darn fancy gas tank.

Seriously though, incredible!

 

Not bad for a woodworker....


Looking good man!

 

Leak test day.
Here's how I capped everything off. I used a piece of old dirt bike inner tube with the valve stem over the filler neck.
You can also see how I addressed the sending unit hold-down; I welded 2 bolts to the tank and used little tabs with wing nuts.



I filled it with about 5psi and sprayed down all the welds with soapy water. I had two medium leaks and one tiny one that barely made any foam. I ground them out and re-welded those sections.





And I found out I'm a much better welder than solderer. The big coin I soldered in to cap the original filler neck had a small leak.



I had this unit in and out seven times trying to re-flow the solder, and each time it got worse. I finally gave up. I cleaned up the opening and welded in a new coin from the back side.

It's all done and free of leaks!





I was having bad flashbacks of the horrible time I put in at a local company that builds off-road heavy equipment bodies.

Home - Ground Force Worldwide



It would take an hour to fill these things with 5psi of air to leak test them, then another hour to drain them. One of the workers had a section of pipe he cut like a whistle and welded it to an air fitting. He'd clip that onto the draining tank and it was so loud you couldn't go in the shop till it was done. The sound felt like it went through you.

 

Amazing.

Why a whistle?

 

Because he was a jerk.

 

I just went to use my press, and when I raised the jack one of the springs popped off. I looked around back and this is what I found. I guess it doesn't like being used as a press brake.



I'll be watching for a heavy chunk of something the next time I'm at the scrap yard.

 

Yikes! That makes standing around the corner to operate the air valve seem like a wise move!

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

That fuel tank looks like it could have been used on the Lunar Module -- same sort of angular shapes and protrusions. Your skills are incredible. If I made that, I'd put in on display with a big piece of glass on top and use it as a coffee table. It's too nice to hide underneath the tub. Are you going to paint the exterior of the tank to prevent it from rusting?

 

I will. My list of next steps:
-Add seat belt mounts to cage.
-Tack shock mounts in place.
-Tack cage enough to hold together through removal process.
-Remove cage to fully weld and paint.
-Remove body.
-Finish gas tank mounts.
-Paint gas tank.
-Start on building mufflers and exhaust.
-Figure out fuel pump and line locations.
And the list goes on and on...

 

I got the welding finished on the seats this morning (the inside rear mounts were moved). I also shortened the slider adjusters so they're now tucked under the seat, not hitting your calf. Before on right, after on left.



I started looking into the seat belts, and they're going to take a lot more work to mount than I'd originally thought.

 

Agreed, too cool to cover up. Should make a glass bottom tub so people can look at while riding around.

 

I'm planning on making a removable floor plate over the sending unit so I don't have to drop the tank to perform maintenance. (IME, those little pumps don't last forever.) I'd make the plate out of plexiglass if I didn't think it would turn opaque with dust after one trip up our driveway.