Gas Tank Suppliers??

well, this gives a new business model for some small start up out there

sell rebuilt tanks for a fair price and start stock piling..........
we have a speedo guy on here, horn rebuilders, etc.
What Brent says makes absolute sense, though I feel more guys would part with under
1000. bucks for a new tank then several thousand for a new motor.
as HL says-just my humble opinion....
 
ronn said:
well, this gives a new business model for some small start up out there

sell rebuilt tanks for a fair price and start stock piling..........
we have a speedo guy on here, horn rebuilders, etc.
What Brent says makes absolute sense, though I feel more guys would part with under 1000. bucks for a new tank then several thousand for a new motor.
as HL says-just my humble opinion....
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Yes, I do agree. We are restoring 3 or 4 Model-A tanks a month right now (which is more than we want to do!). I'm sure there are others out there too.

It is not hard to restore one, ...it's just time consuming. The only major investments would be a heated caustic tank to purge the gas vapors, a steam cleaner, a blast cabinet big enough to hold a tank, a TIG welder, some block-off plates for pressure testing, and building a jig to hold them in while they are being welded back together.

.
 
so brent when your all said and done time and material what is the average cost to restore a tank if its dropped at your door and not refinishing the paint ????
 
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ericr said:
you said in one post that the terne finish within the tank itself can deteriorate.....how do you address that?
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I am also wondering about the Terne Finish inside the tank. If if is already damaged due to deterioration, I would think that the welding operation during disassembly/reassembly would destroy even more of the Terne coating.

Darryl in Fairbanks
 
Mitch//pa said:
so brent when your all said and done time and material what is the average cost to restore a tank if its dropped at your door and not refinishing the paint ????
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We generally have about 10 hours of actual labor in restoring a tank.


darrylkmc said:
I am also wondering about the Terne Finish inside the tank. If if is already damaged due to deterioration, I would think that the welding operation during disassembly/reassembly would destroy even more of the Terne coating.

Darryl in Fairbanks
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The Terne finish was a cheap expendable coating (mostly contained Lead) that more times than not has been rubbed off the metal in areas from sloshing fuel leaving bare metal. That is why the tank has rusted in the first place.

Bottom line is no matter what you do there will be bare metal inside the tank. I read foolish comments here about folks not using any sealer. I just chuckle under my breath because it is not a question of "if" it will rust again, ...it is a matter of how quickly will it rust again. Gasoline that has oxygenizers against bare metal IS going to rust. That is why you must use a sealer.

Personally, my view is if we have restored a tank and sealed it now only to find in 10 years the sealer does not hold up, I will cut the tank back open in the welded section and go again. Kinda like rebuilding a rebuilt engine. ;)

.
 
thanks brent, 10 hrs is not bad i thought it would be more... so when your all said and done start to finish a person could have potentially 3k into it, thats with R&I time and refinishing..
 
Mitch//pa said:
thanks brent, 10 hrs is not bad i thought it would be more... so when your all said and done start to finish a person could have potentially 3k into it, thats with R&I time and refinishing..
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Wow Mitch, $300 an hour is kinda steep ain't it??
ROFL.gif


Actually, you will have nearly a day getting one out of a car and about that going back in. Add up for paint & materials and it is possible I suppose. On the flip side, ...repair them BEFORE the installation and paint work and be $$ ahead!
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
Bottom line is no matter what you do there will be bare metal inside the tank. I read foolish comments here about folks not using any sealer. I just chuckle under my breath because it is not a question of "if" it will rust again, ...it is a matter of how quickly will it rust again. Gasoline that has oxygenizers against bare metal IS going to rust. That is why you must use a sealer.

Personally, my view is if we have restored a tank and sealed it now only to find in 10 years the sealer does not hold up, I will cut the tank back open in the welded section and go again. Kinda like rebuilding a rebuilt engine. ;)

.
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That is confusing! It sounds like "you must use a sealer" but you may still need to repeat the ENTIRE process in ten years. What am I missing?
 
Marco Tahtaras said:
That is confusing! It sounds like "you must use a sealer" but you may still need to repeat the ENTIRE process in ten years. What am I missing?
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As the fuel additives change, it has in the past, caused the newest sealers to fail. As past performance is the best indicator of future performance, it is a good guess that the stuff will fail in the coming years, next year or 10 years from now we just don't know.
 
Marco Tahtaras said:
That is confusing! It sounds like "you must use a sealer" but you may still need to repeat the ENTIRE process in ten years. What am I missing?
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Hey buddy. Sorry for the confusion. My point was 10 - 15 years ago, the vendors were selling a tank sealer that seemingly worked well for the fuels of that time. As many have found out, today's fuel has begun to attack that particular sealer rendering it unsatisfactory. There are a couple of sealers that have been developed since that time which are impervious to the fuel we are purchasing today. Therefore if I install one of these sealers today only to find it dissolving with fuels that are available 10 years from now, I will go thru he same process as we do now to remove the failing sealer and will install a sealer that is compatible with that fuel. Just like rebuilding an engine or repainting the body, I feel like a fuel tank can be re-restored several times without any negative effects.


.Hey, you have Noah restoring distributers yet?? :D


 
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