"Id rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal LOBOTOMY"....Jack Baselski, 1978
Well now, where to begin. Attitude. Got up today feeling positive about life and a gas tank repair. Had some coffee and kicked the dogs and gave them all their CDB treats. We all have old bones all of a sudden.
Get out to the shop to finally examine the tank up close and personal. Now follow closely:
This tank had a "hole" punched in it (probably with a water buffalo horn) that was "close" to the pipe diameter. The pipe going in at an angle to the tank presented a wider than desired gap. For those of yooz that have swapped OEM necks out, the pipe has either a flange, or a rolled "nib" in the steel to perform the solder joint. This is a pipe in a hole.
First off, if this were a domestic tank, I'd say it was shipped with a film of cosmoline. This thing was globbed with YAK FAT. The solder that was used is much harder than 60/40 and really looks like an aluminum repair with a propane torch rod sold on TV.
Being chinasteel, the material is junk (by US standards) dirty low grade material. Combined with the YAK FAT, it was impossible to clean (solder wise). My hands were absolutely BLACK from handling this guy, and I ended up with a clean rag and MEK to clean it up. Its still has a "filmy" feel to it. The rag looked like I wiped the black overspray off the floor. WHAT CRAPPY MATERIAL!
I probably shouldve taken the pipe OUT, cleaned it and began from scratch, but an initial fit up proved its location was pretty close to spot on. I decided to go ahead and make the repair.
If youve ever sweated copper pipe, you can appreciate the cleaning, sanding (or wire brush scrubbing, and a clean solder and good flux) for a good job. I went so far as to touch a pencil point burr into the groove to clean any galvanizing out 1/2" of either side of the repair, washed it 5X with brake cleaner and a wire brush, and blew it clean with clean air. I was using a propane torch (Im outa MAPP) and tried several fluxes (all industrial stuff) and tried 5/32 60/40 acid core, resin core, straight lead, and lead free solders and nothing would tin the parent metal. I even pulled out "Excalibur" my 500 watt electric iron, cleaned with a special cleaning block and tinned with clean solder and was only able to get an "acceptable" closure on the gap to about 75%. I ended up with 1/2lb of solder rolling around inside the tank. That was all stuck to YAK FAT inside the tank. What a pisser to clean!
So with a 75% seal and some decent drops that tinned to the gap, I ended up doing a cold repair with JB weld. I hate doing things like an amatuer, but 3 hours on a pipe sweat and I was at my limit. The JB started to get like "plastic" so I installed the tank AGAIN to verify placement. It was still spot on. I did increase the carriage bolt length from 3" to 4" for ease of nutting. Its pulled up 100% and curing overnight.
While going to the hardware store (Thank God for standard GM fasteners!!) my new SS sending unit showed up. Three days early. Tomorrow, Im gonna pull the tank down and install the sender, and pressure test the tank with 5 psi of air. Im also gonna replace the 5/16 frame pipe with 3/8. The OEM pipe is pretty soft from rust anyway.
If you look at the vent pipe, you can see the aluminum torch rod type of weld. I did blow the vent hose and its 100% clear.
Im not sure what kind of JU-JU the witch doctor uses in china, but I do know that if a gulag inmate takes 3 hours on a job like this, it would mean his last bowl of rice! Pretty good story huh???
So the filler is rigid and seems sealed pretty well. I hope the judges dont drop the plate and inspect the filler neck and sting me 10 points HA HA! Bill
