darguy

Well, it's taken quite some time, and I've discovered a few things about the car during the process (my vol 2 NA restoration book arrived yesterday...), but for now I'm back on the road again!



After my first serious drive with the car I found myself to be the proud owner of a new fuel leak at the tank. This was compounded by some junk getting into the carb, resulting in my first carb rebuild in about 20 years. When I got the car up on stands to pull the tank I unearthed some frame rust issues, and began the soul searching and debate about the car's future.



While in a fairly serious funk about the car, I'd just bought it a few months earlier, I decided to try some retail therapy and put in an order for some goodies. While the stock-pile of bits and pieces that were to be my original winter project trickled in, I started to pick away at fixing my leak. As it's mostly original, and I'm planning on a visit to the NCRS, I decided to repair my original tank instead of replacing it.



Let me say, getting this tank out was not fun, and putting it back in was no picknic either. I'm guessing most folks do this job when the body is off, and having sidepipes would have eliminated the squeeze past the mufflers... Anyhow, this is how it went:

Fuel Leak at Tank:



Tank Out:



Markings Under Body by Fuel Filler:



The Cavity:



Main Damage Exposed:



Weld in Progress:



Tank Cleaned Up:



Interior View of POR-15 Tank Sealer:



Tank Painted:



Back in Place:



Ready for Fuel:



And it held fuel and fired up after 3 months without incident. Which is a really good thing, 'cause I probably would have lost it if it hadn't.

While the repair was going on, I had applied for and recieved Collector status for the car, which allowed me to get strict pleasure use only insurance for cheap. And with the addition of a space heater and auxilliary lighting to turn winter into late fall inside the garage, I made a push to get the Beast back together in time for a visit by the in-laws.

I also have my 40th coming up and I was Damned if the car was not going to be on the road for that. And so even though it was pouring rain, dark, and on the verge of snow I took it out for a shakedown run:

The Beast Awakens:



Local Traffic:



Midway Through Shakedown:



Safe Sound and Wet:



So, while the debate continues about restoration or resto-modding, I can get out on the road and try to remind myself why I'm doing all this work anyways...

wmf62

Bill

62Jeff

I'll second Bill's , and here's an extra 2 for driving it in the rain.

Oddly, I get a lot of joy out of driving my 65 in the rain - it's a real car when I'm driving it in the rain, something my 62 will never do.

TopLess62

WTFG!! Nice work on the tank!! How did you make it look so purty??? I am doing my tank now. No leaks but lots of gunk to clean out. Advice please???

Nowhere Man

buy a new one

TopLess62

Us cheap f$%$%ers have to "restore" our junk 'cause we can't afford new stuff!!!

Nowhere Man

you cant afaord about $150. and this is more of a safty thing anything else.

TopLess62

A new repop tank is about $220. My tank is fine, just dirty. No leaks or anything so I think it will be ok.

Gman58

I like trying to repair or restore anything I can. Your tank looks great.
Greg

darguy

Thanks, eh. It took quite some time to get it to that state, probably 10 hours on the tank not including the re & re. Which was, with all the frozen bolts and whatnot, getting close to another 10 by the time the exhaust was re-routed through the body and all. And in the end the spot where I welded it did not come out as pristine as I'd like.

I used a small circular sander tool with a course-ish pad on it to strip the rust away from the tank, as well as a bunch of time in the parts cleaner scraping away the black paint some other Bubba put on it. Then welded up the big holes. A water leak test which revealed small seepages through the weld led to a layer of braizing to fill in the gaps, followed by some shaping with a file.

The inside of the tank, which was fairly clean, was treated to a 2 stage cleaning, thorough wrinsing, and chemical metal prep prior to the sealer statge. It all came in a kit from POR-15 through Corvette Central. The sealer is pretty intense, I got a drop of it on my arm and it gave me quite the burn. That was all followed up with zinc tank paint. After the 4-day curing period, I leak tested the tank with gas before installing it.

The sealer kit was about $60 and two cans of zinc paint were $26, so it was cheaper than a no-logo replacement tank ($200), but factor in all the hours plus the tank installation kit, new strainer and fuel lines (another $70 odd bucks) and a no-logo tank and install kit is starting to look pretty good. If I were to replace the tank, I would have gone with a 'correct' tank wth stampings (which are around $375 or so) for the NCRS visit (possible Bowtie eligability). But, as I haven't decided which way to go with the car I figured I should work with what I've got for now and worry about a new tank later.

If you've got the time to spend, a thorough cleaning may be the way to go. But, if I knew which way I was going to ultimately go (restored or rodded) I would have spent my time elsewhere and put my money into a new tank.

Thanks for all the feedback, it's great to be rolling again!

al329

Well if the logo on the tank does not matter to you...then the tank can be had for $$147.77 from Advanced Auto (aka Partsamerica.com).

OldKarz

Very nice work! Looks great!

TopLess62

I went to the site just for poops and giggles to check it out and the tank for my car is $447.99. I think I will stick with my perfectly fine used tank.

And since you can't see it when its in car - even from underneath, I am not even going to paint it. I just cleaned the gunk off of it and when my new minor parts get here, its going back in the car!!

Thanks guys.

67vetteal

darguy, one thing to be aware of. Here in the States many of us are forced to use Ethanol @10% mixed with gasoline. If you have Ethanol mix check your Tank periodically with a Focus on seeing Clear Fuel! Ethanol breaksdown some Tank Coatings and contaminates your entire Fuel System. Al W.

darguy

Yikes! Thanks for the heads-up. I'm usually north of the 49th and I think most of the fuel here doesn't have ethanol blended in it, but I'll keep an eye on it when I come visiting.



Which will probably be down to Bend, OR in September for the NCRS event. I'm really looking forward to that road trip...