Thread: soldering fuel tanks.

This may be an oddball suggestion to many people, but if you live near a hobby shop that deals heavily in model trains, you might find a useful flux there, where I work we have a few, some are for steel, stainless steel, brass, pewter or aluminium. They are usually of the Carr's brand from the UK. They are all liquid rather than paste fluxes so can be washed off easily without fear of further corrosion.
A torch for something that size is best, probably one from a BBQ gas bottle, but the larger of the refillable torches from bunnings or similar may be just big enough.
The aim is to get the heat in fast which keeps it local, once the solder is shiny its flowing and thats enough heat, let it cool.
Hope that may be of some assistance,
Mark

Just a safety thing, I would still fill it with water before applying heat.

Originally Posted by DeeJay

Just a safety thing, I would still fill it with water before applying heat.

Soft soldering seems very safe, no naked flames/sparks, you need a big iron but

The old plumbers type soldering iron - big block of copper about 1" square and 3" long with a point on it, mounted on handle might be useful.

You can heat it up in a fire or with gas torch - then apply to the job.

Haven't done a fuel tank, but have used them for sheetmetal in the past.

Steve

Steve is right on the money, use a BIG iron for this Job. Most importanty keep the torch well away from the tank, it doesn't matter how liong since fuel was in it the heat will liberate enough fumes to blow your head off. A friend had a lucky escape when he was cutting up an old truck that had not had fuel in it fo 20 years. The gas axe liberated enough fumes,when the fuel line was cut to start a chain reaction that ended up with a big boom and some sheet metal where the tank once was. He was lucky that the tank was on the opposite side of the chassis and that shielded him. You can fill it with water, but it will soak the heat away from the work and make the job a lot harder than it needs to be. The secret is plenty of heat so it melts the solder quickly. Bakers is the flux for the job. Heat the tankand brush the tank with the solder to get an idea when it is hot enough. Don't worry about heating the solder first, once the metal is hot enough it will all happen. Good luck regards John

Last time I had to solder a LR (109 V8) petrol tank I took it to my local radiator man, who did it quick and cheap, because he solders every day.

I have soldered a few tanks.

Wire brush VERY well.

Standard flux, then "pre-tin" the area to be soldered (both the tank and the thing to be soldered to the tank).

Put them together then heat/solder.

I had a HUGE industrial soldering iron to use for this - as mentioned you need a lot of heat.

EDIT - forgot to add, copper is great to use for small patches on tanks, as it solders very nicely.

Thanks for all the tips and advice, looks like I will have to get myself a 'BIGGER' soldering iron.

Andy.