Sealing my tank

This forum is about the Fordson Dexta, Super Dexta and Petrol Dexta.
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MikesDexta
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Posts: 176
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:32 pm

Sealing my tank

Post by MikesDexta »

Having discovered a pin hole in the base of my tank I decided to seal the whole tank to prevent future problems; I decided to follow Charlie and use POR15 Tank Sealer Kit for Small Cars as it matched the capacity of the Dexta tank. Not cheap at £60 a pop but with new tanks being very scarce, 2nd hand ones costing around £90 and preferring to repair rather than replace I donned safety glasses, a face mask and a pair of XL marigolds here goes:

The tank was surprisingly free of scale:

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I sat the tank on a bench covered in polythene sheet and used a wine cork to plug the fuel tap hole (worked perfectly), an old cork top saved from a long gone kitchen jar to plug the filler hole (ok for the degreaser and sealer but eventually leaked when sitting in Metal Prep) and an old fuel pipe fitting with the copper pipe flattened and bent over to plug the leak off hole (worked perfectly):

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I put a short length of chain into the tank together with the quart of degreaser and a quart of hot water, shook and turned it for 30 mins and it cleaned up the tank (and the chain) really well:

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I then drained, flushed and thoroughly dried the tank using a heat gun. As the pin hole was a little larger than expected I plugged it with Araldite Steel and left it overnight.

Today I added the Metal Prep; this is the most tedious bit as you have leave the tank for 30 mins then turn it so that the Metal Prep covers a new area, then leave for 30 mins, then turn - leave - repeat until every inch of the inside has sat in the Metal Prep for 30 mins. It took all day but I just used the timer on my mobile and did another job in between.

I rinsed the tank 4 times with hot water, thoroughly dried it using the heat gun then added the Tank Sealer, I turned and turned the tank making sure the whole of it was coated in sealer then let it drain through the primer pump hole for 30 mins.
I was very impressed with how it looked so let's hope it prevents more pin holes :beer:

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I now have to leave it for 4 days to dry, then a day of reassembly and back to work she goes, meanwhile a non-working dynamo beckons :mrgreen:

all the best

Mike

Two goldfish in a tank, one says to the other 'you drive and I'll man the gun'
1959 Dexta
I'm not retired just re-deployed

charlie63
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Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 4:44 pm
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Sealing my tank

Post by charlie63 »

Mike,
Good to see you have your tank sealed. I did exactly the same with mine. There had been a few bodged repairs done to it in the past. The key of it all is to make sure the inside of the tank is spotless. That's over 2 years since I did mine and it's still good. :beer:

Mervyn Spencer
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Posts: 830
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:34 pm
Location: South Africa

Re: Sealing my tank

Post by Mervyn Spencer »

Hi Mike, well done on your tank repair, I would imagine you have biceps like "Pop Eye" with that shaking the por 15 and chain around in your tank for 30 minutes. I tried to import some por 15 many years ago but I was told you cannot ship it to South Africa. any way I had my tank relined by a radiator company here at home, not sure what they used but it had a very strong chemical smell.
Mervyn.

MikesDexta
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Posts: 176
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:32 pm

Re: Sealing my tank

Post by MikesDexta »

All back together, the leak is fixed and I removed the useless primer tap as it doesn't even shut off the fuel when closed! I replaced it with the non-primer tap that was installed when I bought her and it is much better quality. I will buy a Thermostart system as soon as I've got my larger paddock sorted. I've been resting it since last Autumn and hoped to get some hay off it but alas I don't have all the gear to make hay and every one of my neighbours was flat out making their own; it seems that following last year's poor hay harvest everyone has gone mad this year, so I've had to leave it and top it off :cry: . It was very thick so I decided to do two or more passes to avoid overstraining the tractor and topper. This video doesn't really show how thick the grass is as it's all laying flat but it was a lovely sunny day today so spent a happy 4 hours going round and round in low 2nd...

https://youtu.be/R94-Vm7HbIA

This is what it really looked like..

Image
1959 Dexta
I'm not retired just re-deployed

Mervyn Spencer
True Blue
Posts: 830
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:34 pm
Location: South Africa

Re: Sealing my tank

Post by Mervyn Spencer »

Hi Mike, pity about not having the equipment to bale your lovely looking crop there.
Mike please can you tell me how you uploaded your video onto this site?
Thanks Mervyn.

MikesDexta
True Blue
Posts: 176
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:32 pm

Re: Sealing my tank

Post by MikesDexta »

Hi Mervyn
I uploaded the video to Youtube then clicked Share then copied the displayed link and pasted it into my Fordson post.

Mike
1959 Dexta
I'm not retired just re-deployed

Mervyn Spencer
True Blue
Posts: 830
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:34 pm
Location: South Africa

Re: Sealing my tank

Post by Mervyn Spencer »

Thyank you Mike thats very helpful I shall try it out sometime. :beer:

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