Major fuel tank repair

[Nick]

Hi, one of my majors' fuel tanks is leaking a bit, has anyone used that tank repair slosh stuff? How many gallons does a majors tank hold?

[AdrianNPMajor]

Hello Nick
Yes, I've sealed three Major tanks with this stuff.
http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-fuel-tank-sealers.html
Does a very good job. I whittled a piece of wood to make a bung for the opening where the petcock fits. I made the bung slightly oversized so that the brass threads of the opening bit into the wood and sealed the threads. This not only keeps the tank sealer from leaking out, it also stops the threads from becoming fouled.
You also need to bung up the end of the injector leak-off pipe which terminates high up on the wall of the tank just inside the filler cap. You don't want sealer to block this. A strip of duct tape should do the trick. To be on the safe side, there is no need to run the sealer as high as the top of the tank - as you know, it's the bottom of the tank where it rusts.
You need the quart size tin of sealer.
Best, Adrian.

[oehrick]

I've used Hammerite paint 'cut' 50:50 with thinners to good effect in a variety of rusty tanks, including some pinholes, with good effect, clean out with hot washing (or being more careful caustic) soda solution, hot air gun dry, then paint, two or three coats sloshed around then left to dry before the next.

Not tried the stuff mentioned, is it long lasting ?

Tank is around 15 gallons (English) capacity

[AdrianNPMajor]

Hello Rick
Hammerite sounds like a good solution. I've always wondered what's in it. It's not a paint in the conventional sense, is it? It's a rust-eating/-coating wonder, whatever it's made of.
The tank sealer I used is very durable. I know because I tried to remove a spillage from my saw cum work bench and I damn near had to get on top of the bench with a pneumatic drill to get it off! When it cures and hardens, it doesn't become brittle, so you can't chip it off, not easily, anyway.
Best, Adrian.

[oehrick]

The reason for my interest Adrian is that the EU VOC regs (or at least UK implementation) has resulted in Hammerite now having a changed formulation and according to some sources a much reduced performance apart from its chemical content (probably some phosphatising chemical) it has a fine glass particle loading giving much mechanical strength. Ironically it seemed more durable over light rusting rather than bright steel, I may have to re run my experiments of 30 years back with the new stuff to see for meself - after I'd used the last of my genuine red lead primer up. (BTW I've always found normal cellulose thinners fine for dilution and cleanup rather than the Xylene based branded 'liquid gold' thinner)

I found a load of odd colours with Cyrillic writing (Russian or other central European) on the tins in a local QD store a couple of years back and bought as much as I had cash for and could carry, with hindsight I should have gone back with an overdraft and a wheelbarrow still my concrete mixer and trailer are now well protected in a lovely shade called Antique Copper

I've recently been experimenting with electrolytic de-rusting on rough cast / wrought iron and things welded up from old hoss shoes, with some very encouraging results (my compressor is not big enough to do extensive grit blasting) though no doubt use of washing soda and (horrors) that evil, dangerous, planet destroying chemical compound di-hydrogen oxide will soon be banned as well

[AdrianNPMajor]

Hello Rick
Most informative post. Very entertaining too!
I've got some old hammerite in my garage. I might easily have thrown it away. I shall hold onto it and guard it jealously, even if it does contravene EU banana-straightening laws.
Re your experiments, I am heartened and reassured that 'man in his shed' (as I call it) inventiveness lives on. I like to think that I am a fairly decent exponent of this, even though I haven't got a shed (and perhaps neither have you), but I must defer and doff my cap to you. Your latest experiment sounds right out there on the edge, given the chemicals involved. Living in silly Suffolk, I'll keep a weather eye on the northern horizon for a mushroom cloud!
Keep on keeping on!
Best, Adrian.

[Pavel]

Electrolysis is something I frequently use as Judith, my intelligently creative half, makes sculptures out of rusted gears and other car/tractor bits and pieces after I've had to de-rust them for her. I have found, though, that it can be a bit harsh and fiddly on items with heavily corroded internal cavities as whilst its working on these its also still eating away on easily cleaned outer surfaces. My preferred method is that of using a molasses water mix which will not eat metal and circulates inside everything. The downside of this method is that, whilst it works faster when warm, it still takes a couple of weeks -- but the results I've had with cylinder blocks and heads is excellent.

Pacel

[oehrick]

Hey Adrian, you already missed the big bang, I had a couple of nice slender 6 spoke huddle wheels in the tank which had a lot of congealed grease on them, so I gave them a bit of a scrub with some detergent, clipped the croc clips back on and stuck them back in the tank. As I locked up the shed (yup, and part of it dates back to 1874 it having once been a signal box) I noticed that the top of the electrolyte was covered in a murky looking foam, not having bothered to rinse the detergent off, so as I was lighting my pipe, once this was aflame, I pointed the lighter at the foam, the resultant bang disturbed my hearing for several minutes and fetched a round out of the roosting pheasants. The gasses liberated in electrolysing that wicked di hydrogen oxide stuff are 2 volumes of H to one of O, nicely contained in myriads of little bubbles and just the right proportions for making water the interesting way (a plastic box about milk crate size with around 3" depth of foam) it must have been the detergent caused it 'cos water don't burn let alone go bang

Pavel, I'd been thinking of putting in a clean bit of ground bar as a control to mic up before and after to see if there was any dimensional effect on the steel once the rust is converted, almost convinced meself that there isn't on cast iron. My other half is the artistic one but doesn't raid my scrap pile for raw materials.

I take it by molasses you mean the dark fraction of processed cane sugar liqour left after the crystalisable content is removed ? whatever is in it ?? - is that the bit they ferment then distill for rum ?? Hereabouts we have beet sugar and I know lime / chalk is used in the process but I don't think that there is an equivalent to molasses produced to be able to experiment with

[Bensdexta]

After some research, I decided to use Caswell tank sealer on my Dexta tank.
http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... 203#p24203
no probs so far after two years.

[AdrianNPMajor]

Hello Rick
Thanks for putting me right on the chemistry. Never was one of my strong points. I parted company with the subject at O Level stage, much to my Chemistry master's relief, I suspect!
On a serious note, I admire your writing - informative and entertaining. I very much enjoy your posts.
Best, Adrian.

[oehrick]

Thanks for the alternative goop info Ben, Nick has some options now - incidentally, I've used some odd things for cleaning the inside of tanks over the years but not drywall screws

Missed from my posting that I had soft soldered the actual porosity in my tank, the hammerite was to try and hold back further rusting, trouble was, my dad would never stick more than a pint or two of diesel in with the inevitable result

Adrian - nice to know that there are still times when I makes sense, even after the translation

Nick, I give up, Big 'ammer & cider I know well but what is kano pls ????

[Pavel]

I've also been puzzling about 'kano' for a long time.

Pavel

[Nick]

Kano Kroil is its proper name, its made in america, and is made for the gun trade. Its the best penetrating oil in the world, it is supposed to be able to get into 1 millionth of an inch gap, there aren't many things it wont budge!

Its very dangerous stuff, it will burn your eyes if you get it in them! Its quite expensive, but I wouldn't use anything else to un-seize things.

I did this test one night. I milled down a piece if 1 inch round steel bar to about 3 inches tall, poured a little bit of kano in a plastic bottle top, put the metal in the bottle top, left it overnight, and it had somehow climbed the metal, and was all over it, even on top!

Their slogan is 'The Oil That Creeps', it certainly does that!

If your wondering, i'm not really into shooting, but my family are, my brother-inlaw Ed Ling shoots clay pigeons and is rated number 2 in the world at the moment, having just won silver at the world championships and won a quota place for Team GB in Rio 2016!! They use Kano Kroil to remove things like chokes from gun barrels, thats how I know about it!

Research it on google, its hard stuff to track down. Try reloadingsolutions.com

[oehrick]

Ah, if you'd mentioned Kroil I would have recognised it Nick (student of Guy Lautards Machinists Bedside Readers etc) not used it but know it by reputation (how do they keep it in the bottles ?? ) there's a nitro based solvent, a decarboniser and the infamous 'vanishing oil' which the US / Canuk gunsmiths refer to in the same hallowed terms and jealously keep in their shops.

You BIL must be a heck of a shot competing at that level.