A few weeks ago I posted I wanted to clean my tank. Since is a very common question here, I want to shed a little light on my experience hot dip galvanizing it (a solution I posted here), with the degree of difficulty.
a) You have to crack you tank open. Easy, but be careful.
b) Clean it with grinder and flap disk to bare metal (if you can sandblast, ideal). Extremely easy.
c) Weld it together. Not so easy, leave it to one that is used to weld thin metal.
d) Open another hole on the oposite side of the inlet and vent and weld a fitting that can acomodate a threaded plug. Same as c). This is so the vapors and gases that arise while galvanizing won't make the tank explode.
e) Take it to a galvanizer. My cost $2.00 a pound making it $40 the cost.
Outcome:
Extremely nice on the outside, ready for paint, on the inside, clean, clean, clean and rust proof.
Downside (it was to late when I noticed):
Bottom plug where the fuel line goes out on the 47-551st (a plug for the 55 2nd - 59) and the vent and filling tube are brazed, so in the galvanizing process they separate.
A little warping of the tank due to the fact it is sheet metal and the process is around 450 degree Celsius (sorry about that, I'm used to the metric system).
Solutions, weld a coupling on the bottom with a plug (like the one you did on the oposite of the inlet to the vent). Weld also the vent and the inlet tube.
Conclusions:
a) If you live in the States: Buy a new one.
b) If you are going to all the above trouble, make a new one, it will be boxy, but you save the trouble of cracking and cleaning an old one.
c) Make on of stainless, boxy again, but no galvanizing.
I'll post pictures on Monday, I have the tank on my office.
Hope this help somebody.
Last edited by Chinito Quan; 05/02/2010 3:53 AM.
