I have a "RARE" factory self vented oil tank. After cleaning, I discovered that the top of the tank is full of pin holes from all the crap that accumulated in years of road use. I can see no need for a breather utilizing this tank.

I can see two ways to repair this ultra rare tank:

1.) Braize all the holes shut. Hah...just melt the material and spread it over the top like butter

2.) Run a layer of fiberglass cloth or mat over the entire tank with a second layer over the seam. Great corrosion protection.

It seems to me that #2 is the best choice as when the tank totally disentigrates, I will have a more modern lightweight fiberglass tank.

Ok, if you are so inclined...let the opinions roll

I brought mine to a radiator shop. They boiled it out and ran solder along the top seam where it was somewhat "self vented". $150. I hit it with a heavy coating of Por15. The boiling didn't remove the copper plating or harm the threaded connections at all.

I like the brazing idea Ron.

you could run a good quality solder over the pin holes with far less heat to deal with. that would keep the distorsion to a minimum. there is no structural need on the top of the tank and the solder will seal as strong as brazing. if the tank skin is rotton you could lay a layer of copper screen over the soft spots and solder it up for renforcement Just a thought.

Bernie

Da fiberglass will leak over time. Good for ... say 18 months.

(its the couplings.....)

M

Model it in your favorite cad program and send it off to the machine shop for a quote. Realize its cheaper to buy a new unit off the shelf from somewhere else, but decide to ask for a grant to fix the problem you created. When the problem is all done, you have an oil tank thats pretty good that cost about 100x what another good condition used unit cost.

Take it to a rad shop and let them boil/fix it or get some metal epoxy (JB Weld) and spread some over the top. Either one of those will be a perm fix. If you go the JB route, just make sure the surface is really clean. Wipe down with achohol wipes even.

Or, you could just leave it alone and have a rare fender crank breather!

Laminate the entire tank with carbon fiber. List it on E-bay. Sell it for a fortune. Buy a new steel tank. Retire with the profits.

QUOTE (Root_Werks @ Nov 10 2005, 10:16 AM)

Or, you could just leave it alone and have a rare fender crank breather!

At least that fender would never rust

Ah well....I used to use JB Weld and fiberglass cloth at the racetrack to make repairs...just about bullet proof. The fiberglass shell was just a thought...didn't think of solder.

Over the years, the tank has lost some of it's copper coating and of course, grew the pin holes on the top. The rest of the tank is not pitted or corroded.

Since I am lazy, I guess the radiator shop will get their shot and then a coat of POR-15 for good measure

So goes the saga of the "cheap six conversion".

Thank you all for taking the time....

And Dan.....check's in the mail (today)

I had the exact pinhole situation you describe, cleaned it with naval jelly and covered it with glass mat wetted with Epo-Tek 353ND, a well known fiberoptic/medical industry epoxy. Cure with a heat gun.

15 yrs and going strong.

On a 6 street car I pulled the tank, super cleaned the outside, cut a couple pieces of f/g mat, glassed it over.
14-15 yrs later still not leaking.
Hardest part of job was getting the tank out.

Are you sure it rusted from outside in? The engine vent hose dumps hot water vapor from ring blow-by into the top of the tank. Over the years thats not going to do it any good. The bad thing is that the metal that used to be your tank became corrosion may have dropped into oil and got pumped thru the engine w/o any filtration. The last time I took the engine apart in my 6 the rod bearings were in bad shape and had all sorts of crap embedded in them. I could not figure out where it came from. Maybe this is it. I'm going to check mine. I would take that thing out and have it repaired or replaced. Rest assured it is a miserable job, but motors aint cheap.

QUOTE (brp914 @ Nov 10 2005, 03:40 PM)

Rest assured it is a miserable job

I had the chassis in the air on a lift.....never look up when pulling the tank

:insertImblindfromallthedirtsmilie: