alloy fuel tank where to buy?

[auto]

I need to replace a fuel tank my project is well over budget, need to know where I can get the cheapest tank from, cheapest I've found is sj sports cars at £250 + vat

[Nelly]

SJ were the cheapest I could find and I got mine from them earlier this year.

 

Cheapest option is to pull your existing tanks and refurbish, but its not a fun job and because of the baffles I was concerned about the process working 100% as you won't be able to see a lot of the internals to check the tank is clean and the sealer has covered all the internals.

 

NB - if you decide to go this route PM me as I have two tins of tank sealer and a large almost full carton of marine clean.  Will be even cheaper than getting it from Frosts.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Nelly9000

[giorgio67]

I think you can ask to Mike Taylor if now the tanks are available also for the S1 S2 cars, not too much difference from the S3 version and cheaper, 450 the pair some time ago...

http://lotusbits.blogspot.it/2010/04/remanufactured-alloy-lotus-excel-tanks.html

 

Giorgio

[Paul Coleman]

Cut the bottoms off and get new bottoms TIG welded in. Whilst the bottoms are off sand blast the inside and outside. Paint the insides with tank sealer, weld the bottoms on, then pour some inside to cover the welds. Then paint the bottom with tank sealer to protect it. Then paint the whole thing black. Should outlast you!!

 

Paul.

[giorgio67]

Hi Paul,

when we could see some pics of your car as it is now?

I think you have made great progress!!

Ciao

Giorgio

[auto]

_{Ordered my tank today from sj £318 with vat and delivery 3 week wait that sucks!! thanks for the offer with the tank repair sealer if the tank was in a normal place not next to the exhaust manifold I would give it a go.}

[Freemason]

I also need new tanks I think:

 

 

 

Am thinking of getting them from here:

 

http://andywiltshire.com/Lotus%20Esprit%20Tanks.htm

 

Not the cheapest but look to be pretty good quality. "Best available" is claimed.

[fjmuurling]

Those tanks do look more than good!

[auto]

that guy has got skills, check his other things out on his website the lotus 7 nose cone and wings. the esprit tanks look amazing!

[Nelly]

I just got a new header tank from Andy and it is a work of art - was almost a shame to put it in the car!

 

His tanks are more expensive than SJ - I would expect them to be much better, but SJ's are good enough.

[iainskea]

Filled my S2 for the first time since the repainting, and I have a fuel leak from the RHS tank. Taking it out is complicated by PO use of expanding foam around the tank, sigh.

Give me a break....

[Simon350S]

Expanding foam?? WTF.???

That sounds horrible. Please post a pic.

I do sometimes wonder what these people think when they do something like that

[iainskea]

Here is a pic. It's PE, so thinners or acetone has no effect.

Not sure if I can get it out

[mdw]

See if you can get a cheap Japanese pull saw  ( screwfix do them for £13) or a corse hacksaw blade and cut down the sides of the foam, the blade is very sharp and very flexible.  You can probably get access to the underside from the access holes under the sill sides. Failing that shape a metal hook and pull it out.  It wont be easy but I am sure it will come out.   I think we need a rogues gallery of bodges as I am sure most of us have found a few. 

 

Just make sure no cables hidden in the tank well.

 

That's no use as I have just seen you are not in the UK.  You could hack up a old hand saw with a disc cutter   to make something similar.

[Simon350S]

A drywall saw will help to a degree, coarser teeth than the type Malcolm has posted and should be dead easy to pick up at your local hardware/DIY Store

I don't envy you....

They even painted it black?

[iainskea]

A pull saw, good idea.

I'll give this a go- tool of choice on a Lotus...

Pics next week.

[simon a-b]

That is truly horrible, I wish you the best of luck!  It's not as if the 'tank pull' isn't hard enough already!

[iainskea]

Night 1. About 2 hours of sawing and scraping my arms.

1 bucket of foam done from the 'easy' side.

I'm thinking that when I have it all unbolted etc, I might gently lift it from below with my trolley jack and a block of wood, just to free it, obviously not damaging it.

[Simon350S]

This may sound a little drastic, but I'd be considering a set of tin snips if you can't free the tank. Open up the top, cut out the baffle and collapse the tank inwards on itself.

That should peel it away from the foam and get it out.

Just be careful. Fill and wash the tank out with water to eliminate the risk of fume ignition and wear some cut protection.

[iainskea]

Ok so I do not want to get a 7 day posting ban for bad language, but every word that could get that, I am thinking! Ha ha ha.

Tank is out! It took no less than 5 hours total. I sawed away as much foam as I could, disconnected the filler pipe and trolley jacked the tank free from below.

Special thanks to MDW for his removal tips an pic in 'how to remove a fuel tank' - you da man.

I have a POR 15 tank sealer kit, ready for the weekend.

There should be a 'tagged by PO award'

Some pics:

P.s, check out the 12 mm ply patch on the firewall!

[Simon350S]

Awesome work. Well done