Original GT tank restoration

[JTR70]

Decided to individualize some of the component restorations for my project.

Bought this original big tank from Australia in about 2007. Amazing how the years have flown by. A guy was offering reproduction tanks out there and this was his pattern which he no longer needed. In slightly rough shape but what was most important to me at this point was that the original lead lining inside was intact and not rusty. I had purchased another GT tank before this one with a prestine outer shell but the inner lining was long gone with a good coating of rust. What I later learned was, because of the inner baffling, resealing these tanks thoroughly is an iffy proposition at best. All the edges and corners in there at the perimeters of the baffles is a prime point for moisture to penetrate and take root again. I'd always worry about rust coming back with a vengeance at those joints. While this one was little more beat up, the liner was intact so I decided to keep this one and resold the other.

This lower left corner took quite the hit at some and was crumpled in like a beer can. Didn't leak after a test but I wanted to correct it as best as I could so didn't know if it would be a problem afterward.
As luck would have it I had the perfect modified tool for this job, my old mentor had made it probably twenty years earlier. Its just a pair of vise grips with a nut welded to the adjustment knob which attaches to the end of a large slide hammer. Didn't take an overall shot of it but I can if anyone is interested.
After a few rounds the crumple zone was backing out a lot better than I thought it was going to.
Not quite finished yet but much improved. Several years have lapsed between some of these shots but I focused in a couple of months ago to finally finish everything out to get it ready for paint. More later...

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Didn't get much past this stage. The car was so far off to being ready to accept this tank that it just floated around my shop in this condition for the next several years.
Aside from that crushed in area it also had a dent above it that could also not be accessed from inside due to the baffle. Also many more small nagging repairs like these broken fuel level harness tabs, missing rivet caps. and the scavenger tube disconnected from the housing. Nothing major of course but enough to cause major procrastination for the next little while.
To complete this install I had rounded up a pair of OG tank straps and an access cover.
I had two pair of original straps but both pair came up an inch too short during mock up attempts.
If the strap was secured at the bottom I couldn't get a long strap bolt even close to starting.

[JTR70]

Retro fit learning curve:
Here is the shortfall when secured from the top side, not even close. This also before any isolation padding has been added.
I had this Original lower mount for confirmation so I knew the lower mounts where in the right place.
I could only surmise that these leads on an originally fitted big tank car where over an inch longer than those of a standard tanked car like this one.
Confirmation of this came once I found these slightly longer and lap jointed GT straps. These where very old and heavily pitted.
They are spot welded along the lap and this modification too is also very old. This has the look and feel of a factory modification.

[JTR70]

Correct length straps turned the trick:
Mocked up with insulator pads this time around. Standard tank loop/anchors where just hammered over for an easy conversion back to its original tank.
These where the right ones for this application.
Both snugged right into position.. Thank god...
These old straps must have been part of a factory retrofit from standard to GT tank at some point. Anyway, they solved my problem. Onto the next deal...

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Scott B]

an elegant solution - always seems easy once you land on the solution.

[JTR70]

Having the right parts for the job really turned the trick...

[JTR70]

Knocking out the needed metal repairs:

Made a push last September to strip off the remainder of the old paint and to complete a grocery list of small nagging metal repairs holding it back from paint.

New harness tangs folded up and soldered on. Metal had to be thinner than 20 gauge to match what was on there and to fold easily. Had some light scrap on hand to make them from.
Couple of those rivet caps where missing as well but fortunately I kept a handful from a badly rusted original I had some time back.

Again the inside is beautiful but the shell has a lot dings and dents ( two major ones) all over it. The tank will never be perfect but I wanted to minimize the big ones.

Big dents back here on both sides where the straps would be. I can only surmise this tank was retro fitted to a standard tanked car like mine and they ran into the
same shortfall I found but they on the other hand tried forcing things causing these dents. Can't reach them from behind so I soldered a pulling pin to it and it turned the trick just fine. BTW my other concern was damaging the lead lining on the inside so just soldering this pin on temporarily preserved the inner coating.

I had yanked this corner just about as far is it was going to come without using any torch heat. Again I didn't want to burn the inner lead coating away. I thought about just leaving it as is; couldn't use plastic filler. I thought about it as maybe some originality type "street Cred" but having come this far I couldn't just paint over it this way.

[JTR70]

More damage softening:

While I was soldering tangs and pull pins on I decided to keep going by leading over these remaining wrinkles.

Solder applied and built up over the area and ready for file shaping.

Secondary damage from that bashed in lower corner was a large dent on the upper outer wall. This area really shows and there was a bad gap between the it and the strap here so it had to come up. Took several pin placements and pulls but it eventually came out to a level that I could live with.


Other issues where old chaffed areas on the bottom that had surface rusted and mildly pitted. Thank god these didn't go through. Soldered over these areas too.

At long last with my check list completed I was able to apply its first coat of epoxy sealer. This primer coat really highlighted all the numerus dings. This is the bottom but the top is not much better. Oh well, at least its still pretty on the inside.
More later...
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Initial work coat of black:
Light work coat applied and lightly sanded to highlight all the remaining blemishes.
This corner is still misshapen and nowhere near perfect but it came out a lot better than I had planned.
With all the limitations I had as far as access and how aggressive I could get... I'm fine with it so long as it don't leak!
Dings and rollers abound, Everywhere but I am not over restoring this tank. I see a lot these tanks color sanded with better finishes than on the car body itself
but this one will be finished in a correct light coat of Semi gloss black. I want to keep the coating thin so the natural texture of the coated surface transfers through as I've seen with a lot of original painted tanks. The older I get the more I'm finding the stain finishes appealing; Less is more. Especially in this case as this sucker is too rough for one of those fancy color sand finishes anyway.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin, just followed this story from the beginning. Now that has turned out just fine. I imagined you would use a soldered on pull out system. Interested in knowing how you applied the pull out pressure? I can only think you clamped the shaft in chuck and then if that was say a drill you pulled on it? Maybe that would not just work at all? How did you do it?

What a nice item to have it would very smart in any nice 356.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks very much Roy! Actually I used the same tool that I used to pull out that lower corner...
Its a simple quick add-on modification my old mentor built many years ago. It worked beautifully on that caved in corner but as you can see its was really over kill to bring up the skin sections so only the lightest of taps was necessary.
The only draw back is the angle of pull is not straight on do the shape of vice jaws but it as long as you stay aware of it as it goes it can be worked around.
Thanks again Roy!
Justin