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PostPosted: November 14, 2017, 8:59 am 
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Joined: November 13, 2017, 4:06 pm
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Which material is preferred for building a fuel tank? My options are 2mm Aluminum (12 gauge I think) or 1.6mm Stainless steel sheet.
If I use stainless then I can tig weld it myself if aluminum is preferred then I have to get a tank built for me.


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PostPosted: November 15, 2017, 9:12 am 
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Joined: June 5, 2016, 7:03 am
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Location: ontario
Stephen22 wrote:
Which material is preferred for building a fuel tank? My options are 2mm Aluminum (12 gauge I think) or 1.6mm Stainless steel sheet.
If I use stainless then I can tig weld it myself if aluminum is preferred then I have to get a tank built for me.



Hi

Here are a few links to conversations on this subject:

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/all-cob ... -tank.html

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?32 ... -Stainless

What I think is that both material are good to make fuel tanks, the main question with stainless is how good you are at tigging this material. My own tanks (both locosts) were made of 3/16" 6061 aluminum. I cut and machined all the components , clamped them where they belonged and presented the work to a professional welder whose welding would be better than mine and who would do a pressure test.


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PostPosted: November 15, 2017, 11:07 am 
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Mid-Engined Maniac

Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm
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There is no one right answer.

Stainless is tougher in an accident, won't corrode, and can handle ethanol fuels. It's also much heavier, will cut your hands to ribbons when handling it, and heat distorts like crazy if you aren't careful. Aluminum is much nicer to work with, is lighter, but can work-harden and crack, may or may not be cheaper, and needs an AC welder.

So, what's "preferred" is more up to the builder than there being one and only answer.

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PostPosted: November 15, 2017, 2:35 pm 
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I think that is an excellent plan, my tigging is good enough to tack it all together and then will take it to a real welder.

Thank you for all the info.


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PostPosted: November 15, 2017, 4:57 pm 
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The third option is to build your tank out of thin, mild steel then pour in a liner (Red Kote, Kreem, KBS, Armour Coat, etc). That gives you easy assembly, solid construction, reasonable weight, and a cost effective solution that can handle modern fuels without having to chase any leaks. That's the way I'd go.

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PostPosted: November 25, 2017, 8:22 pm 
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Or build two inexpensive steel tanks and swap them out in ten or fifteen years if corrosion becomes a problem...


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PostPosted: November 25, 2017, 9:18 pm 
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I'd use whatever material you can weld up yourself. As was said, aluminum is lighter, and also probably cheaper. I made mine out of 1/16" aluminum, and welded it with my cheap mig welder. It's been 6 or 8 years, and it's holding up still. A pressure test is easy to do, just need a regulator that can go down to 5 psi or so and some soapy water.
Kristian

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PostPosted: November 26, 2017, 11:43 am 
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On the issue of water and corrosion, I went off on a web quest last night. I figured if Diesel trucks had water separators for their fuel, there might be something similar for gasoline.

Your search terms are "gasoline fuel water separator", and places like Defender Marine carry an assortment from $40-ish to "makes airplane parts look cheap!" They claim to be able to mechanically remove water from gasoline or E10 gasohol. You can get them with replaceable cartridges or spin-on filters that look like oil filters. The more expensive models have clear bowls with drain valves.

Once a tank is fiberglassed into the hull, I imagine replacement would be a big problem... and unlike some aircraft, there's no convenient way to drain any water or sediment from the tanks, so the boat guys can be a little crazy on the subject of tank corrosion.

If you're concerned about how a plain steel tank would hold up as far as corrosion, one of those water separators plumbed into the fuel return line might help.

Just making a new tank if you need one, or a spare to store against the day, might be cheaper, though.


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PostPosted: November 26, 2017, 12:06 pm 
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turbo_bird wrote:
I'd use whatever material you can weld up yourself. As was said, aluminum is lighter, and also probably cheaper. I made mine out of 1/16" aluminum, and welded it with my cheap mig welder. It's been 6 or 8 years, and it's holding up still. A pressure test is easy to do, just need a regulator that can go down to 5 psi or so and some soapy water.
Kristian

Something I forgot to mention. If you go with thin material, make sure to either add ribs inside or supports under it. The weight of the fuel will cause the tank bottom to flex. Also, keep in mind that 5psi spread over the bottom of a 10" x 30" tank is 1500 lbs. Just sayin'

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PostPosted: November 26, 2017, 1:57 pm 
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No reason to overthink materials.

A common steel tank with a coat of RedKote will prevent future rusting and prevent most welding imperfections from leaks. It can be used on clean steel. I did this.

Unprotected aluminum is not so good for >E10 gas/alcohol if that is in your future vision. (Neither is RedKote BTW)

I'm not sure about needing water separators or placing them in a FI return line. It may not flow enough fuel and somehow screw up the pressure regulator (?). If you feel the need, You might want to check how FI I/O's are plumbed. Cartridges are fairly inexpensive.

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PostPosted: November 26, 2017, 3:14 pm 
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I did mine in aluminum. Untreated on the inside. All the info I found on boaters sites on the ethanol tuning aluminum, from the boaters now, is that the storage of fuel with water mixed with alcohol is the bad mixture. If your running it through with out sitting for months your fine. If your storing just don't store it with ethanol fuels or dump it and store it with a full treated tank.
If you decide to make it out of stainless ( I was going to until I got my aluminum for free) tack it every 2" and weld small sections no more than 3" at a time. Alternate your welds all around the tank. Let it cool to room temp before moving on. Should really keep your warping to a Minimum.

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PostPosted: November 26, 2017, 7:54 pm 
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With the interior coatings out there, you could almost make the thing outta plywood and have it last?

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