Fuel Tank Woes

[essjay]

looking like its going to take a bit of painting anyhow though?

I just like the sweet little gadget / tool that some bright spark thought up for this sort of thing haha.
If compressed air or some spoons will do the job though, aint nothing wrong with that.

[spanner1954]

  hiya bro's, compressed air is ok but ya have got to do it very slowly, i dont like things that ya glue or weld because then ya got to repaint it all  but if ya carefull and dont put to much pressure on, then ya can push it out with pry bars or spoons , through the nearest apperture . but if ya want a 1st class job then get some prices from a ding doctor . respect spanner.

[essjay]

There are some nice panel beaters tools that should do it, may even be worth paying a local "ding king" or similar to do the job.

                          T
        I                 I                 I
    ---I-------------I------------I----
        I                 J                I
        I                  L               I

Excuse my dodgy 'artwork' but there is a device that looks almost nothing like what i drew above here, but a small peg (the L part) is glued into the rough centre of your dent. This tool hooks (the J part) onto the top of said peg (the L part)
The base of the lowest I parts have some large soft feet that rest against the panel, in this case you tank. The row of dashes is the bar connecting them all together. The T part is threaded through the bar, so slowly winding that out pulls on the L section that is glued to your dent, gently pulling it out and back into shape. Works small wonders sometimes, bigger version available for bigger dents with many hooks used at once.


When the big hail storm hit us here in Perth not long ago, the local Supercheap had a huge run of a cheaper simpler version version of this device, perfect for hail dents. Still every 5th car here looks like a golf ball now haha.

Sorry to hear about your tank there. Compressed air, interesting idea, may have to try that on one of my tanks here!

[spanner1954]

best way to do this is to remove ya taps or fuel gauge  sender , and then insert a spoon or a bent pry bar and gently ease the dent out with out making the  dent. any worse. there is a thread on this on the uk site .

[fungorus]

Been tested on  minor dings before and worked, but your ding seems to have a crease and so might not work. Worth a crack though.........

[steptoe]

have never heard of that before Carl, is that something you came up with or where you told, good idea though,, be worth starting with that

don't try the comp air with out starting with very low pressure and building up,, to much pressure HAS split the joining seals around the bottom of the tank

[fungorus]

Get hold of one of those old fashion plungers for unblocking a sink. Wet everything so you get an air tight seal and plunge that sucker out. will work if it is minor and the crease is not to deep. worth a shot.

[Eveready1100]

          I'd been browsing on the web Wednesday night while a bit of a storm thing was ripping around ouside. You know, 90 knot winds and 105 mm of rain in a few hours. Typical, for here. I heard a noise from the man cave like a drum falling over so I went to see if maybe my wriggly friend was back knocking my gear off the benchtops. Unfortunately, I saw my Standard tank laying on the concrete floor upside down. i had painted it a few days ago and was letting the paint get a good cure before hitting it with the buff.
       I'd been fixing my chainsaw during the day and had the window open to vent the fumes and a particularly strong gust of wind must have blown it off the shelf onto the floor. Main damage is a fist sized dent on the front side and deep lacerations on the top where it must have barrel rolled after taking its dive.
     The dent is my main worry. I've heard in the past that compressed air can be used to pop it out, but one has to be careful not to distort the inner shape from too much pressure. There aren't any real sharp edges on the impact site. Just looks like it popped inwards.
    Has anyone got any other ideas on fixing this sort of thing? I really don't want to just fill it with bog.  I'm not in a real rush to do it so I'll leave plenty of time for any responses which will be eagerly anticipated. 
Some pics of the damage.