I'm to cheap to buy the gas tank I want - hammerform

If you would have taken more time on your hammer form and made it smoother you would have better results. I found it is better not to have too much material on the edges to hammer over. It reduces puckering on the corners. Just a helpful tip for anyone wanting to try this. Good idea for a tank.

 

Wow...thats good work!

 

OK, back at it.

I busted my hammerform taking it off of the first end cap. So a little quick rigging was in order. Kinda bummed about this because I wanted to save these forms for future use.



Joey the Third decided to come work with me today. He did all the heavy lifting.


I finished up that second cap. This is how it should look


Caps are done, time to move onto the body of the tank. I guess this next step is optional if you don't want to get all fancy with things. At this point you could just wrap your sheet around the caps and weld it if you want. I decided to add a little character to the tank.

Mark out your lines and head on over to the bead roller.


Here is my modified HF bead roller


I want a flange on one end so when you wrap the steel around it overlaps and rests on the ledge. Don't know the specific name of these dies but this is what I used.


I also added a few 1/4" beads to wrap around the tank.


Time to put it all together. I'm brazing this tank. This is pretty much my first time brazing, so don't expect miracles. This is the brazing rod I used, its been on the shelf for years. I'm pretty sure you can buy this at Tractor Supply.


Lay out your parts and vise grip the two end caps on. I decided that I wanted my tank to sit flat and have my seam to be at the top of the tank so its less likely to leak.


You'll probaly also want to incorperate some sort of baffle. Anything would work, this is just a piece of scrap tin I had. Make sure your baffle doesn't interfere with your tank when you go to wrap it around the caps.


Braze a few tack welds near your clamps.


Now take your steel and start wrapping it around the cap. Clamp it every couple inches and tack weld it. If you made a lip like I did you want to roll that side first so you don't end up with a headache later.


When you finally get both ends wrapped around the caps move onto the long seam down the tank. The steel with not lay flat where you want it to, it needs to be pushed down. If you don't have a helper do what I did and use a big clamp. Again tack weld it every few inches.


Once its all tacked together go ahead and weld it. My brazing would have gone MUCH easier if I had my welding torches, but my cousin borrowed them last summer. Incase you didn't notice, I did this with my cutting tip.




Thats all I have for today. I still need to finish welding the ends. Then all that is left is the filler neck and the bung for the fuel line.

 

Is there a reason you decided to braze instead of weld it? Just curious.

 

There is no sane reason to braze rather than to weld it. It would have been loads easier to just bust out the MIG or TIG, or even gas weld it. I can honestly say that I haven't used any modern tools on this tank, it just feels more Old Skool for me to braze it. Maybe I'm taking it a little too far, but this is a Traditional forum ain't it?

The oil pan on my flathead was made from two different oil pans brazed together god knows how long ago. I think thats cool as hell, why not carry that over to this?

 

This started out fine but as it has progressed it has become apparent that the workmanship is rough and the brazing has just made it look nasty.

I applaud you for trying, but you should start over and try to get your end caps done nicer, smoother in the folded edges and then choose a better way to weld it.

 

Not sure why you just didn't roll the X on the end caps to match the original. I agree, The brazing ruined it for me.

 

I wasnt commenting on how it was brazed, I was simply asking why it was brazed, and "I can honestly say that I haven't used any modern tools on this tank, it just feels more Old Skool for me to braze it." was a good enough answer to the question.

Wasnt meaning to strike a nerve. Sorry if I did.

 

Takes much more than that man.

I'm not done yet guys, don't give up hope yet. I still may surprise ya.

 

Very cool, but like some of the guys have said, maybe you should consider this one the "first draft". After you pulled your tank ends out of the forms, a little time with a hammer and dolly would have flattened out those ruffles you still had before you did the the brazing and would have provided a much more proffesional looking result. This time out I would consider two things, as stated above use your bead roller to roll the x in the end caps, and as Curbspeed said above, when hammer forming the less flange you are creating the better. You would find that a 3/4" or even a 5/8" flange would flatten out much better than the 1" you chose. Oh, and get your torches back from your cousin, 'cause brazing goes soooo much easier and cleaner when you can concentrate the heat into a smaller area and flow it more like solder rather than piling it on like weld. Clean all the seems up with a wipe of acid before brazing too.

All criticizing aside, it's damn good first shot at this, and I know the second one you do will be awsome!

 

My late Dad born 1903, excellent pipe welder started out welding 16" gas pipe joints long before WWII, before stick welding. So gas welding your tank would be old school enough. You could gas weld (fuse) your end caps to the tank without filler rod.



Ago

 

Ago gets it.

I finished brazing the main tank, then hit it with a sander. Looks pretty damn good to me. Good enough for any Jalopy I'm runnin'





Now onto the filler neck, vent, and bung for fuel line.

 

I like it. Looks like it was made decades ago.

 

For the vent and fuel line bungs I decided to use 1/4" pipe couplers. I found these in my parts pin. They are nice because they are round on the ends, not hexagonal like most. I drilled a 5/8" hole and these couplers slipped right in. (naturally you'll want one on the bottom of the tank, and another ontop.


Another one of my novice brazing jobs you all seem to love.


Now is a good time to pressurize your tank to check your tank for leaks. I use my blow gun and some windex. Spray the windex (soapy water, or whatever you can get your hands on) on your welds. Blow air into your couplers and look for bubbles. Be carefull not to put too much air in or you could F' up your tank. Naturally anywhere you see bubbles you have a pinhole leak and you need to go back and fix it. I'm not gonna lie, I had 3 or 4 spots.

I sourced my filler neck from an old Willys Jeep gas tank I had. As it turns out Willys Jeep tanks were made pretty much the same way as I'm making this one, accept their tanks were soldered from the factory.


To deviate from my original plan a bit I decided to flip my tank over so the seam is on the bottom. This allowed for a much cleaner look.

I'm 90% sure I want my filler neck to be offset to the driver's side. Something else tells me that it should be in the center so I can drive up to the gas pump on either side. Also in this picture you can see how I am running my vent using brake line. This will run down and come out a hole in the floor when I mount the tank.


Its amazing how little time is in the day Hopefully tomorrow this tank will be finished

 

As long as you have a fan behind you blowing the heavy stuff away it is safe to weld-braze galvanize steel ... I tig welded it for many years chopping doors on heavy trucks for low cab garbage trucks for Volvo/GM. Great work thanks for sharing!

 

I agree, looks like it's been around quite a while, I like it too.

 

Man, if you just had the right stuff for brazing, and maybe a bit more practice id dig that tank! Great idea.

 

looks great for home made despite what all the critics have to say,sure it will perform as designed too!
it seems no one can post tech here without adding extra room for the REAL know it alls....

 

so when are we building my tanks

 

tanks? Plural??

 

If the fit up is good enough silver solder does a nice looking job.




Ago

 

you had a bead roller this whole time. whaat? i got a T tank at the swapmeet for $40, just not sure if it was worth the effort.

 

I get it Hillbilly. 100%. Right on man.

 

I've also got a MIG, a TIG, a plasma cutter, a credit card, and a cell phone. That doesn't mean I have to use them.

I posted this for tech week because I didn't think you all would be interested with a thread titled "How to go buy something"

As far as the "not worth the effort" comment, I think its totally worth my time. I'm having a blast doing this. Now when I'm somewhere and someone asks where I bought that tank I can say I made it myself.

 

Rite on Hillbilly!
not all of us are so traditional,that we want an 80 year plus- old rustfilled gas tank either,I agree it was a worthwhile effort and I think it turned out great.

 

6 years ago, I bought a Cragar blower intake for a Chrysler Hemi for $20. I need another, should I wait till I find another $20 one?

 

Real know it alls ? That is a good one.

Some of us just hold skilled workmanship to a higher standard.

If you want rough cobbled together style workmanship there are whole forums devoted to that.

 

On the Hamb here, there are ALL levels of craftsmanship and designs. Even if someone looks at this thread and thinks "I could have done this/that better or cleaner" the tech TO ME is more about the ideas than the execution of those ideas.

 

The worst part about all of the insults and negativity on tech posts, I honsestly think it makes many guys scared to share their ideas on fear of being critiqued to death.

I see lots of cool ideas on forums (even the forbidden ones) that although I think the part is "less than perfect" (putting it mildly) I can take that idea and run with it.

Perfect example. Last month on Facebook, a guy posts up a bracket he was making that is completely different than the ones I make, but serve the same purpose. I REALLY liked how he came at it, even though there were flaws in his design. I took his design, changed up a few minor things so it would work better, showed them to him, and the next day he posts up his new slightly modified brackets. They now work perfect for him, and I have a bolt on design for something Ive always just welded.

Had I of just looked at his bracket and said "shitty welding" and moved on, we BOTH would have missed out.

 

Filler neck. Straight forward. Get a hole saw, cut a hole, weld on your filler neck.

After I cut the hole I figured this was a good time to get in there and get all the drill shavings out. I used one of those telescopic stick magnet dealies and got every last bit out. Another plus about using steel is its magnetic. Aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and brass are not.


Done, prep, prime, paint.