Air pressure & heat on steel tank

[twostroke]

I’m getting ready to dive into a resto on an OA55 Johnson. The tank is non-rusty, but it’s had the absolute snot beat out of it. I have a Unispotter studwelder to pull dents extenally….but I’d hate to end up with a hole in the tank after grinding a pulling stud off….and just ‘mudding’ it is NOT my style. There’s all sorts of info on the board concerning aluminum tanks and this situation, but none on steel. Any experience out there? How much pressure? Heat…how much? Propane? MAPP? Acetylene & a brazing/welding tip? Don’t wanna’ ruin a good (for the age…) tank.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Jim

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I say "pardon me" a lot. I had a 20H, then raced open mod sleds.

[RICK EICHRODT]

Why not unsolder the end caps, tap the dents out and then solder the caps back on?

[dan-in-tn]

That is exactly what I was thinking. Guess it depends on how the ends caps are put on, but solder sounds good.

Dan in TN

[lyks2tinkr]

The end caps are soldered on and are easily removed. You can the remove the dents and solder the caps back in place. Then depending on the condition of the tank, rust pin holes you can line it with Damon Redkote. That’s exactly what I did to my OA55 11 years ago and I’ve run gallons of gas through it with no problems.

[john8504]

I’m looking a fixing a big dent in my engines tank as well. Going to follow this thread.

[Tubs]

Once you get the end caps off you
can get the dents out like this. (bigger pipe.)
That is steel though and it wont shrink
like brass or aluminum will so you will
likely have a crease on the deep
stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erYB7XHyhxU

A "Boathouse Repair" is one thats done without having tools or the skills to do it properly.

[twostroke]

Ok…I give. I’ll heat it up and unsolder the end caps this weekend. I’ve done enough panelbeating over the years that this’ll be a piece-o-cake to work with with the ends open. I can probably come close to ‘metal-finishing’ it. The soldering it back together part just makes me paranoid. I’ll post pics down the road.

Jim

I say "pardon me" a lot. I had a 20H, then raced open mod sleds.

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