Yup, it’s time to interrupt some great fun to do some wrenching.

Any offroader who has been wheeling for more than 6 months will tell you that it isn’t the last moment before you broke that really causes the break. It’s usually all the things you did leading to that point.

So… keeping that in mind, I’ve had the Blue Pig out a few times…

Oceano Dunes, CA

BLM land in NV

Byrds (in Arkansas)

Fordyce Trail in CA

Hollister Hills, CA

Rush springs Ranch, MO

Hollister Hills, CA

SMORR, MO

Moab, UT

So yeah… it was time for something else to give.

We headed up to Niagara Rim, CA for a weekend of wheeling. About 90% through the trail a buddy noticed something dripping from the back…derp!

Yeah, it was less fun for a little bit. I can hear almost all the teenagers and slightly-older-than-teen folks going “I know, right?!”

Fuel cell leak on aisle 5! Fortunately it wasn’t a gusher, more of a drippy bit.

I’ve made several trips this year with 1 more to go. Pismo/Oceano dunes is coming up soon!

Rewinding to the build blog… here describes how I mounted the fuel cell.

Here is a shot before it had all the body on, paint, etc.

It’s held by 2 straps. They are wider than the “kit” that is sold with most tanks, so I figured that was good. The bolts by the tank nearest the bottom of the picture and on the straps cinch the tank up tight to the angle iron frame around it at the top.

In the pic below, right at the tip of my index finger (on the right) is pointing at a little bur on the edge of the tank. That would be where the leak came from. Being cheap and on the trail, I tried to patch it with “gum”. That’s the old wives tale… gum is supposed to get rock hard when in contact with gas. As you can see by the smudge above my finger, it didn’t work so well. Apparently Trident is NOT the right variety. An internet search tells me hubba bubba or bazooka would work… who knew?! Consider it purchased and in my pack for the next trip.

My middle finger (on the left) is pointing to where the strap was. The straps were tight… if you look very close you can see that there was a little friction wear that the strap caused. It didn’t wander over and cause the leak… which means generally the welds are likely weakening. Ugh.

I have a few options:

Fix this tank

Get another like it (and get a sump welded in)

Do something different

Fixing this tank… yeah… Aluminum has a few bad properties once it starts cracking. Unlike steel it likes to crack rather than bend. Shock loads are particularly bad. MAYBE I created a few shock loads… ha!

Once the exposed metal is in the weather for a while (mine for 3 years) the aluminum also surface oxydizes. It doesn’t degrade like steel because it kind of makes a skin of oxydized aluminum and doesn’t continue deeper … but it does mean you have to grind under it for welding… all of that just weakens the tank generally.

I also noticed this…which looks like witness marks to a weeping leak. *sigh* Regardless of what I use for a replacement this one has to come out.

Disassembly! Get out the ziplocks and use them…

A little siphon action to empty the tank …

Below you can see that:

1- I had some pretty good plastic spacers that have a nub on the back that fit into holes in the strap to space the tank bottom off of the straps…

2- At the bottom corners I had some rubber slipped over the strap to also help with abraision.

Well, it worked for 3 years of wheeling!

After removing the tank, I gave it a look-see to see if there were other non-obvious issues. It turns out that it had worn a bit where it contacted the steel at the top:

I think we go with one of the replace options:

Replace with same same

Replace with different

So… replacement…I started shopping. Same-same would cost $210 + welding cost for Aluminum (I ain’t got the gear to smooge Aluminum).

I had a few different ideas and hit a fellow engineer and we started thinking about economical options.

Of course, being engineers, our attention naturally turned to beer related things.

It turns out I can buy a 15.5 gal beer keg (new!) for about 1/2 the cost of an aluminum fuel cell. Further, they are made to take some pretty high abuse. They come with two handy mounting surfaces (a.k.a. top and bottom rings) to bolt to. It’s made from 304 Stainless… food grade! I think we’re going to get the buggy tanked!

The infinite interwebs tells me you can also run into cracks in the welds with stainless… but at least I’ll have a cheaper replacement next time… ha!

There is plenty of unused space in the trunk for fitment:

So that’s the plan.

Time to order some parts and get a brown santa visit or 5!

Details of the tankage:

In-tank fuel pump

2 wires have to get some current in and ground out

2 hoses (one in, one out) for circulation of fuel to the fun-power generator

One hose from the pump to port to get out

One vent tube with a roll-over valve

I can reuse my filler cap if I can get it to mate nicely with the top of the keg.

I will likely have to lengthen the legs on the tripod that holds the fuel pump.

After a short delay, parts arrive… and I get to work.

Here is the new tank and old tank …$132 delivered to my front doorstep by brown santa. I had to pull the hard fuel lines. New tank = new bends = new hard lines.

It felt like sacrilege, but I did it anyway… I used a hole saw to cut the hole in the top so that I could get other tools in there close to get it cut near the final shape.

After some clever use of the press to get the fill cap into a roughly conical shape (highly paid professional hiding back by the press… he’s a little camera shy and kind of like waldo, but now he’ll be famous)…let’s just say his name rhymes with Bob…

Here is the tank after further grinding, coping, drilling, …rinse repeat

Yes, that’s a ton of grinding dust down in the bottom. I did find that stainless is pretty hard. The drill bits noticed. The grinding wheel didn’t really notice. Cutoff wheels definitely noticed.

Now time to prep the cap for the extra roles. I got some weld-in bungs for in/out ports for fuel and one for a vent with rollover valve.

Also, I needed to remove the structure from the old tank mounts…

First mock in:

After trying about 5 different ways…. we decided that angled back by the rear tubes looked best and might behave best. Here you can see the basic setup.

For mounts, we bent some tube mount points… 14 cranks on the press after touching appears to be the right angle.

We also put a strap around it for that extra huggy feeling.

The wiring went well. I had a a few issues with the plumbing. I had a little leak here:

I thought the leak at the fitting so I tightened it… a little too much. Then I figured out it was UNDER the bung… so my welding missed a channel. So.. as you see here I welded it on the top. Then I tightened back down… it got tight, then looser…. oops. screwed up the flare and/or fitting.

The result? The AN 6 nut might be ok, but the sleeve is crushed inside and won’t come out. the steel line looks like the flare was pressed out. there was also a welding booger on the far side that didn’t see when I put it on. sheesh… pain in the neck. Ordered some nuts and sleeves from Speedway motors.

The other plumbing issue I ran into… I ordered the new 3/8 fuel line from Jegs. That stuff was so hard to bend I kinked it when bending it over a mandrel… sheesh! I would understand if I was trying to hand bend it but not when doing it over a mandrel. I ordered some similar to the previous line I’ve used to see if it works better…we’ll see if I feel motivated enough to bend another fuel line. It’s pretty much a pain to do and there is always a chance of introducing steel flecks into the line from the flares.

Even if I have to replace the lines I can go ahead and finish out the first fitting since I know where it’s all going to fall. Time for some paint. We’ll see if this holds up to gasoline:

A couple of days later, I get the fittings, cut/reflare, fire her up! Blargh… my welds still leaked. Grind off old bungs, more bungs welded on, grinding, and welding later… try #8: Worked like a charm!

(Grinding and paint makes me look like the welder I ain’t?!)

Here’s the finished product (after the Oceano dunes trip). It turns out that the paint I used on the outside isn’t particularly safe for gasoline… but… I don’t think it’ll matter as long as it doesn’t leak! The dribbles going away from the cap I think are due to the huge sloshing against the cap while running in the dunes.

…. and from the side…

Test drives @ Pismo Beach / Oceano Dunes!

Four days in the sand and the surf…. what a great way to end a wheeling season!

A couple of suggestions I’ll keep in mind… and probably do over time:

Put a beer keg tap spigot and hollow it out and use it on the end of the vent hose

Attach a button off a keg tap pump to the fill tube cap

Get out and get your tires dirty! It’s almost wrenching season!