No more rusty fuel supply

[tractorjames]

Just received this today to replace the rust filled, leaky, JB welded steel thing that was fitted.

Bought it from Allyfab - no connection to the firm, this is my first dealing with them.

At £310 to my door its cheaper than the steel equivalent, seems nicely made and should out last the car.

James

[DJT]

Smart! Pity to hide it away. Perspex boot boards perhaps?

[38rover]

Looks good but remember ally and steel are not good together so suggest paint the tank use etch primer first and where the tank sits on the boot floor use sound deadening sticky pads to keep the metals apart bottom of boot often gets wet.

[tractorjames]

Its nice looking thing, thanks for the advice, got some foam pads on the boot floor.

James

[new to this]

Its nice looking thing, thanks for the advice, got some foam pads on the boot floor.

James

my brothers car has an alli tank,we put some spacers under the mounting bolt brackets to lift it a little

dave

[38rover]

I was meaning the bitumen type sticky pads used on body panels about 3mm thick foam will absorb water

[72BLUE]

I would not put anything at all between the bottom of the tank and the boot floor other than temporarily fitting several balls of blue tack when you first fit it. Then remove tank and check how much the blue tack has compressed, repeat if necessary until you have a decent gap all over, adjusting the tank height with spacers. Then remove blue tack. Cheers, Keith.

[mjheathcote]

Did you provide them your old tank as a pattern James?

[new to this]

Did you provide them your old tank as a pattern James?

it looks like the same one my brother has, and his came from wards

dave

[tractorjames]

He already has the stag pattern, i've now checked and packed the tank up a little with spacers, wasn't too keen on all the weight been on the mounting lugs but on second thoughts they are way more substantial than the originals so it should be OK.

Thanks,
James

[Stagsongas]

He already has the stag pattern, i've now checked and packed the tank up a little with spacers, wasn't too keen on all the weight been on the mounting lugs but on second thoughts they are way more substantial than the originals so it should be OK.

Thanks,
James

James,

I really like the idea of an Ally tank and I like the look of the one in the picture, it looks great. If any of mine die, I'll go down that route.

The main concern has been alluded to, but not really explained so this may save you trouble in the future;

The problem with putting Aluminium alloys of any type next to steel is due to the Cathodic Effect. It's a type of electrolytic process set up by contact between these two dissimilar metals. A good example is often found on older Land Rovers or Range Rovers, where the metal of the aluminium front wing mountings literally vanished from the area immediately around the steel bolt heads.

The only way to stop this happening is to have either no contact between the metals by insulating any mountings and touch points. On Aluminium bodied cars (Say Audi A8 and Jaguar) they use insulating pads and anodised mounting bolts which breaks the electrolytic path. I've made many insulating washers for use in my aluminium bodied conversions by stamping them out of sheet plastic with a wad punch, and years later (since the X350 came out in 2003) there has been no such problem. If you can't find a ready source of plastic to make these washers, the side of a 4 pint milk container gives plenty of flat and suitable material!

As for the mounting bolts, finding anodised ones will not be easy, so you just have to ensure that no part of the steel bolt is actually touching the alloy. Washers make it easy to insulate the clamping faces, but how can we be sure the bolts are not touching inside the hole?

I think the easiest solution is to have holes larger than the bolts, and when the bolts are centred in the larger holes there will be no side contact.

Regards

Steve

[KOY 23]

I use "top hat" washers from these people: http://www.bpfonline.co.uk/search.asp?catid=2708

[Stagsongas]

I use "top hat" washers from these people: http://www.bpfonline.co.uk/search.asp?catid=2708

Even better than the Milk container!

[73stagman]

James,


The problem with putting Aluminium alloys of any type next to steel is due to the Cathodic Effect. It's a type of electrolytic process set up by contact between these two dissimilar metals. A good example is often found on older Land Rovers or Range Rovers,

And in Stag engines