Fuel tanks

[Gary t]

anyone that has an aluminum fuel tank do you have ant idea what thickness of sheet it was made out of?

[EuropaTC]

I made mine from 2mm but I suppose with careful attention to where the brackets are attached for mounting the tanks you could go thinner, especially if you made a few folds to strengthen it up.

I picked 2mm because I hadn't welded Al before and wasn't sure I could manage with anything thinner.  Plus I wasn't bothered about weight saving, it was the non-rusting aspect I was interested in.  There's still a slight weight reduction, density of steel is 7.85 against 2.6 for Al so 1mm steel=3mm Al. (very roughly)

Brian

[MRN I J]

I had a Banks alloy tank & it kept splitting when half full over bumps, that was 1.5mm, next one will be 2mm & baffled.

[EuropaTC]

I had a Banks alloy tank & it kept splitting when half full over bumps, that was 1.5mm, next one will be 2mm & baffled.

Out of interest, where did it split ?  I would honestly have thought 1.5mm would be ok if the mounting brackets had a spreader plate to distribute the load.

Brian

[MRN I J]

on the welds as far as i can remember, the 2 main panels flexed when half full

[EuropaTC]

heck, that's surprising, I wouldn't have expected that with only 0.5mm less.

Mine aren't baffled and the base/sides are rock solid. I had one out a few years ago and even the mounting brackets (which did concern me) were fine with no distortion.

Brian

[MRN I J]

I hillclimbed / sprinted my S2 for a few years besides driving it like I stole it every time I went out in it, nowadays I have a tank manufacturer who will remake it for me

[GavinT]

Germany knew how to make tanks that resisted splitting.

[BDA]

Gavin, somehow I don’t think that tank is in line with Chunky’s edict to add lightness!   

[GavinT]

Gavin, somehow I don’t think that tank is in line with Chunky’s edict to add lightness!   

To be fair, Chunky wasn't contemplating invading Poland, either.