Fuel tank removal
- Thread starter dtreid
- Start date
SoCalPlaneDoc
New member
cut-away the fabric, find the screws for the tank cover and remove them, remove the cover..
simple huh? well...
most likely you have the anti-skid stuff that can make a mess..
often the screws and gap between the cover and wing have been filled, that adds to the challenge.
and of course, all that has to be replaced when you're done.
it a good idea to put new fuel sender wiring in too, while it's open and easy to run.
simple huh? well...
most likely you have the anti-skid stuff that can make a mess..
often the screws and gap between the cover and wing have been filled, that adds to the challenge.
and of course, all that has to be replaced when you're done.
it a good idea to put new fuel sender wiring in too, while it's open and easy to run.
blimpy
New member
View attachment 1View attachment 1from what I can tell... recovering the tank is one of the more challenging aspects of these planes.
there is a long website post about it... my plane seems to be an object lesson in what NOT to do.
Mine was done poorly, and it one of the biggest cosmetic negatives on my bird.
( I could kick the guy for not reinforcing the wing walk while he was in there.. but given what he did do, maybe
its a blessing.)
Besides the various mechanical aspects of attaching the tank cover and getting it faired in.. it is imperative that you
know exactly what covering system exists on your wing ( cotton or ceconite or stitts).... what dope system was used,
and what paint system covers all that.
>>Just use the same darn stuff, and ignore alien orders, if not recovering the whole wing<<
My P.O. ( previous owner) thought he could use stitts poly to bond to cotton with 1947 factory dope with Dupont car paint over that... ( wrong ! ) Well you "can" but you "can" use duct tape and wallpaper glue too.
It really gets ugly when you have 68 years of layers of stuff, and you want some replacement patch to be " invisible"
( same thickness).
In March.. I will spend a month trying to "fix" exactly this mess.. and a few others.
We can trade horror stories. :?
good luck.
there is a long website post about it... my plane seems to be an object lesson in what NOT to do.
Mine was done poorly, and it one of the biggest cosmetic negatives on my bird.
( I could kick the guy for not reinforcing the wing walk while he was in there.. but given what he did do, maybe
its a blessing.)
Besides the various mechanical aspects of attaching the tank cover and getting it faired in.. it is imperative that you
know exactly what covering system exists on your wing ( cotton or ceconite or stitts).... what dope system was used,
and what paint system covers all that.
>>Just use the same darn stuff, and ignore alien orders, if not recovering the whole wing<<
My P.O. ( previous owner) thought he could use stitts poly to bond to cotton with 1947 factory dope with Dupont car paint over that... ( wrong ! ) Well you "can" but you "can" use duct tape and wallpaper glue too.
It really gets ugly when you have 68 years of layers of stuff, and you want some replacement patch to be " invisible"
( same thickness).
In March.. I will spend a month trying to "fix" exactly this mess.. and a few others.
We can trade horror stories. :?
good luck.
The tank was removed by the previous owner. I can make out the screw heads underneath the fabric. What I'm wondering is if I could cut the fabric around the wing skin lid, peel the fabric back just enough to access the screws, and remove the tank cover with the fabric still intact.
Wondering then if I could put it back on, glue the fabric back down, and then mask off a thin strip around the tank cover and put some sort of wing-walk type paint on it to avoid repainting anything.
Wondering then if I could put it back on, glue the fabric back down, and then mask off a thin strip around the tank cover and put some sort of wing-walk type paint on it to avoid repainting anything.
twheel47
New member
Blimpy offers good words. The wing can be a real mix of systems and painting folklore. In 28 years, I've had the left cover off twice and the right once. I wouldn't look forward to doing it again. The fabric IS NOT strong enough to lift the wing walk paint. Mine came off in thumbnail sized pieces with much frustrating labor.
Not only should you reinforce your wing walk quite severely (ala Viking, or I used a set up similar to a Waco I did apprentice work on years ago) but I did take Tom Witmer's CAP Aviation & Witmer's Aircraft) advice and made my right tank cover beefier. I basicly used three sheets of quite thin 3 ply and made a substantial cover using the wing as a mold for the curves. Yes, it's a tad thicker than the wing but it's faired down along the edges. Tom ultimately started to glue all Cruisair, Cruisemaster, 260, Viking & Super Viking tank covers on (with screws to keep the Feds happy) and do all/any subsequent repairs from the bottom. Not surprisingly the factory followed suit within a decade. I didn't go that far but wish I had; the covers will not work loose and break the paint bond if they're epoxied.
I have a whole album of semi-sequential photos of the repairs from 1989 and 2012. Do not plan on this being a quick fix.
Good luck and keep a sense of humor.
Not only should you reinforce your wing walk quite severely (ala Viking, or I used a set up similar to a Waco I did apprentice work on years ago) but I did take Tom Witmer's CAP Aviation & Witmer's Aircraft) advice and made my right tank cover beefier. I basicly used three sheets of quite thin 3 ply and made a substantial cover using the wing as a mold for the curves. Yes, it's a tad thicker than the wing but it's faired down along the edges. Tom ultimately started to glue all Cruisair, Cruisemaster, 260, Viking & Super Viking tank covers on (with screws to keep the Feds happy) and do all/any subsequent repairs from the bottom. Not surprisingly the factory followed suit within a decade. I didn't go that far but wish I had; the covers will not work loose and break the paint bond if they're epoxied.
I have a whole album of semi-sequential photos of the repairs from 1989 and 2012. Do not plan on this being a quick fix.
Good luck and keep a sense of humor.
blimpy
New member
I yield to the folks who have actually done it.
For sure, look at all the pictures and read all the descriptions of the job
Before Starting.
I don't think there are any shortcuts . The joints around the cover get stressed,
and seem to fail repeatedly. so do the best possible job.. if only to give the best foundation
for fixing the failure prone seams.
Nobody rates the underside of your wings for cosmetics except the snails.
No wonder they pull them from the bottom now !
If there is any chance of getting actual help from someone who has done it before ?
What is the balance between cost to pay to have the job done by an expert- who isn't gonna be a month doing it -
and the down time and real costs of doing it yourself.. including hanger time, drive costs,
materials, and the wife quotient ?
I now know that down time costs include:
Insurance
Hanger
Auto
Meals Away
Mail Order Delivery
Materials
Tools
Disposables ( solvents, rags, sand paper, yada yada)
Unless I can schedule continuous time to work..
stupid 2 day jobs stretch into weeks and then months.
Especially when the learning curve is steep or I don't have everything I need right at hand.
Usually it is both.
And then Murphy arrives with blowing dust storms, floods,
freezing temps, or high humidity and rain storms, or temps well over
100 in the hanger.
Will the weather be right for gluing, fabric work, and painting ?
I live in 'sunny' California.. and I have to shell out serious money to rent a truly dry hanger
with electricity so I can attempt to do this stuff in March.
If they catch me painting.. I can end up in the slammer, or evicted with a
disabled airplane... so I may heed my own advice and pay for that after I do
the prep.
God I hate to ask this...
But can you use a Sealant ( 3M Fuel Proof Coating ) to fix your leak ?
For sure, look at all the pictures and read all the descriptions of the job
Before Starting.
I don't think there are any shortcuts . The joints around the cover get stressed,
and seem to fail repeatedly. so do the best possible job.. if only to give the best foundation
for fixing the failure prone seams.
Nobody rates the underside of your wings for cosmetics except the snails.
No wonder they pull them from the bottom now !
If there is any chance of getting actual help from someone who has done it before ?
What is the balance between cost to pay to have the job done by an expert- who isn't gonna be a month doing it -
and the down time and real costs of doing it yourself.. including hanger time, drive costs,
materials, and the wife quotient ?
I now know that down time costs include:
Insurance
Hanger
Auto
Meals Away
Mail Order Delivery
Materials
Tools
Disposables ( solvents, rags, sand paper, yada yada)
Unless I can schedule continuous time to work..
stupid 2 day jobs stretch into weeks and then months.
Especially when the learning curve is steep or I don't have everything I need right at hand.
Usually it is both.
And then Murphy arrives with blowing dust storms, floods,
freezing temps, or high humidity and rain storms, or temps well over
100 in the hanger.
Will the weather be right for gluing, fabric work, and painting ?
I live in 'sunny' California.. and I have to shell out serious money to rent a truly dry hanger
with electricity so I can attempt to do this stuff in March.
If they catch me painting.. I can end up in the slammer, or evicted with a
disabled airplane... so I may heed my own advice and pay for that after I do
the prep.
God I hate to ask this...
But can you use a Sealant ( 3M Fuel Proof Coating ) to fix your leak ?
twheel47
New member
It should go without saying but; while the tank is out do as much cleaning up, sanding, re-sealing, etc of the fuel bay as possible. Check glue joints by ye olde tap test and re-bond where necessary. You sure don't want to do this over again in a few years.
Unless you have access to a shop with folks experienced in welding aluminum fuel tanks this isn't a DIY fix on the tank. For personal safety, and potential law suits avoidance, send the tank out to someone who does this for a living, such as Hartwig. That's not an ad or endorsement as such,just the name of one of many fuel cell repair specialists.
I think getting the "bleeping" wing walk compound off the wing was the worst part of the whole repair. The down time while the tank was out (two weeks +) was annoying but I did a lot of fussy clean upin the bay itself.
Unless you have access to a shop with folks experienced in welding aluminum fuel tanks this isn't a DIY fix on the tank. For personal safety, and potential law suits avoidance, send the tank out to someone who does this for a living, such as Hartwig. That's not an ad or endorsement as such,just the name of one of many fuel cell repair specialists.
I think getting the "bleeping" wing walk compound off the wing was the worst part of the whole repair. The down time while the tank was out (two weeks +) was annoying but I did a lot of fussy clean upin the bay itself.