Removed the passenger seat, gas tank (and transmission tunnel cover) of the 68 FJ40 to gain working access room during the project’s engine swap.
One of my personal weaknesses emerges when I remove and replace apart during a project rebuild. Even if the part will never be seen by someone unless they are lying underneath the vehicle, or disassembling parts of it, I can’t stand to put a dirty part back into the project.
Where possible, I will clean it and paint a part so it looks almost like new, before returning it to the project. It lets me see where I have been, and if something is going wrong, it is easier to spot a leak on a clean component as opposed to a grimy one.
The FJ40 gas tank has seen some wear and wetness. It looked rough and it seemed to have a pinhole leak somewhere, based on the small gas stain it left sitting on the garage floor for a couple weeks.
While wire wheeling the old paint and accumulated grime away I found the leaks. They were underneath one of the pads that goes between the gas tank bottom and the passenger side floor pan where it sits. The old OEM pad was still stuck to the tank, and when I removed it, I spotted several pinholes.
Overtime, there had been enough water in the passenger foot well to saturate the OEM pad, causing it to retain moisture after the rest of the cavity under the tank had dried. Hence, corroded, metal and pinhole leaks underneath the pad location.
During the process of taking the tank back to metal, I uncovered a couple of other past repairs, brazing some tank seams to stop leakage. Those repairs were still good.
After thorough surface prep, I repaired the corroded areas under the strap with the pinhole leaks with two smooth coats of epoxy. When hardened, I sanded the repair to blend in smoothly with the tank.
Primed the tank with a rust converter, sanded, and then applied final coats of paint. I know the OEM tank was black, but I chose a dark steel color that matches the frame and legs on the front seats. I want to build a clean driver, not shooting for show truck.
For once, I’m not begging the community for advice or help. I just wanted to provide an example of one of my project phases where things went pretty well.
When I reinstalled the tank, it will have fresh bottom pads from SOR installed. They appear to be made from a rubbery material that will shed water more than the woven jute type of pads that were originally under the tank.
Here is the top and bottom of the tank when it came out:
One of my personal weaknesses emerges when I remove and replace apart during a project rebuild. Even if the part will never be seen by someone unless they are lying underneath the vehicle, or disassembling parts of it, I can’t stand to put a dirty part back into the project.
Where possible, I will clean it and paint a part so it looks almost like new, before returning it to the project. It lets me see where I have been, and if something is going wrong, it is easier to spot a leak on a clean component as opposed to a grimy one.
The FJ40 gas tank has seen some wear and wetness. It looked rough and it seemed to have a pinhole leak somewhere, based on the small gas stain it left sitting on the garage floor for a couple weeks.
While wire wheeling the old paint and accumulated grime away I found the leaks. They were underneath one of the pads that goes between the gas tank bottom and the passenger side floor pan where it sits. The old OEM pad was still stuck to the tank, and when I removed it, I spotted several pinholes.
Overtime, there had been enough water in the passenger foot well to saturate the OEM pad, causing it to retain moisture after the rest of the cavity under the tank had dried. Hence, corroded, metal and pinhole leaks underneath the pad location.
During the process of taking the tank back to metal, I uncovered a couple of other past repairs, brazing some tank seams to stop leakage. Those repairs were still good.
After thorough surface prep, I repaired the corroded areas under the strap with the pinhole leaks with two smooth coats of epoxy. When hardened, I sanded the repair to blend in smoothly with the tank.
Primed the tank with a rust converter, sanded, and then applied final coats of paint. I know the OEM tank was black, but I chose a dark steel color that matches the frame and legs on the front seats. I want to build a clean driver, not shooting for show truck.
For once, I’m not begging the community for advice or help. I just wanted to provide an example of one of my project phases where things went pretty well.
When I reinstalled the tank, it will have fresh bottom pads from SOR installed. They appear to be made from a rubbery material that will shed water more than the woven jute type of pads that were originally under the tank.
Here is the top and bottom of the tank when it came out:
