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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Atco Standard fuel tank

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Have been trying to unsolder the end of the fuel tank(front to rear type)so i could clean the inside up and solder some pinholes and wondered has anyone else managed this as i cannot get it to move and am thinking that it may be rusted as well,but looking at the silencer it seems to be the same size but as you know can be disassembled for cleaning and is in fairly good condition due to the oil and carbon,now the train of thought goes why not use the end from the silencer in place of the stuck one on the tank as i could be less carefull removing it and would still have to solder the pinholes and the only extra work would be a piece of copper soldered to the silencer inside after shaping and lead the outside to make good,is it a plan or would it be a mistake.

Forums

wristpin Fri, 14/04/2017

A few years ago a chap working for me completely dismantled an Atco tank, rolled the dents out of the cylindrical shell and then reassembled it. I didn't watch the whole process but it did seem to need quite a lot of heat to unpick it . Could it have been silver soldered? Not my area of knowledge or experience.

gtc Sat, 15/04/2017

Rather than try to pull it apart, I'd be inclined to use a fuel tank sealing product.

This is the technique used by a friend of mine who restores vintage motorcycles, where pin-holed tanks is a fairly common  problem.

 

jarrett Sat, 15/04/2017

Wristpin,

Don't think it's silver solder as my gaz blowlamp melts it and i think silver solder is a  higher melting point but i have to be carefull i do not run out the solder on the tap and filler fittings at the same time.

gtc,

 This has serious rust in it and needs some work with a flapper wheel to remove as i have tried pebbles and the rust just keeps on coming plus when soldering the holes i would like to solder both sides,did consider tank sealant but still have the rust so may use more force now to remove and if needed use the silencer end cap.

When soldered i would fill with water and pressurise to a couple of psi to check.

jarrett Sat, 15/04/2017

It's off,first drilled to holes with a welding rod through them and tried to twist but that did not work so managed it by using a fairly blunt screwdriver and light tapping with a hammer,think the internal rust was holding it as much as the solder looking at it,cannot find the flapper wheel so do i brave the bank holiday shoppers or wait till Tuesday.

gtc Sat, 15/04/2017

Writspin has posted elsewhere of his success with removing rust in tanks via electrolysis.

The same friend I mentioned above uses diluted molasses also with great success (although that process stinks to high heaven).

jarrett Sat, 15/04/2017

I used phosphoric acid which takes the light stuff off and converts whats left to something i cannot recall after using the flapper wheel although i have only done the end cap and now see it has more holes than a Swiss cheese so took the end of the silencer off,cut a piece of copper pipe to get a small rectangle,tinned it all up and soldered it in and built the outside up so i can get the shape back although i had to use a 75w soldering iron as the torch was too hot,job for tommorow is to drill hole in end cap and solder and refit to silencer,a couple of pictures although the inside looks messy i am not worried as it will not be seen.

must not forget to tin the lip up as well.