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Tip: How to fix leaking tank

Vlad

Well Known Member
After several hundred hours I noticed several rivets on top of left tank were "breathing". I did a pressure testing and was surprised to see the tank holding. I polished the suspected row and flew with full tank for several hours. The haze appeared again.


The tank comes off. What a pain in the neck to unscrew couple of those bolts holding middle brackets.

tank1.jpg




tank2-1.jpg



VAF member noelf sent me wheel conversion kit thank you Noel.



tank4.jpg




Two holes later I was struggling to put enough proseal along the baffle inside the tank. What an exercise.


tank3.jpg




Proseal of the interior cured in a week then I closed the holes in the back using two wheel hub conversion kits. Hub aluminum is heavy gage and convenient bend makes it really stiff. Plus it adds 12 fl. oz. of fuel capacity for both covers.


tank5.jpg





Finished product.



tank7.jpg





tank6-1.jpg




Reinstalled and tested. 50+ hours later no traces of fuel observed.



tank8.jpg
 
Glad it worked out for you Vlad. I will be back at McGuire for a week towards the end of this month. Maybe I can get up to your home field this time.
 
not only did the wheel covers make for an easy fix, an extra perk is extended range fuel tanks?
 
Would these have been blisters if painted?

I wonder if this is what would have been a blister if these tanks were painted.
 
not only did the wheel covers make for an easy fix, an extra perk is extended range fuel tanks?

Sorry, I saw something else entirely when I saw the picture of the perfectly spaced circular protrusions :eek:
 
Nice solution

I like it!
Question: how did you minimize getting metal shavings into the inside of your tank? Did you use a fly cutter? hole saw?

Brad
-8 wiring
 
Nice work, Vlad! I haven't even imagined till now the way to use those wheel covers.
 
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Glad it worked out for you Vlad. I will be back at McGuire for a week towards the end of this month. Maybe I can get up to your home field this time.


Noel every weekend I am at the airport (39N) working on my friend's RV12. You are always welcome.



I wonder if this is what would have been a blister if these tanks were painted.

Most definitely. Painter told me to fix those rivets before I bring the plane to his shop.


Sorry, I saw something else entirely when I saw the picture of the perfectly spaced circular protrusions :eek:

:D:D:D


I like it!
Question: how did you minimize getting metal shavings into the inside of your tank? Did you use a fly cutter? hole saw?

Brad
-8 wiring


Brad,
I dremeled it. Used shopvac while cutting. First hole I cut closer to the end rib then inserted shopvac hose inside and cut second hole vaccuuming. There were still some microscopic shavings left. I used vacuum again, then wiped with special cloth, then washed with fuel. For first couple hours of flight testing there was some aluminum dust at drain. Gascolator was clean.


Vlad
Do you know where to purchase those wheel hub covers and cost?
Thanks
Peter


Peter, every other RVator has them. I asked here on VAF and received several offers. ACS also sells them.
 
Good to see you got the leak stopped and are going to get it painted soon.

Well, that is going to take 250 hrs of flight time off 2013. So only 250 this year.
 
As long as I have to wait on the FAA for a medical renewal, I'm going to go ahead and pull a fuel tank off and fix the leaking rivet I have (only one on the whole plane, so I guess that's good). I'll need to make two access holes because I want to fix an obvious deficiency in the ProSeal bead on the opposite rib flange in the neighboring bay.

I'd like to get two of these wheel covers -- or whatever they are. Who's got two they'd like to sell me?

Also, what pop rivets did you use for this task?
 
Looks like the value of those round pieces of "scrap" alum we all got in our kits is going up rapidly:rolleyes:
 
Looks like the value of those round pieces of "scrap" alum we all got in our kits is going up rapidly:rolleyes:

I wouldn't doubt that we already paid dearly for them. The Ray Allen trim indicators are another item that I would rather not have had to pay for.
 
As long as I have to wait on the FAA for a medical renewal, I'm going to go ahead and pull a fuel tank off and fix the leaking rivet I have (only one on the whole plane, so I guess that's good). I'll need to make two access holes because I want to fix an obvious deficiency in the ProSeal bead on the opposite rib flange in the neighboring bay.

I'd like to get two of these wheel covers -- or whatever they are. Who's got two they'd like to sell me?

Also, what pop rivets did you use for this task?

Send me a pm with your address and I will send you a pair. Geez, that is a
crazy price for them. The pop rivets are the closed end type, very obvious when you see them. I don't have the part number handy though.
 
Tank repair covers

Van's has heavy flat plate covers just for this, already predrilled. They sent me an entire set at no charge since both my QB Tanks leak. I've decided instead to fix my tanks externally by epoxy/micro/FG tape over top all the tank rivets. The "leaks" on my QB tanks involve 60-70% of the rivets. There is no liquid or trace of blue stain, so it's all vapor related, but the consequence is awful.
 
Van's has heavy flat plate covers just for this, already predrilled. They sent me an entire set at no charge since both my QB Tanks leak. I've decided instead to fix my tanks externally by epoxy/micro/FG tape over top all the tank rivets. The "leaks" on my QB tanks involve 60-70% of the rivets. There is no liquid or trace of blue stain, so it's all vapor related, but the consequence is awful.

Not possible in my case. The leak is coming by the fuel seeping under the rib on the other side of the rib. I had earlier this year reached in via the fuel filler cap to cut out old ProSeal and apply new, but it didn't really do anything. neither did the loctite method, which is a solution I don't much care for anyway.

I never did figure out the mysterious brown stain on a stiffener nearby, tho.
 
One question on riveting them back on. The access panels on the end rib has a doubler plate around the inside of the hole. Would that be advisable for plates over the baffle in a situation like this?
 
Yep, found 'em. Pulled the tank off yesterday. On the advice of Twin Cities RV legend Doug Weiler, I drilled out the offending rivet and will try to a closed pop rivet slathered with Pro Seal rather than open up the tank from the backside at this time.
 
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