What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Pre-built Fuel Tanks

S

skyyking

Active Member
$1250.00 seems like a lot of money to invest in pre-built fuel tanks. Anybody out there find that it was worth the $$ to have the people at Evans Products do them.

Any difficulty as well with the "Z" brackets (nut plates) and lining up the assembly after the fact, instead of building the assembly up on the spar?

I appreciate greatly your input, thank you!
 
I considered that option.
I am near completion of my left and right fuel tanks (Building in Parallel).
Been working mucho hours since early july. Almost done.

Its messy work.

Does that include the cost to crate and ship both ways?
If you can swing the $, it will cut down the time to build a SB wing kit.
If you are on a tight budget, do it yourself and enjoy the torture.
Just make sure you use Dans method to line up and drill the Z-Brackets before you ship them to Evans.
 
I did it!

I had my RV-8 tanks build by Evan and was very happy with them. They fitted just fine and he did the aerobatic flop tube and capacitive senders for me too. Vans subsequently issued the SB on the flop tube so I had to pull the access cover and deal to that, but that was ok.

I wasn't comfortable at all with building the tanks and the prospect of problems, leaks, etc made me elect to have someone else with experience do them. Having said that, by the time I got to the point in the construction of the wings where I needed to do the tanks, I would have been quite prepared to do it. As is usual, many of the tasks you need to do to build an RV seem way bigger and more difficult than they actually are. Next time around, if money was no object I may have Evan do them again, but there's a 90% chance I'll just dive in.

Oh, and search the forum's for Rick's fay-sealing advice: that seems to be a good easy way of doing the job, and is the method I would use if I do my tanks next time.

Cheers,
 
I did it too

I fly a -6 that I bought. The tanks leaked. I had Evan build me two new tanks. They looked very professional, didn't leak and I didn't have to build them. I would do it again.
Good Luck,
 
After building my own, I am really glad I did not spend that extra $$$ to have it done for me. It just is not that bad if you take your time and spread the work out.
 
Bought mine due to time...

I opted to build the wings and buy the tanks prebuilt (through Vans at the time) and save about 4k. This was a good compromise for the time and money.

Also- due to the scheduling of the QB kits- I would have had a huge wait after the EMP for the QB wings and QB fuse to arrive together versus Standard Wings and buying a QB fuse (which I did).

From a scheduling standpoint- if there's much of a delay, the time/value of the qb tanks was worthwhile. The wings themselves were not hard at all to build- repetitive yes, but not hard.

My Z channels were not drilled. I drilled them in place onto the spar. That was a pain in the patooty riveting the platenuts on. But 'somehow' I managed (sarcasm).

It's a TIME versus MONEY question.
 
I did my own tanks and added fire suppressant foam when I put them together. Evey with the foam added they really weren't hard to build and far from the worst part of the project which for me is getting a sliding canopy frame to fit. A guy in Oklahoma will do a slider for $2500 and I am really considering taking my fuselage to him to do that for me since I attempted that last summer, spent 50 hrs. on it with nothing to show for my efforts but multiple cracks in the frame from work hardening (due to too much bending)... :(

Doug Lomheim
90116; finishing
 
I built one tank and had several leaks. My build time was 45 hours.
I then opted to have Evan build my tanks. At the time, they were $1000.
I figured, I'd prefer to go to work in my developer job and have Evan build them and have the assurance that they are well done. He'd completed > 300. When I looked inside the tank, I can't believe the clean lines inside the tank. Beautiful work and no leaks.
 
Did 'em myself but...

I did my tanks myself as I was not aware of the option prior to doing them. I leak tested them and they SEEM fine but I've never had gas in them and I'm a couple years from finding out how I REALLY did. Given the mess and the uncertainty of my prowess at this I probably would have opted to have them built by someone else had I paid attention at the time. My biggest fear is having a leak in an area I can't reach or finding out I screwed up my capacitive fuel senders. Time will tell...
 
I built my tanks and became a member of the Knights Templar of the Royal Order of the Proseal... still waiting for the T-shirt.
 
AntiGravity said:
Oh, and search the forum's for Rick's fay-sealing advice: that seems to be a good easy way of doing the job, and is the method I would use if I do my tanks next time.
Click to expand...

I tried to find "Rick's fay-sealing advice" but did not have any luck. Can you give a little more info?

Thanks,

Bubblehead
 
Bubblehead said:
I tried to find "Rick's fay-sealing advice" but did not have any luck. Can you give a little more info?

Thanks,

Bubblehead
Click to expand...

Search on the words "fay" and "tanks". Then look for the message starting with Tip:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top