[TFoch]

Nice!  Looking forward to seeing the finished piece!

[Essex_29]

Thank you TFoch Some other things to do before welding it, so we'll see how it all turns out.

Fuel pick up, vent and return lines in a home made lid. Inside the tank there are thicker pieces of sheet
metal, which are threaded for the screws.  I made gaskets for all openings from 2mm thick fuel proof rubber



   
The fuel tank trial fitted. It does fit with only a few fractions of an inch to spare.



A Volvo fuel cap has been in the inventory for a few years. With the Volvo logo groud off, it looks like it might work.



After drilling a 3" hole with a hole saw in the back of the car, the new fuel cap could be tried out.



Braces (arrows) were welded to the rear body structure for the fuel tank to stand on, and to which the fuel
tank hold down straps will be bolted. The hole for the filler tube at the top in this pic



Finally, one of the last pieces of the new floor could be welded in. This piece of sheet
metal has been waiting to be welded for six months, while the tank and structure has been
planned, and other work has been done.



The fuel tank will stand on the floor, with pieces of rubber between it and the floor, on top
of the new braces. Bolts or maybe nuts will be welded in, so hold down straps can hold the tank secure.
The filler neck is still in the planning stage.

[Essex_29]

Still working on the tank. The filler neck took a whole lot of planning to figure out how
to make it sturdy enough to use (you got to push the flipper latch pretty dang hard to
get it to open), and in which order things had to be done to make it possible to
weld everything  and so that it can be disassembled afterwards.

Filler tube tacked to the body here, and cut off where a piece of rubber tubing will
connect it to the fuel tank.



Straps made from ¹/₈" x 1-¹/₄" flat bar.
They're bolted down with ³/₈" UNC at the top, and ⁵/₁₆" UNC bolts through the
braces under the floor.



The other half of the filler neck baked onto the tank pretty hot with the MIG.



Flanges around the whole tank makes it pretty easy to just fuse the parts together with
the TIG torch.
I had some issues with the weld bubbling and acting up, but new (expensive = better?) tungsten, a
gas lens and more gas flow finally helped, so the welds look decently solid now.

[TFoch]

Looking great!

[sixball]

So nice!

[sammons]

Nice fab work and your welds look great 👍

[Essex_29]

Thank you TFoch, sixball and sammons. I take care to take pics of the nicest parts of
my welds ~grinning~

I took a day off from the tank work. As it's going towards fall and I have planned to get my A-arms
and other details sandblasted and painted during summer, I had to invent some kind of
exhaust fan for my blasting cabinet. I tried using my garage vac to suck out
the dust, but even via my home made cyclone, the filter just clogged up.

Last night I had a a light bulb moment, and so today I bought the cheapest leaf blower I
could find, and some drain pipe, for the grand total of about $50. Then got home and cut
and heated plastic parts until I got the mismatched parts to fit together.
This is how it looks now. the white arrow shows where the dust is blown out. I'll connect
it with a 3" hose (thin walled plastic with a meal spiral holding the shape) that
in turn is hoseclamped to a pipe that goes through the garage wall.



I sealed some seams with caulk, so I'll do some test blasting tomorrow.

[sixball]

I haven't used mine in years. but I successfully adapted an old shop vac. My problem is our solar system won't run a decent compressor.

[Essex_29]

sixball, I used a shop vac too, it worked ok, but even when I used my cyclone, the dust
went through and clogged up the filter in no time. Almost all vacuums and all fans for that matter,
uses the air they suck to cool the motor. A leaf blower doesn't, so I am counting on getting some
lifetime out of it in this use.

It got dusty in the garage, and the only way to not get vacuum all the way inside the garage was to
put the leaf blower outside the wall. Now it works great, and as a bonus, it's much quieter too. Now if I
could only get it to run a bit slower, the vacuum is so intense, that it's hard to bend the gloves.
The leaf blower is turned on along with the work light with the switch on the side of the
 blasting cabinet.



The fuel tank is done, but after leak testing it with dish soap and water, it started rusting. I
ground it with 180 grit on the D/A and sprayed on some red primer. I'm going to paint it black
when I have some more items to paint.

[sixball]

The tank looks good. The weed blower is a good idea and takes up less space than my old shop vac. Mine is mounted outside so noise & dust in the shop was not a problem. Yours looks like a net setup. Could a light dimmer switch be wired in to control the blower speed?

[Essex_29]

Thank you sixball. I'm going to use a transformer that's adjustable from 0 to 230 Volts, it can
take 8 Amperes, and works something  like an antique stick welder. A big hunkin transformer with a
 big wheel on top for adjusting the voltage. I'm assuming this will bring the rpms down, just have
 to hope the motor won't burn up from it. It has a really small impeller, so I think it will be fine.

Later last night I painted the thank and it's hold down straps with black industrial two part paint
and a roller. I felt too lazy
to start cleaning a spray gun and all that, and the tank won't be visible behind the back seat anyway.



I just love two part paint, still after painting quite a few cars in my life, even working in a collision
repair shop for a year, I'm faschinated by the way the paint feels the next day. Like glass, opposed
 to normal brush on paint that feels almost tacky the next day.
Anyway, I'll pour in a quart or two of  two sroke oil in the tank, and slosh it around for rust
protection, and put the tank in storage.

[sammons]

Tank looks great Essex!

[Essex_29]

Thank you sammons.

Tank final trial fitted with straps and rubber mounting hardware (should be rubber software  )



Time for the steering shaft.
I cut a hole in the firewall, and was figuring I can bolt a hatch with a bearing for the steering
shaft to it when I'm done.



There's nt much room for the brake and throttle pedals, which had me move the steering
shaft far left. Now we have a huge hole in the firewall. (Below)



I'm holding a make shift steering shaft with my finger here, made from water tubing, the u-joint
will be at about where the tube ends. I'll have a real shaft machined soon.

The brake pedal is a modified one from a 1987 Trans Am that I parted out over a dacade ago.
I had to modify it to sit on the firewall, and also I cut down the pedal, and straightened it
out, to avoid it hitting the steering column.


The ghost image of the pedal is approxemately how it looked before I straightened it.

[sixball]

Tight spaces make good work harder. You are doing just fine. 

[Essex_29]

Thanks sixball. I sure hope I'm getting it. Since I made the transmissiontunnel I've
been wondering if this is going to work. And how.

I got the steering shaft extension today from a friend of mine who did the turning and milling.
It's a Mercedes specific D-D size at some 17.6mm.



The green arrow shows the original end piece, and where it has been cut off.
I've drilled holes in the upper original part, so there will be four plug welds for added security.

I brought home some material today, and made the brake reverser crank today from 10mm
Sheet. A bit more than ³/₈" thick.



The hole was a bit tricky. Over and inch in diameter, and has to fit over that weirdly shaped
pressed tube. The plan is to make some kind of 90 degree under dash mounted master cylinder.