Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: "Sayre, William G"
Steve, I tried to find the pic of your fuel sight gauge on your home page.No luck.I made a new tank for my Piet and your gauge sounds interesting. Do youstill have the info available?Mike B ( Piet N 687MB )________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: "David B. Schober"
Hummm. Let me go check.Hi I'm back,Try:http://steve.byu.edu/sitega.htmSteve E.-----Original Message-----Michael BrusilowSent: Thursday, November 19, 1998 7:26 AMSubject: Pietenpol-List: sight gauge Steve, I tried to find the pic of your fuel sight gauge on your home page.No luck.I made a new tank for my Piet and your gauge sounds interesting. Do youstill have the info available?Mike B ( Piet N 687MB )________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Peter P Frantz
Thanks guys, I am just about ready tackle the fuel tank. The info wasvery timely and certainly a lot simpler than what I was contemplating.________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: D.J.H.
Doug,The 140 has lower compression. the 110 HP is 9.25. perhaps it's too great acompression.Dom.-----Original Message-----

Original Posted By: jmcnarry(at)techplus.com (John McNarry)
Ian,I'm at the same point of construction, and plan on building a fiberglass fueltank. I was wondering what type of material you are going to use.Chuck________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: TLC62770(at)aol.com
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: sight gauge>Chuck, I am basically stuck with aluminum as my workshop is not heated>and I can't fibeglass in the house. I have looked at a whole bunch of>stuff and figure the aluminum is probably going to be the lightest. At>present I am trying to figure out whether to weld (difficult) or rivet>(leaks). The product "Proseal" that was mentioned I am not familiar>with. I think I will go talk to some of the hot rod types in town and>see what they come up with for suggestions. If there is a welder in that>group, I think I will cut the pieces and see if I can contract the>welding.>>How does this parallel your activities?>That sight glass is really neat!>>________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Raffaele Bellissimo
Chuck, I am basically stuck with aluminum as my workshop is not heatedand I can't fibeglass in the house. I have looked at a whole bunch ofstuff and figure the aluminum is probably going to be the lightest. Atpresent I am trying to figure out whether to weld (difficult) or rivet(leaks). The product "Proseal" that was mentioned I am not familiarwith. I think I will go talk to some of the hot rod types in town andsee what they come up with for suggestions. If there is a welder in thatgroup, I think I will cut the pieces and see if I can contract thewelding.How does this parallel your activities?That sight glass is really neat!________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Ian Holland
Ian,I also built my tank of 5052 Alum., but did not put the "V" in bottom asshown in drawings. Put a slosh baffle in the middle with plenty of holes atthe bottom. This also serves to stiffen the tank. The bottom and top wererolled through a ridge maker, this too stiffens the tank. The sides wereflanged to the outside, as are professional tanks and then tig welded. Bevery careful when testing for leaks with air. Place no more than 1 1/2 to 2lbs. pressure and leave over night with a balloon attached to an outlet. Ifthe balloon goes down, you've got a leak. You should weld 4 fuel outletbosses: one in the middle/front; 2 together to one side/rear (about 2" fromthe edge of the tank); and one on the othe side/rear. This will cover yourfuel requirements in all positional scenarios. Of the 2 together the one onthe outside should be for a fuel drain. Before welding the bosses in placepean the alum. so as to create a depression about 1/2 larger than the 1"boss. This will serve to collect any water in the tank. You should alsocheck the tank for water not just the Gascolator. Flush, Flush, Flush thetank before placing any gas into it. this will get rid of any alum. debristhat may be inside from your manufacturing it. It may be a good idea to cutout your hole on top first, both for your fuel inlet neck and fuel senderunit. Place a doubler on the inside edge of this hole. The doubler alsoserves to hold the tinnerman or any other type of nut so you can seal thetank. If you follow these instructions, you'll have a tank worth about$1,000.00 US.Let us know how you make out. I'll be sending pictures of this as well asothers to Richard Dacosta for him to put on his site. Check it out in a fewweeks.Dom. Bellissimo-----Original Message-----

Original Posted By: Ian Holland
Is it possible to build a gas tank of plastic ? or light sheet metal andputting a rubber bladder in side ? I've had very good luck welding plastic(abs ) .________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Seibert
Ian,This week, I shall begin the construction of two fiberglass fuel tanks (are yalistening Joe?). This type of tank has a very good reputation as far asleaks, and ease of construction. I have the mold, a heated dining room, andplenty of experience working with fiberglass layups. I hesitate installingany type of fuel quantity indicator, though, because it increases thepossibility of a leak. A single drop of fuel, is an unacceptable leak. Thefuel consumption of an 'A' engine is fairly constant through out the flight ofa Piet, making a stop watch an acceptible fuel indicator. Chuck________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Larry Pasley
Many thanks for the info. I was about to go to the EAA and see if theyhad some do it yourself booklets worth reading.________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Richard DeCosta
If you are considering an aluminum fuel tank, I would recommend riveting onetogether and using Pro-seal. I had zero experience with it when I built myRV-6 and it has worked out well. The only leaks I had in 7 years are the corkgaskets used on the gage sending units. (easy fix)The pro-seal is a two part adhesive which is applied between the flanges to beriveted together. I has a pot life of many hours and it will fill fairly largevoids. But it is messy and smelly!It also has an affinity for any white or good piece of clothing. I swear thatit can jump out of the container and get on anyone who walks into the work area.I will certainly build my tank using it.Bob SeibertPiet on the gear________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: oil can
My brother in law used pro seal on his rv-6a, and it worked out well, but he said the smell was gastly to overpowering! A must do outside.Also I've heard that proseal will not tolerate any gasoline that contains alcohol. Alcohol will melt the proseal out of the tank walls.Fiberglass tanks are ,(from what I hear) the same way...no alcohol can be mixted in with the gas.As for me, I will weld mine from 040 alum using flux core rod. But I do have some alum welding exp.ocb>From steve(at)byu.edu Mon Nov 23 03:50:51 1998>Received: from adena.byu.edu ("port 2966"@adena.byu.edu)> by EMAIL1.BYU.EDU (PMDF V5.1-10 #U3118)> with ESMTP id for oilcanbob(at)hotmail.com;>Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 06:54:18 +0000>From: Seibert >Subject: Re: sight gauge>Sender: Maiser(at)adena.byu.edu>To: Pietenpol Discussion >Errors-to: Steve(at)byu.edu>Reply-to: Pietenpol Discussion >Message-id: >Organization: Southwestern Bell Internet Services>MIME-version: 1.0>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04C-SBIS-NC404 (Macintosh; I; 68K) (via Mercury MTS v1.43> (NDS)) (via Mercury MTS v1.43 (NDS))>Comments: Originally To: "Pietenpol Discussion" >X-Listname: >>If you are considering an aluminum fuel tank, I would recommend riveting one>together and using Pro-seal. I had zero experience with it when I built my>RV-6 and it has worked out well. The only leaks I had in 7 years are the cork>gaskets used on the gage sending units. (easy fix)>>The pro-seal is a two part adhesive which is applied between the flanges to be>riveted together. I has a pot life of many hours and it will fill fairly large>voids. But it is messy and smelly!>It also has an affinity for any white or good piece of clothing. I swear that>it can jump out of the container and get on anyone who walks into the work area.>>I will certainly build my tank using it.>Bob Seibert>Piet on the gear>________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Ian Holland
oil can wrote:> My brother in law used pro seal on his rv-6a, and it worked out well,> but he said the smell was gastly to overpowering! A must do outside.> Also I've heard that proseal will not tolerate any gasoline that> contains alcohol. Alcohol will melt the proseal out of the tank walls.>> Fiberglass tanks are ,(from what I hear) the same way...no alcohol can> be mixted in with the gas.>> As for me, I will weld mine from 040 alum using flux core rod. But I do> have some alum welding exp.>What type of set-up are you using for your alum welding?Gordon________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: William Conway
This is not necessarily true. Depending on the type and brand of glassresign you use, you may or may not have problems. Most of the glass boatsI've seen use a molded fiberglass tank of some sort. There are alsosloshing compounds to use inside the tank that will make it impervious toany fuels. The big problem with fiberglass tanks is to make sure that theyare well bonded (electrically) to the frame. Static sparcs are a definitekiller.GM even sent out a letter to thier customers that have trucks warningabout filling those plastic fuel containers. If the truck is equipped witha plastic boxliner, there is no way to dissapate the static charge thatwill build as you fill the gas can in the back of the truck. Thiersuggestion was to place the cans on the ground while refueling and liftingthem back into the truck when done. Simple fix, but it's amazing how manypeople are nort aware that there is any danger at all, like me. I'vefilled hundreds of gallons into those plastic cans (we use autogas in ourCessna 180 floatplane) in the back of such a truck. I was lucky and didn'thave any problems, but we certainly don't do it any more.KenOn Tue, 24 Nov 1998, oil can wrote:> Fiberglass tanks are ,(from what I hear) the same way...no alcohol can > be mixted in with the gas.> ________________________________________________________________________________