Re: Keegan's Replacement Fuel Tank

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2011/2/23 10:30:24

Most gas tanks were made of terne plate, I assume the late Packard tanks were as well. Terne plate is mild steel protected from corrosion with a coating of tin/lead, not unlike galvanizing except that uses zinc. Problem with welding terne plate is the heat will destroy the coating, leaving a site of naked steel ripe for accelerated corrosion, so I suspect that if a tank is opened and rewelded, then the polymeric coating of gas tank sealer becomes nearly mandatory. This leaves the question of how the two tank halves were originally bonded; don't know, perhaps the anticorrosion coating was applied after the tank was formed?