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Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 9:34 am
by Holden202T
yeah I'd steer clear of steel for the rust reason, alloy or staino I reckon!
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 9:46 am
by Jayme
im not speakign from experience though ... just now I did a few google searches on making fuel tanks and some of the people there say dont line the tank with anything, its just somehtign for the fuel to break down and clog things. apparently fuel wont rust mild steel on its own... only if there is water in it. given the nature of the tank. if you put the return line right at the very top it should allways be sitting full to the brim with no air in it either so no opportunity to rust really. just put a good filter on it.
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 10:00 am
by Holden202T
yeah that assumes you get fuel that is not contaminated with water

Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 11:55 am
by HQ355
If you see my 1st post I asked how long was he going to use it for ? Short term up to 12 months will give you safe performance and help get his skills up to doing stainless and then alluminium. GMH used mild steel that was then galvanized, that would defeat the cost and more than likely clog the pipes
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 4:44 pm
by Charlescrown
If its full of fuel it wont matter (as long as it's not E10 or E85). I modify old air con receiver dryers and they work great but they don't hold 2L. I love the idea of truck exhaust offcuts. Round is much better with any pressure (just look at the design of a compressor tank) but if it's only 30 PSI it wont matter at all. 3mm is very thick but also easy to mig.
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 4:49 pm
by Jayme
actually it will be 0 psi

its only a surge tank and it has a return to the main tank = no pressure just a reservoir.
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 6:11 pm
by immortality
3mm mild steel is plate, going to have a fair bit of weight......
I'd be shooting for some 0.8 - 1.2 mm sheet steel.
I do agree with the above comment about using some truck exhaust pipe cut-offs.
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 10:42 pm
by vlad01
vn304turbo wrote:Yea thats what I was worried about. Not too sure what I should coat it in either.
What did gmh use for fuel tanks? Both material and coating?
mild steel, tin/lead plated.
Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 10:44 pm
by vlad01
HQ355 wrote:I'm good on mild steel and stainless,
Havnt done much alluminium, my HQ needs a bit of alluminium work soon though so that should get the practice up
mild steel is all I require. Are you willing to do a special job?

Re: material and thickness for surge tank
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 9:49 am
by vn304turbo
Well work doesnt pay till friday after next but ill order some wire, gas and some stainless to have a play with, might see if I can get stainless ofcutts to practice on as its not cheap lol. Im using a uni mig 180, what wire and gas should I be looking at for stainless welding? This surge tank is likely to only be on the car till im comfortable welding stainless so <3-4 months. Perhaps even less as the car doesnt require the surge right away, its for when I get some boost up it.