Water tanks

Right,

Now they've turned up they very large and very heavy!

Having had a read through the instructions Steve suggests POR 15. This would probably need about 3 tins plus cleaner etc as the total tank size is about 150litres. By the sounds of things its also very messy.

I was wondering about getting them both galvanised? Might make the painting a little more tricky and some prep afterwards but thought it would also protect the foot stand area which is likely to get damp.

Any thoughts?

iv ordered por 15 one kit which is cleaner and sealer and another sealer not cheap about 85 delivered but only doing it once so hey ho, galv would prob work and the outsides wont really notice to much

Where is the filler going to be on the tank?

The ones i've normally seen are in the middle of the rear tank. Will we be removing the plate to replace with something that drops in and out easily later in the build?

not sure was thinking the same myself also want a way to drain down easily for trailering

There are the 2 x 3/8" plugs. Maybe put some valves instead?

You will also be able to drain out the injector I guess

Filling the Water Tanks

My intention was to fill the ‘C’ Type water tank the same way as most full size engines are done via the water lifter.

The comments on the forum started me thinking though. There are two issues with my original intention, firstly the entry via the water lifter is a bit restricted and may therefore limit the speed at which water can be forced in and more importantly there’s no way the air in the tank can come out!

There is an air vent in the rear tank but the only air vent in the main tank is again via the water lifter. Not much use if you’re trying to use this as a water entry point!

The simplest way around the problem is to drill a 26mm dia hole in the rear tank and fit another one of the 22mm dia elbows as used to join the two tanks together. If you want to do this then we will supply the elbow, just let us know.

The 26mm hole can be easily cut using a suitably sized hole saw. These always cut slightly oversize so a 1” or 25mm dia one would be okay. We can loan one to you to save you buying one, please contact Isabel and we’ll send it out to you, but please use it and return it as soon as possible so we can loan it to someone else.

Steve

POR15
In clean tank it will go a lot further than stated.
I tried the primer on a test piece and decided not to use it. (It is a strong chemical intended to convert rust back to metal best left in the bottle)
I used the marine clean but it is nothing magic. (it mixed with water a bit like sugar soap)
If the sheets are spotlessly clean prior to assembly there will no need for either produce.
Pouring out is important, if you leave a lake it can go funny.
With a clean tank you will get out most of what when in. By doing both tanks together you might get away with one can.

Not sure it's possible in this case, but in tanks I painted the panels before they were bolted together ( 2 coats at 90deg angles) then put plenty on the joints to seal and protect. Have found this to work better than pouring in and turning the tank.

The tanks are welded so are sent fully built up which makes it much more tricky. They also weigh a ton!

Steve,

The back tank is higher than the front one, will this mean that water may come out the water lifter? Is it worth putting an inline valve between the two in the balance pipe? Or will the front one be well sealed so it can effectively be fed from the back one?

I'm sure the examples i've seen in the past have a hole in the bed with a lid to fill the rear tank direct.

I think I'm going to install one of these to allow isolation between the 2 tanks. At worst I'll forget to open it and end up with a reserve of water. Will help if there is an issue with the injector etc, can always drain the front tank wherever you are and still have some water ready for when the issue is fixed.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280804182309?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

How has anyone got on? Did you need 2 x 968ml tins? just one?

I havent done much lately and am thinking about getting this sorted in the next few weeks, especially as the weather favours it.

Need to start doing some painting again. Big advantage is i've had a garage clear out so have much more space to play with.  

I saw a guy at dorset who had the filler for his tanks just under the bed at the side, anyone know where this could of gone to on the tank, i asumme he's cut a hole in the side of the tank. Other option we're thinking of is a sunken brass cap in the bed like they have on some boats

To be honest with all the probelms I have had with the wrong coating being supplied for my tanks and the ensuing nightmare getting rid of it, the filling point might be the last thing on my mind. However, I have thought about it and my faith is in the mod Steve has provided as in the diagram above. My understanding is that the connection (already received) of a 90 egree elbow will be extended parallel with the cross members of the flatbed to fill from the side. Not sure how its terminated yet but I guess Steve will have an idea in mind. To me this seems a better solution to a side hole in the tank as that would limit the capacity to a degree.

One mod I have made though is to the steering box to allow lubrication. I have drilled a hole in the top face of the shoulder and inserted a boiler blank plug which is easily removed and allows the threaded part of the steering column and the sides of the steering box against which the brass bit slides to be oiled. The idea is that by oiling it routinely any dust (and for those of you who were at Dorset on the Saturday particularly will know all about dust!) that could form a grinding (and for that matter corrcosive) paste will be washed away to some extent.

For those folowing the wrong coating saga, I am finally hoping to recoat the tanks this weekend. The manufacturers together with Frosts never admitted to what was in the can wrongly labelled as POR-15 and as a consequence it made it very difficult (difficult = impossible) to get the tank professionally chemically cleaned. Frosts wanted to supply a chemical (POR-strip) that although as a chartered chemist I could properly use, is banned for use in the domestic market and only available to professionals with managed waste streams. Besides I would have to use one hell of a lot of it to dissolve the coating and find a waste stream which would be very expensive even if I returned the used chemical to Frosts as they suggested. It was a totally impractical solution and in the end I had to bite the bullet and risk distorting the tank by having the coating burned off in an oven at 500 degrees. . The tank survived but I had left the drain plug in and this got stuck and had to be drilled. Worse in a way was that there was a residue left in the tank and this was welded in places to the sides of the tank. Although this was a little easier to remove than the original wrong coating it took hours with a sanding block and a dremmel (fantastic tool). to get rid of. Of course another consequence of burning the interior coating off was also that I lost the lovely and painstaking paint job I'd achieved on the exterior, now sadly all to re do. The good thing is that I think I have a tank clean enough to reapply with POR-15 and then move on.

For those of you (including the guys at Steam Traction World) who offered me a sympathetic ear at various rallies over the past few weeks, I thank you, it was appreciated.

Think we've decided to steer clear of that coating as we've heard a lot of nightmare stories on it, We've talked to a couple of owners and decided on a zinc paint for the inside unless we can get it coated cheapish

Well it is certainly true that if you run into problems with it the only effective way of removing it is to oven bake on regulo 7 so to speak but on the other hand if the coating works there aint anything thats going to damage it. I have chucked all manner of solvents at it and nothing seems to touch it, so I can well understand why it gets recommmended a lot. Seriously, as coatings go it is one of the best but it does rely on being applied properly and that means spot on prep.

Am i right in thinking you could put that hole in the removable plate on top of the tank?

Not sure about that as it will depend where the wooden cross members of the flat bed go I think.

Hecter, that is mine plan!

I have found the downloaded drawings of the 4.5" Foden very useful for situations like this. The 4.5" drawings show the filler pipe extending straight out to a termination point on the nearside chassis rail.
I presume the 6" will be the same.

im putting a hole in plate on rear tank with a pipe to finish level with bed when we know the height and a brass cap on top:D 

Where did you get the 4.5" drawings from, thats what we've got but saw water tanks post on here, basically same thing. that is the other idea we may go with a brass cap sunk into the bed of the lorry