FG gas tanks.

[in limbo]

I have seen FG gas tanks. What and how are these made? Does one
neeed to line the insides for it to be gas compatible? What about the
fittings and the cap and vent set up? Does anyone have a pictured and
or detailed build up?

TIA

[flybynightkarmarepair]

On Apr 3, 9:38*am, in limbo > wrote:
> I have seen FG gas tanks. *What and how are these made? *Does one
> neeed to line the insides for it to be gas compatible? *What about the
> fittings and the cap and vent set up? *Does anyone have a pictured and
> or detailed build up?
>
> TIA

While not infallible, Tony Bingelis' books are certainly invaluable,
and they cover this in detail, although the resin information is out
of date. Me, I'd use Vinylester resin for this application,
particularly if you ever plan on using MoGas.

"Sportplane Construction Techniques" covers this topic, and you can
buy it here:
http://shop.eaa.org/html/publications_howto.html?cart_id=

[Roger (K8RI)]

On Sat, 4 Apr 2009 11:11:43 -0700 (PDT), flybynightkarmarepair
> wrote:

>On Apr 3, 9:38*am, in limbo > wrote:
>> I have seen FG gas tanks. *What and how are these made? *Does one
>> neeed to line the insides for it to be gas compatible? *What about the
>> fittings and the cap and vent set up? *Does anyone have a pictured and
>> or detailed build up?
>>
>> TIA
>
>While not infallible, Tony Bingelis' books are certainly invaluable,
>and they cover this in detail, although the resin information is out
>of date. Me, I'd use Vinylester resin for this application,
>particularly if you ever plan on using MoGas.

The Glasair manuals have an excellent series of drawings with detailed
instructions for the tanks, fuel lines, and the small tank with the
"flop tube" behind the firewall and they do use Vinylester Resin..


>
>"Sportplane Construction Techniques" covers this topic, and you can
>buy it here:
>http://shop.eaa.org/html/publications_howto.html?cart_id=

[cavelamb[_2_]]

Roger (K8RI) wrote:
> On Sat, 4 Apr 2009 11:11:43 -0700 (PDT), flybynightkarmarepair
> > wrote:
>
>> On Apr 3, 9:38 am, in limbo > wrote:
>>> I have seen FG gas tanks. What and how are these made? Does one
>>> neeed to line the insides for it to be gas compatible? What about the
>>> fittings and the cap and vent set up? Does anyone have a pictured and
>>> or detailed build up?
>>>
>>> TIA
>> While not infallible, Tony Bingelis' books are certainly invaluable,
>> and they cover this in detail, although the resin information is out
>> of date. Me, I'd use Vinylester resin for this application,
>> particularly if you ever plan on using MoGas.
>
> The Glasair manuals have an excellent series of drawings with detailed
> instructions for the tanks, fuel lines, and the small tank with the
> "flop tube" behind the firewall and they do use Vinylester Resin..
>
>
>> "Sportplane Construction Techniques" covers this topic, and you can
>> buy it here:
>> http://shop.eaa.org/html/publications_howto.html?cart_id=
>
>



Avgas is pretty tame stuff compared to mogas.

Imagine my surprise when I tried to melt out a styrofoam (ok, expanded
polystyrene) with 100LL. It just SAT there!

But a cup of mogas ate through 5 inches of foam in a matter of seconds.

Richard

[[email protected]]

On Apr 5, 10:55 pm, "Roger (K8RI)" > wrote:

> The Glasair manuals have an excellent series of drawings with detailed
> instructions for the tanks, fuel lines, and the small tank with the
> "flop tube" behind the firewall and they do use Vinylester Resin..

I have a fiberglass tank in my Jodel. It's had avgas in it for
the last 13 years. It's made of glass cloth and polyester resin. And
it's heavy.
If I did it again I'd rivet up a light aluminum tank and Proseal
it.

The Jodel's tank was first formed from 1/4" "hardware cloth."
This isn't cloth at all; it's a coarse but light steel wire screen,
galvanized, with the wires 1/4" apart. It's used as screening over
attic vents and the like to keep birds and bats out. Cheap and
available at building suppliers. The walls of the tank are cut from
the screen in the shape required, with the wires sticking out all
around, and these are wired together using the bits sticking out and
maybe a little more wire where needed. The fiberglass cloth is laid
over this male mold and the resin brushed into it. Two layers of glass
should be plenty strong enough. I used more; that's one reason it's
heavy.The screen adds considerable strength on its own and lots of
cloth shouldn't be necessary. If you used fiberglass mat it would get
really heavy due to the amount of resin it would soak up. And
expensive, 'cause resin isn't cheap.
A filler neck and outlet fittings are welded to suitable bits of
thin steel sheet. The sheet is thoroughly cleaned after welding (or
brazing), scuffed up real well, maybe a few holes poked into the
edges, and these are glassed on where you want them.
I checked mine twice for leaks. I first stretched a balloon over
the filler neck and blew air into the outlet and closed that off. The
ballon went limp, so I had a leak somewhere. Soapy water found that.
Glassed it up. The balloon held after that so I next filled the thing
full of water and left it overnight. I wanted the weight to see if
anything would open up under the stress. Looked for a damp floor next
morning. Nothing. Cleaned it and dried it and stuck it in the
airplane. I wasn't afraid of the gas eating it because I'd had glass
boat tanks for years. Those were in a small inboard in which I had a
Chevy V8. They were plywood boxes, open at the top, with wood doubler
flanges glued around the top edges. Glassed inside the boxes and over
the top flange and while they were still wet the top was glassed too
and screwed on. Never, ever leaked a drop. Awful heavy.

Dan

[Ed]

On Thu, 9 Apr 2009 18:14:12 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

>On Apr 5, 10:55 pm, "Roger (K8RI)" > wrote:
>
>> The Glasair manuals have an excellent series of drawings with detailed
>> instructions for the tanks, fuel lines, and the small tank with the
>> "flop tube" behind the firewall and they do use Vinylester Resin..
>
I have had good luck with a tank made up with 1/4" urethane stock. The
one I used is no longer around, but there are several in the Aircraft
Spruce catalog. I assembled the tank with epoxy then covered it
iinside and out with one layer of coarse glass and one layer of model
airplane fine glass. The inside corners were radiused with slurry and
covered with glass. It has held up for twenty years. and is not very
heavy.