1972 oil tank

[advtracing]

OK so i have been stripping my car for blasting and resto. and today removed the oil tank . Now the tank is all Ali and correct right down to the location of the pipes and float sensor . But it loOKs nothing like the photos i have seen of ones for sale on ebay or pelican forums !!! is it an impostor or is there a change in tanks along the way ?? because this is one nice piece of workman ship

[silverc4s]

Pretty sure that all of the factory original fender mounted tanks were made of copper plated steel, not Aluminum. Even in 1972, oddball year for sure. perhaps you have an aftermarket tank there??
How about a picture>>??

[advtracing]

heres some photos

[Flieger]

Wow, nice oil tank!

Who made it? Nice fabrication skill

[advtracing]

know idea ... there is no markings on it.

[Jays72T]

Fake...but looks very nice, someone knew what they were doing. I wonder if it's any bigger?

[Evans, Marv]

Looks a decent amount smaller than the original tanks I have - at least compared to ADVTracing's hand. You might think about filling it with water to find out how much it holds.

[advtracing]

so if it's a fake why go to so much trouble making it??? surely it would have cost more to make than buy a new porsche one . it's hard to show in the photos but this is one hell of a piece of engineering

[vreference]

"Fake" is probably not the best word to use. "Hand-made" might be telling. It doesn't look like a one-off but I don't follow the porsche aftermarket. It's entirely likely it's superior to the factory part in every way. Lighter and effectively corrosion-proof for starters. I wouldn't scrap the part unless you are doing a concours restoration or you've found a design flaw.

[911st]

Some modified the stock tanks to over come some perceived or real oiling issues under racing conditions.

This may have been someone's approach to such a solution.

Or, it the stock tank sprang a leak and someone was skilled enough to fab there own instead of paying to price of a rare one year only used tank of questionable condition.

[robmog]

weigh it, if its aluminium it should be considerably lighter than the original steel one.
mine is out so i'll weigh it later today and post.
pretty cool and unique. looks like custom fabrication. was your car a racer? any other upgrades?

[silverc4s]

Thanks for the pictures. that's a nice piece of craftsmanship.

You are in New Zealand, home of a lot of hand built racing cars & cycles over a lot of years. Probably the remoteness of the place makes it more likely to hand craft a solution there.

I like it...

[austin552]

Work of art. Are you letting it go?

[gestalt1]

wasn't the 911r tank similar in design and construction? i don't think it is an actual 911r tank but i seem to remember a picture of one and it had the square corners like that one. pretty cool.

[silverc4s]

Originally Posted by gestalt1

wasn't the 911r tank similar in design and construction? i don't think it is an actual 911r tank but i seem to remember a picture of one and it had the square corners like that one. pretty cool.

Similar construction, but made to go in the front smugglers box area, one's I have seen.

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by robmog

weigh it, if its aluminium it should be considerably lighter than the original steel one?

Steel? I don't think mine was. It had terminal leaks and I sourced a used one locally for $150 .
I then "donated" my old one to TRE for good Porsche karma.
Here's my old one.



Here's where the leaks were. Local radiator shop tried to seal it but no joy.

[robmog]

weight on my bathroom scale: 8 pounds.
fwiw, the tanks are copper plated steel.
copper doesn't rust, copper plated steel does when the plating is damaged by road debris.

[gshase]

That tank would cost $1500 to have made and then it might not function or fit well after you spent your money. A work of art.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by robmog

weigh it, if its aluminium it should be considerably lighter than the original steel one.
mine is out so i'll weigh it later today and post.
pretty cool and unique. looks like custom fabrication. was your car a racer? any other upgrades?

also interested to see the wts.

but if it is fabbed out rel. thick Al. it may weigh even more than the sheet steel or Cu ones..

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by advtracing

so if it's a fake why go to so much trouble making it??? surely it would have cost more to make than buy a new porsche one . it's hard to show in the photos but this is one hell of a piece of engineering

Years ago, I was in Gary Emory's shop...he building a replica 911R for a client, showed us the aluminum tank made for this car. Your pic shows something very similar. Gary's tank had internal baffles to reduce sloshing. You might try to find an inspection scope, look inside.

I concour...not factory, but looks like it was made by someone who really knew what he was doing.