New Dansk Fuel Tank - 85 Carrera

[mowog63]

Hi All,

I was recently underneath my 85 Coupe installing new turbo tie rods, brakes, bearings, etc., and discovered a weeping fuel tank.

The original tank looks like a previous owner may have gone off road (or track) and scuffed the bottom of the fuel tank.
The undercoating was wiped off in places, the lowest portions, which happen to be around the fuel return line connection.

I brushed the scaly rust off with my hands on the first day that I started the work.
The next day I got under the car to find that there was a dime size darkening where I had brushed off the rust. A couple days after that I went out to drain the tank and found that the entire rusty area was now soaked with leaking gas!

I bought a new Dansk Fuel tank from Pelican. I dry-fit it and it looks like a really nice fit.

I plan on spraying it with undercoat from cans and then I'm going to try to match the original color with a can as well.

Does anyone have any general advice/tips for me in terms of gotchas with the tank?
Does anyone know what color at Ace Hardware (Rustoleum or Krylon) that matches fairly closely the original color of the tank?

Thanks,
Erik.

The top of the original tank - this is the color I'm looking to match


The tank removed....it came out pretty easily after I drained the gas!


The new Dansk tank dry-fitted

[Uwon]

I have been searching unsuccessfully in both the U.S. and Canada for a ready mixed paint. There are some folks who have the formula but are not prepared to share because they are in the business. I finally got fed up, washed up a section of my crashed tank, scraped off some large paint chunks and went to our local Canadian Tire Store (a cross between an automotive parts and hardware store chain) and got them to mix me of a can. A bit of trial and error but the gal got it soon enough. I chose the house brand made by Tremclad, I think.
I cleaned a section of the old tank and sprayed it with Wurth undercoating. Took some Saran wrap and smoothed (patted down) the area sprayed to the texture of the old tank.
I test painted the area with a brush and it looks like nice 40 year old faded paint, except a bit too shiny, so out came the satin clear rattle can. Voila!! Just about period correct. The brush marks don't even show.
I'll be doing this on my replacement tank for my build.
BTW, does your new tank a metric drain plug, a center swirl pot, and a center baffle?
Cheers,
Johan

[sleepy911]

I got a can of the Grey wurth undercoat paint and it match my tank pretty good. I fount it at goodspeedmotoring.Com

[mowog63]

I looked inside the new tank...

No baffle like the original tank, however, what serves as the swirl pot is a metal baffle.

The hex nut on the new tank, that is a huge "Allen" type nut on the original also does not have the filter screen as the original.

So the new tank is a good fit, but it does not contain all of the same features as the original.

Do you think its possible to use the original fuel strainer with the new tank?

Thanks for the tips on the paint!!

Comparison of tanks:
Topside


Underside

[Uwon]

Mowog,
I don't think that the Dansk drain is metric. Since the center is an open bowl as opposed to a closed swirl pot a drain plug with screen would likely not be effective in any event. You will have to keep the tank above 1/2 full to prevent fuel starvation in spirited driving IMO. A bit of a bummer if you are a trackie.
Johan