Next project is to start the fuel tanks. I started by pulling all the parts and making the tank stiffeners. Only issue is that the tank stiffeners are longer than the throat on my band-saw, so I ended up using my snips to rough cut them to size. Then used the bandsaw to cut the angle on the ends, followed by finish sanding on the belt-sander and deburring on the bench grinder. Then I trimmed, sanded and deburred the Z tank attach brackets. I ended up trimming these parts for both tanks at the same time.
Then it was on to straightening the ribs for both tanks as well as getting them deburred. Then it was on to measuring, cutting and deburring the J-channel for both tanks.
With all the small fabrication done, I started assembly. The tank stiffeners attached easily (not that on the inboard edge two of the stiffeners will need a hole match drilled and the stiffener trimmed. (I think this is to assist with any potential water or fuel to make it to the drain plug?) Next I start to install the ribs in the tank. As always, the first side goes on real easy, however trying to pull the skin into alignment on the other side can be slightly challenging. Once you get the first few holes started, things start to easily fall into place somewhat quickly. Once that was done I begin to final-drill all the stiffeners and ribs. I started to mark each hole after I final drill to ensure I don’t miss anything.
The fuel drain plug is easily identified and match drilled. I also marked all of the ribs / stiffeners and parts in sharpie in prep for cleaning and re-assembly. I previously posted about the fuel-cap and the modification I needed to make to allow the upgraded delux-locking fuel caps.
Next I pulled down the back plate for the tanks and prepped the z-brackets and final drill them.
Honestly all this work took less than two days with just a few hours to modify the tanks for the fuel caps. I’m expecting another day to countersink / deburr / dimple all the parts (hopefully tomorrow) so I can be prepared to start the Proseal process next weekend. I decided I was going to not purchase the quart of proseal from VANS and instead purchase the pre-measured tubes of proseal. I initially ordered 2 tubes, but then followed up with another 3 tubes for the first tank so I have a sufficient quantity on-hand based on some of the estimates from Jason Ellis and his videos.