oil tank removal Indian SS

[AdminGuy]

Another thing that may help someone. The oil tank on my 40SS was spot welded along the 90° corner seam in addition to solder. The front "length" panel fits into a lip simular to the outer panel. Easily removed by pushing from the inside oil fill hole w/ a screw driver. The "width" panel is free soldered in place, no lip. The oil tank solder did not appear to have a higher melting point. Some tanks may. Maybe older tanks.

Lots of smoke but no fire. The metal will emit gasoline fumes when heated. So surgical cleaning is a must. hot water, detergent. Many times.

And NOooo I didn't mangle mine all up. I've learned to listen to the story that the metal is trying to tell me.

The baked on oil grunge is almost welded on. It maybe difficult to remove w/ glass bead. So I'd be real curious to see how much would come off w/ steam/boiling? I'm happy I took them apart for the full deep cleaning/ re-tin. I sure hope I can put them back together! Hee-hee. Maybe I'll hide a modern gas guage in the reserve tank? That'd be handy. Shhhhh... top secret.

[AdminGuy]

Just talking to a friend on the phone - he said the late chief oil tanks were silver soldered in place. So that would be an upgrade for me. And to media blast w/ walnut shell to clean them out. Melting temp 60/40 =370, silversolder 1200. Would give me a little assurance in the no leak dept.

[AdminGuy]

Silver solder was a near disaster. Heat distortion and a few gaps were pretty large. Back to 60/40. Used -35 windshield washer fluid to scrub and clean out flux residue. Worked well. Dumped the gas guage idea. Other things need attention. Will stick with counting miles and carrying spare gas. Compress tank skin to oil tank, then solder, for fit of cover panel.

It takes alot of time. I can't see how someone would use the iron from the outside. It would take forever. I just stuck it in. The solder pool creates a bridge to facilitate heat transpher. You just have to drag the pool. I used a 175 watt with a home made raw cherry wood handle. The stock plastic one is useless. Broke on contact. Can't take the heat.

It worked out real well. I'm real happy with results and will pass on coating the inside of tanks. I think I'll run them with primer before I paint. Just to see how they hold up. Maybe a little rubber insulation on mounting.