How To: Ford CMP "Blitz" miscellany

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Jacques

Can you post a picture of the dent? Maybe somebody will have bright idea for an easy fix.

Cheers Phil

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Phil,

Here is a photo of it in-situ. Can see how much rubber packing was required to make it sit level on the bracket without wobbling. Bracket is level- my camera wasn't!

It extends right to the corner where the retainer strap bolts down.

I will be taking it off the truck once I feel a solution is feasible, otherwise it may as well stay there. With some of the ideas here I think I may be on the right track.

Cheers,

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Jacques

Now I see the issue getting the tank to lay flat on the supports. As the tank doesn't leak and the loss of holding capacity is small, have you considered just filling the dent to reestablish a flat bottom?

If the dent was on the out side face I would consider a half inch hole on the back side to use a rod to gently tape out the dent from the back side. Then just plug the hole by soldering a patch ocer the hole.

Cheers Phil

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Phil,

Looking at your photos inside a fuel tank and looking at my dent I think I am lucky as it looks to be forward of the baffle plate based on the spot welds I can see on the bottom of my tank. It also means I don't have to fit steel through the limber holes in the bottom of the baffle to access the dent from inside. Unfortunately it is about 4 inches forward of the filler neck so there is not direct line to tap it out. Tried bent rods a while back but the bigger the diameter of the rod the less radius I could put on it to get it down the neck and I was working blind. A small diameter rod was ineffective. This was what got me thinking about PDR until I revisited using a magnet after Graeme's suggestion.

If the baffle was bent I reckon the strongest magnet in the world would not pull the bottom straight.

I may wait until I get my inspection camera at Xmas to see what I have there. In the meantime I will experiment with the magnet and steel balls, and bars of steel to see how much holding power I can generate.

It is not the end of the world if I cannot get the dent out but would be nice to remove it. As you said Phil, it doesn't really affect the tank capacity and it does not leak. I guess if I didn't know it was there it wouldn't bother me.

Attached is a better image of the dent from side on.

Cheers,

Cheers,