Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Last of the pictures showing the painted fuel tank box. It didn’t appear Hamilton Bridge painted the inside of this box when new. However I decided that in the interest of long term preservation it would be best to paint it. The box was a huge pain to remove with around 60 bolts holding it in place. It’s not something I wanted to have to redo again at some point

[Jordan Baker]

Had a helper with me this morning.

[Jordan Baker]

I finally got around to getting the fuel tank put back together, sealed inside and outside and painted. The end panels were welded in place. This took about 5 hours spread over two work periods. I had to use a copper flat bar as a backer due to the sheet metal being thin. In the end I’m quite happy with how the seams turned out. The outside was given a spray down with Purple Zep. I have been using it as a parts degreaser. The inside and outside of the tank was given an acid etch and then left to dry over night. I used a small blow dryer to circulate hot air. This worked great and ensured everything was dry. I then used 90% rubbing alcohol and gave one final washout. The hair dryer was setup again and the inside was quite clean, dry and rust free. The inside was then given a coat of ethanol safe fuel tank liner from the Hirsch product line. The added benefit is that it will seal up any and all seams and pinholes inside the tank.

[Jordan Baker]

The outside was given a spray of POR15 and then a topcoat of the green. Now the tank can sit for a few days for everything to harden up and off gas. Fuel lines, and sending units still need sorting out. But all in good time.

[Jordan Baker]

Fuel were lines made up from the tank to the junction in the floor. I used 1/4” copper nickel line. That stuff is so nice to work with and never rusty. I’m just waiting for some line clips to arrive so that I can secure the lines to the box. Lastly there is a lot of enjoyment when opening up sealed packages of NOS fuel tank caps. I had one original cap but it had suffered from the fire.

Still have to work out the fuel senders. I have both originals. However they were in rough shape with a lot of rust outside and inside. I’m also looking at getting modern ones custom made.

[David Dunlop]

Looking very good, Jordan!


David

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks David. In the end all this work will be pretty much hidden inside the hull and behind another plate. But I love a challenge…

Speaking of challenges, I decided to give it a go and rebuild the original fuel tank level senders. Considering the visible condition of what I had to start with where they were just as rusty on the inside as the outside and the mechanics were seized, I wasn’t sure if they would turn out.

I was able to clean them up using the citric acid bath. I was worried at first about the solution damaging the resistance strip, but thankfully there was no damage.