Double Tanks

 

After visiting plmini and seeing some of their minis with double tanks and thinking that they looked great, I decided to look into fitting twin tanks. Were they just for show or are they practical as well? Well it turns out that the Mini Cooper S had twin tanks as standard and that it is possible to fit them, but the tanks are rare and they have a price tag accordingly.

So I went on to www.theminiforum.co.uk (thread) and asking their very informative members about this subject, it was decided that I was going to have one. But the problem now is that as I said they are very expensive, but one of the forum members said that they had bought a left-hand standard tank that was converted to a right hand tank, this was to be the answer to my problem.......

So quick as a flash on to eBay and started looking around a few days later I had bought one for a great price this is now winging its way to me in Sweden (pictures to come)

 

So today I managed to get hold of a hole saw that was as close as possible (67mm) to the correct size of 69mm and marked up the body..

out came the drill and a noisy few seconds later there was a hole there...

 

 

 

 

After a quick file it was time to check that the rubber fitted, which it did..

Now my attention turned to the original tank that I have had in storage, time to rub it down and prep it for a nice new coat of primer and some nice shiny black paint....

 

That was when the problems began.....

 

Whilst I was tipping the tank upside down to drain it, I noticed that it had a lot of filler on the bottom (not a good sign)

(Picture edit Boel Eriksson©)

This discovery meant that a decision had to be made... which tank was the best to use on the right hand side????

 

As it looks at the moment I already have to weld the original tank so I will cut it to fit on the right hand side.

 

More pictures of this to follow when all the safety precautions have been taken when cutting and welding around petrol fumes!!!!

 

Today I cut the tank open to be able to asses how much damage there was in the bottom as well as being able to cut the tank down to size to fit on the right.

After washing the tank out with warm soapy water and leaving to stand outside for 24h I got it in the workshop at work and vented the tank with compressed air through the hole for the sender unit I left it blowing most of the morning to be sure that there was no residual vapours. When it came time to do the first cut I again fed compressed air through the tank whilst I made the first cut this enabled any stray sparks that may be hot to cool as soon as possible and not ignite..

 

 

As you can see in the picture on the right I have taken away the hole where the sender unit was, this is done as I wont need a sender unit on that side.

These are the pieces I have taken away

 

 

Here you can see the extent of the rust damage to the bottom of the tank and why I had to cut away so much of it

 

I have also removed the filler neck as this will need to be relocated and extended i found that a piece of and exhaust pipe fitted exactly inside the old filler neck allowing me to adjust the length i need to make the neck protrude from the car

 

 

Right on to day 3 of the right hand tank project and i have been busy with the welder and got a new bottom in place

 

 

 

And some good news THE SECOND TANK ARRIVED TODAY

 

 

AND IT IS A GIANT ONE.........

 

 

 

 

 

And here they are side by side 

Its best that i check that there is no rust in this new one

 

And fitted in the back of the car