Gas Tank Restoration - Tank RENU

[CA Victoria]

If anyone is considering sending out your Model A gas tank to Tank RENU for restoration this may be of interest.

My 30-31 gas tank had been left with fuel in it for 45 years and was in sad shape inside. Because of the degree of difficulty in cleaning and recoating the inside of my gas tank I decided to send it to a Tank Renew dealer to have it restored.

The Tank RENU process comprises cleaning, baking, sandblasting, seal coating, and baking the interior seal coating at a high temperature.

The workman explained the process and told me that he would need to put a few holes in the tank to access behind the baffles to clean them thoroughly. Afterward they would weld in plugs that could be filled with body filler. I understood that they would TIG weld the plugs onto the tank.

When the tank returned to my fault I did not inspect it well, I cleaned the exterior and used metal prep to protect it until I could get back to the filling the small holes left where the plugs were welded in. They were small 1.2" dia holes. A few days ago I begin inspecting it and was ready to fill in the small holes. What I noted was that they did not TIG weld the tank but rather stick welded it causing severe metal warping on the top of the tank.
The tank fit is still good. I had hoped to fill several small holes and not apply a thick coat of body filler to re shape the tank. Because there is a high spot, the top cannot be filled. The workman told me over the phone that they usually "beat down" any high spots so filler can be used.

There are several Tank RENU Dealers across the US, the closest one to my location was 300 miles away near Bell Ca. My recommendation is to meet with the person face to face to decide if the process and quality of work done on your gas tank meets your expectations and desired outcome. The coating process seems solid, the quality of welding done on mine was inferior for any restoration.

I have since purchased another gas tank and will pursue another route to restoration of my gas tank.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Tim,

Never ceases to amaze me what many human beings will do to get money.

They can be found in every profession, in every type of services performed, in every type of goods sold & are in a large concentration among elected & appointed officials of all governments.

They also exist in every country in the entire World.

Meeting face to face as suggested above is the key:

In my opinion, after one has lots of people experiences in dealing with the public, & one lives pass 70, usually one can meet face to face & can recognize these types of shysters at midnight while wearing a welding helmet, even if the shysters are dressed in a Santa suit with dark sun glasses, & the elderly observer just finished downing a six pack.

If one is closing out a "big" deal, bring an old man with you & listen -- my 2 cents!

[wrndln]

I had Tank RENU clean and seal the tank on my 28 special coupe. I ask if they could fix the cracked and broken radiator bracket area on the panel on the front of the tank (the part that lines up with the firewall). They said yes, they could. I had taken one the of the brackets off as I could plainly see several cracks emanating from the rivet hole. I did not see that the other bracket area had a couple of small cracks coming from one of the rivet holes as the tank had lots of surface rust on it. The bracket was still riveted in place. When I went to pick up the tank, to my horror, the person that "fixed" the radiator brackets had welded all around the radiator bracket that was still attached to the tank. He said they found a small crack or two and "fixed" it. What a terrible job they did. Functionally, the radiator bracket was solid, but looks extremely bad. I was really mad at the bad job they did. I had to remove the rivets, grind off the welding they did (they ruined the bracket), correctly repair the cracks, reweld the cracks, dress down the welds and reinstall the radiator bracket. I told them I would NEVER have another tank worked on by them. This Tank RENU is/was in Minneapolis, MN.
Rusty Nelson

[Hicktick]

How much does it cost for this service .??????

I think the way Brent does a tank is the only way to go . What he does is true restoration .

[wrndln]

I don't think that is the way Brent Terry does gas tanks. He cuts the whole top of the tank off and sandblasts the inside to clean off the rust and crud. Tank RENU makes small holes to try to clean the part of the tank that is on the outside of the baffles.
Rusty Nelson

[CA Victoria]

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Before this runs away, my intention is to share my experience so if you do consider this process to be sure and ask questions so you get what you want. While I'm dissapointed and out $450, I accept the responsibility for not defining what my expectations were.

I knew of B. Terrys process and decided it would have been expensive to ship a tank 3000 miles. Hummm. Hindsight is always 20-20.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Tim, Rusty, & possibly others,

Thanks very much for sharing your experiences -- definitely shows you gentlemen really care enough about other Model A owners to warn them what one may expect from these Tank RENU guys.

[Gastankman]

My name is Eric Johnson and have owned the Gas Tank Renu in Swartz Creek Michigan since 1987. Our shop has restored over 30,000 gas tanks and have done many Model A tanks. It is a tough tank to do as there are both vertical and horizontal baffles in these tanks. There is no reason to butcher one in the process if the tech knows what he is doing. Holes are required to sand blast every square inch of the inside of the tank. It is all about the prep to get a good professional job done that will give years of trouble free service. All of our holes are 1" diameter and none of them are put on the hood area. We then weld a patch to a coat hanger and pull it thru the hole from the fill neck. That is mig welded in a stitching manner to avoid any wrapping of the surrounding metal. We then grind the weld and fill it in with solder. When it is done you can't even tell a hole was put in it.
We also pay special attention to the brackets as many of then have been repaired before with less than professional results. My tank tech, Jason, has been Renuing tanks for 15 years and takes great pride in his work. We generally charge $350 to do a Model A tank.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Gastankman

My name is Eric Johnson and have owned the Gas Tank Renu in Swartz Creek Michigan since 1987. Our shop has restored over 30,000 gas tanks and have done many Model A tanks. It is a tough tank to do as there are both vertical and horizontal baffles in these tanks. There is no reason to butcher one in the process if the tech knows what he is doing. Holes are required to sand blast every square inch of the inside of the tank. It is all about the prep to get a good professional job done that will give years of trouble free service. All of our holes are 1" diameter and none of them are put on the hood area. We then weld a patch to a coat hanger and pull it thru the hole from the fill neck. That is mig welded in a stitching manner to avoid any wrapping of the surrounding metal. We then grind the weld and fill it in with solder. When it is done you can't even tell a hole was put in it.
We also pay special attention to the brackets as many of then have been repaired before with less than professional results. My tank tech, Jason, has been Renuing tanks for 15 years and takes great pride in his work. We generally charge $350 to do a Model A tank.

Just curious, how do you'all accomplish this when the baffles are obstructing the way?




/

[Joe K]

We then weld a patch to a coat hanger and pull it thru the hole from the fill neck.

That seems a reasonable way to close a hole from the inside. As the man says some solder on the outside and one would never know there had been a repair (without looking inside.)

Still, the baffling. Somewhere on the 'net is a pix or diagram of the internal baffling. Perhaps given a pix the man can tell us more (or learn from the diagram) on the best way to accomplish this?

Just keeping an open dialogue here...

He obviously has an interest to do the job right. This is where one STARTS on getting a successful restoration done.

Joe K

[wrndln]

Tank RENU makes the holes on the outer part of the tank on the bottom (at least that is what they did on mine). That way, the holes are where the tank can be cleaned from the baffle outward - both sides (two holes). You can see where the hole was made on my tank, but it is on the bottom where it is not visible unless you really get under the tank and look for it. The middle part can be done through the filler. This seems like a good way to do it - not very intrusive. I wish Eric Johnson's Tank RENU could have done my tank instead of the Minneapolis outfit.
Rusty Nelson

[Gastankman]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Just curious, how do you'all accomplish this when the baffles are obstructing the way?




/

Jason has a lot of patience. I've seen him snake those patches thru gaps no more than 1/8", grab it with a magnet on the other side and weld it on. It's a gift that he has. I think it's because he's left handed. If there is ever anything we are working on as far as installations that gives us trouble we go get Jason and 95% of the time he gets it on the first try after all of us have struggled with it.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Joe K

That seems a reasonable way to close a hole from the inside. As the man says some solder on the outside and one would never know there had been a repair (without looking inside.)

Still, the baffling. Somewhere on the 'net is a pix or diagram of the internal baffling. Perhaps given a pix the man can tell us more (or learn from the diagram) on the best way to accomplish this?

Just keeping an open dialogue here...

He obviously has an interest to do the job right. This is where one STARTS on getting a successful restoration done.

Joe K

Ummm, like the picture I posted above showing the baffles?

[Joe K]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Ummm, like the picture I posted above showing the baffles?

Picture? What pix. Don't see a pix on my new Win 8 computer. (I.e. there may be a pix but for some reason I don't see it?)

Joe K

[Bob C]

I don't see the picture either. I think this is one of Brent's pictures.

[Joe K]

So it looks like at least four holes would have to be drilled to do this right? The center portion could probably be handled by the gas fill and the gas gauge.

I suppose one might come in from the front or back wall of the tank and then drill through one of the center partitions - leaving the hole afterwards since a hole at this location might not affect performance (sloshing) all that much.

So maybe at least two holes?

Interesting.

Joe K

[Mike V. Florida]

Gastankman, thanks for posting here I'm glad there are still people that take pride in their work. If you read a little on this forum you will see the vast majority are like you and want the job done once and done right.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Here is one I am told was restored by Gas Tank Re-Nu in Texas. I just pulled it out to show their process. I will tell you this thing is some kind of heavy now too!!

(If someone has an early '28 gas tank for sale, I know where you can sell it!! )

.

[Pinstripe]

In the Les Andrews book one he states that the gas tank metal should not be welded as that will result in cracking due to the effects of the heat on the specially hardened metal. Is this not true? Also it would appear that the Renu process will result in a half-a** job at best. Brent...How do you do the cut and do you tig it back together. What do you use for sealer after the blasting? I've got a bad tank and I'm looking for the best way to approach repair.And Renu is not the way. Thanks, Tom

[steve s]

I had two tanks redone by RENU by a shop on northwest side of Detroit about 15 years ago. Steering column bracket needed to be reinforced on one. No problems so far. I contacted them a year or so ago to ask about ethanol issues, and they said they'd had no reports of problems.

Steve