we did it !! succesful swap of Premier tanks on a Gelscoe

[Chris Black]

as my car is raced in international events, it needs new fuel tanks every 5 years. The old one where out of date, so new bladders and foams had to go in. The whole operation took us two guys about 3 days, also count the preparation for the swap.

The hardest part was to get the old ones out. We used lots of tyre mountimg grease and pushing, pulling and shoving. Both our arms look like after a bar brawl now !!

To get the new ones in, we closed the plate open8ngs with rubber foil and double sided tape, used a vacuum pump from our composite manufacturing and also lots of tyre mounting grease, as well as straps to tie it als together like a salami saussage. They were much easier to get in then out.

The tyres were off but the front suspensoin all stayed in place. We now have five years to heal our bruises !

 

[David mono]

Now that the old bladders are out could you measure the rib spacing and post it for us.

 

[Chris Black]

would you want to replicate the tanks ?

 

[Ole Nylende]

would you want to replicate the tanks ?

No, we would like to replicate the sills but dont have the assemblydrawing where the location is specified

 

[Chris Black]

I guess that I could lay a tape measure next to them and get you some pictures.

 

[BenL]

As an alternate, my fuel tanks (not for racing) are smaller, flat sided aluminum tanks that slide in between the ribs (no undulations. They're easy to slide in and out. They're 9 and 11 gallons (US). They were originally foam-filled, but when the car moved from Australia to the US, the modern pump fuel destroyed the foam, so now they're hollow with an internal flap in the middle to slow sloshing gas/petrol.

 

[Ryan L]

I’ll third what David and Olé have requested. The spacing of the ribs would be most helpful.

 

[tganskop]

Would this help?

 

[Ole Nylende]

Would this help?

That will most certainly help several of us alot.
Thanks for sharing

 

[Davidmgbv8]

That is a hugely complex cell and I bet expensive...to produce and purchase. I watched a video of a French restoration and it did not look like a fun job at all to remove and reinstall.

 

[BenL]

That is a hugely complex cell and I bet expensive...to produce and purchase. I watched a video of a French restoration and it did not look like a fun job at all to remove and reinstall.

The folks who work on my car are very happy I don't have rubber fuel tanks. If they were, they would have had to have replaced them a couple times by now.

 

[Ryan L]

not uncommon for a wooden mallet/stick to be found buried in the chassis/fuel tank as they are used during the installation process and then miss placed and forgotten about. Only to be found again some 10 years later when the tank is removed for inspection/replacement

 

[Neil]

I removed a bladder fuel cell from a McLaren M8C and that was a miserable job! You must have the patience of Job.

 

[Ryan L]

Would this help?

Finally had a chance to have a better look at it.
Interesting to note that it shows the ribs on the vertical inner face to the inside of the chassis where the seat is. Weren't these only a feature of a couple of the early cars, I think its mentioned in the recent anthology book?

Also, I think I am going blind, but where is cross section B-B on the plan.
Do we know what drawing number this originates from so I can save it accordingly.
in terms of understanding it, the square holes appear to be for the captive nut plates that were used to bolt the sill covers on. Do we know what these nut plates were? are they the same as the ones for the pedal box? (source where we can purchase these today would be great)
Also, while I am looking at it, are there holes at the front end for the Hartwell latch fastener?

Cheers.

Thanks again, regards Ryan